It’s already Halloween… and in your restaurant too! Whether you are used to organizing this event or whether it is a first, Halloween can allow you to increase your turnover, introduce your restaurant to new customers and retain your regulars. Many customers take advantage of the event to go out to a restaurant that offers a festive experience for the occasion
Dim the lights, serve a black vodka cocktail, put on mysterious music and discover our ideas for a spine-chilling Halloween atmosphere.
Propose special events
To maximize your profits during this annual holiday, you can organize a theme week just before October 31, the global Halloween celebration day, and thus attract customers for several days.
Here are some examples :
Limited edition dishes
Why not prepare a special dish for each day of the week, include it in your daily menu to attract more customers?
Of course, pumpkin could well be your flagship ingredient, as well as the other products of the fall season (pumpkin, butternut squash, chestnuts, chestnuts…) it’s up to you to be creative.
You will be able to seduce lovers of seasonal dishes as well as those who wish to live an original experience for Halloween.
As the event mainly arouses the interest of a younger clientele, you can take the opportunity to try new dishes or offer an event dedicated to them, an opportunity to increase your visibility and notoriety.
Impress your customers with typical Halloween sweet and savory dishes and dressings worthy of the best horror movies that your customers can share.
For example, smoothies in gloomy colors, such as black or purple, pumpkin cakes or bloody desserts with strawberry syrup or sweets with surprising flavors.
Your guests will want to take their picture and share their pictures on social networks. Ideal for gaining visibility!
An extraordinary dinner
If your restaurant wants to welcome a clientele sensitive to the mystical and the supernatural, you have the perfect target to celebrate Halloween differently: organize a special dinner, in a mysterious atmosphere, with a unique gastronomic offer, the reading of cards or oracles , meditation sessions or rituals of abundance, for example, with professionals specialized in this field and using spectacular methods. To complete the event, you can, for example, hire a string trio that plays special versions of mysterious themes, or even a Celtic music group to create a surprise every time!
Costume party and cocktails
A combination that works every time: costumes, tasty dishes and themed cocktails!
Call on your expert mixology bartender who will prepare cocktails that look like magic potions: very colorful recipes, creative flavors and liquid nitrogen, to create a surprising and very original effect.
Naturally, you will have to invite your customers to come in disguise or masked, for the shyest. and why not organize an election for the best costume with a dessert or a drink that you will have created for the occasion?
For the atmosphere to be total, all your collaborators will also have to play the game by wearing a disguise that gives goosebumps!
If you have space within your establishment, set up a dance floor or even an artificial campfire so that your customers can dance as some did to chase away evil spirits!
For a more exotic atmosphere, prepare a Mexican “dia de los muertos” evening (menu, cocktail menu, costumes, music, Mexican traditions, etc.)
A movie night with a special menu
Another idea to fill your restaurant on Halloween night is to create an event that includes a themed menu and the viewing of horror films and shorts. You can offer a menu with 3 special dishes and offer caramelized popcorn, to share at each table. What’s more appealing to your customers than a night of Stephen King shorts, a delicious meal and free popcorn?
Add in dim lighting with tall chandeliers and candles, and you’ll have an intimate, nebulous atmosphere that’s sure to have them coming back the following year.
A family and gourmet brunch
To end the week, you can invite your customers to enjoy a unique brunch experience on Saturday and Sunday, with a themed meal and entertainment. You could revisit traditional Irish Halloween recipes, the birthplace of this holiday, such as boxty, made with sweet potato, milk, eggs and powdered sugar, or heartier dishes such as colcannon, made of mashed potatoes, milk, cabbage and butter, perfect for sharing.
This event being family-friendly, it will be necessary to favor gourmet and sweet recipes, to please the little ones, with homemade caramelized apples and cakes with phantasmagorical ornaments. Also, don’t forget to include entertainment to amuse young and old alike, such as a face-painting workshop, the story of horror tales or a surprise prize wheel, so that parents and children will be delighted with their brunch. ‘Halloween.
A classic decoration
Using an orange and black base as well as pumpkins, candles and typical iconography: witches, zombies, death and terror. However, we advise you to consult an expert in interior decoration, so that your establishment has a truly spectacular look and that you can stand out from the competition . Do not forget to decorate the front of your restaurant to attract new customers as soon as they pass in front of your establishment or your toilets which can lend themselves to a very fun decoration.
A conceptual decoration
If your restaurant has more of a minimalist style, which does not correspond to the commercial and flashy decoration of Halloween, you can integrate this holiday into your decoration, through strategically placed elements that respond to a concept, such as the Celtic origin of this pagan celebration, druids, mages, sorcerers, wizards and other mystical figures, or even classic horror stories. For example, you can arrange centerpieces with small pumpkins, cinnamon sticks and sprigs of mistletoe, dim the lights a little and make lanterns out of turnips and vegetables, as in the old days. You can also have graphic elements matching the chosen theme on your menu, depending on the.
Of course, if you’re bringing these ideas to life in your restaurant for Halloween, you’ll need to promote them across all digital channels. Starting with your TheFork page, where you can not only publish your special menus for this holiday, but also offer discounts to attract more customers.