According to the National Restaurant Association, 38% of consumers plan to dine out on Mother’s Day and 7% plan on getting takeout or delivery, making it the most popular holiday for dining out. So, how can you take advantage of the increased traffic? Set-up the perfect Mother’s Day buffet. Here’s why.
Faster service, higher turnover
No waiting for orders—customers come in one minute and eat the next. This means more guests are served, thus…more sales.
Predictable revenue
Charge one price for adults and one for kids. This simplifies the paying process—and once you know how many times you can expect to turn the dining room, you have a pretty good estimate of your income for the day.
Lower labor cost
When there are less menu choices, there is less table maintenance. You can get by with fewer servers and fewer cooks because nothing is cooked to order.
Now that you know the why, here are our tips and tricks for how to set the perfect Mother’s Day buffet table to maximize profits:
Plan the food layout for profitability
Place less expensive items at the beginning, so customers fill up their plates with these before getting to bacon and crab legs. Also, use smaller plates to reduce food waste.
Run a Mother’s Day dinner promotion
Everyone and their mom, literally, are going out for Mother’s Day brunch—so, dinner ends up being very slow. Entice people to come to Mother’s Day dinner by offering a free meal for mom or free bottle of wine.
Offer delivery or takeout
Some moms would rather not stress over toddlers throwing a tantrum in a restaurant, and would opt for takeout or delivery instead. Offering this allows you to serve more people without increasing overhead costs. Just make sure your takeout menu only includes items that are on the buffet table to keep things efficient.
Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to knock your customers’ socks off—and have it pay off big time. Make sure your guests feel special, have great food and an enjoyable experience and it will come back to you ten-fold in word-of-mouth referrals...just in time for Father’s Day!
Ready to start planning? Check out our sample Mother’s Day buffet table.