5 restaurant delivery deals to capitalize on Black Friday

Black Friday, which is celebrated each year on the fourth Friday of November, is regarded as the “first day of the Christmas shopping season", and is centered around crazy deals, special offers and large discounts.

Over the past few years, Black Friday shopping has started to shift more towards online sales channels. The reason? A US survey shows that physical stores are often perceived as too busy (37%), and online shopping is just easier (27%).

From 2020 on, the expected online spending is even bigger. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of stores, restaurants, and other businesses across the globe are doing mainly or only online business.

With all that in mind, it would be a missed opportunity not to extend Black Friday deals to online food ordering. With shoppers already glued to their screens, why not capture their attention with a tasty food offer? Besides, all that shopping makes one hungry.

5 tasty Black Friday deals for delivery and take-out restaurants

#1 Offer a free entree, appetizer, or side with a main dish

Entice your customers with a free entree, appetizer, or serving of finger food to share. Is your margin not high enough to give out free items? Set attractive prices for your entrees to catch shoppers' eyes.

#2 Offer free delivery (for orders over a certain amount)

When asked why they don’t order out, consumers often answer it would encourage them to “spend too much money” or that “the minimum order amount is too high”.

By offering limited-time free delivery - possibly only for orders over a certain amount - you can inspire potential consumers to treat themselves to one of your dishes. Alternatively, temporarily lower your minimum order amount instead.

#3 Offer a coupon for the next order

Reward Black Friday customers with a future discount coupon. It’s a win-win, really: you’ll get a repeat purchase which will possibly lead to another loyal customer, and they’ll get an incentive to try out your food not once, but twice - at a discounted price!

Want to mix things up? Offer your online customers a coupon for dinner in your brick-and-mortar restaurant if you’d like to give them the in-house experience at a later time, as well.

#4 Offer a free side or dessert to the first 100 ones to order

A deal that creates a sense of urgency is one where you reward only the first 100 (or 50, or 1000, depending on the size of your delivery operation) with a free dessert or side dish, like fries or nachos.

Simply post a one-time special order code, for instance, “BLACKFRIDAY”, on your social media accounts, and don’t forget to keep your followers posted when the maximum number of redemptions has been reached.

#5 Offer limited-availability Black Friday dishes or drinks

While discounts and free products tend to persuade the most, you may also want to focus more on your existing clientele, who already know your online offering. One way to encourage your loyal customers to order is by offering new dishes or drinks that you’ve created, especially for Black Friday.

Anything goes, from themed food like black pasta, black burger buns, or black cocktails, to variations of your most loved dishes or brand-new concoctions. Who knows - you might even want to add some creations to your regular menu if they land well with your customers!

And if you’re really eager, you can offer one of your holiday season specials, e.g., for Christmas or New Year, in a presale so you can test the waters and possibly secure end-of-year orders before the season even begins. 

Quick and easy menu setup

You may find it good to know that updating your online menus on your third-party delivery platforms doesn’t have to cost you a lot of time.

Using the Deliverect menu builder, you can easily duplicate existing menus, adjust prices for selected items, add new dishes, and push your menu live to multiple channels. It’s also possible to automatically take your special menu offline after the Black Friday weekend, so you don’t risk forgetting it. 

Whichever option you choose, don’t forget to communicate about your Black Friday promotions on your own website and social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Make sure to use popular hashtags to reach as many people as possible.