13 Fall Promotion Ideas for C-Stores and Restaurants

The kids are back in school, the leaves are starting to turn, and the air is cool and crisp—fall is here! It's time to break out your fall marketing campaign and capitalize on this transition period. 

From back-to-school savings to Halloween and football-themed events, the fall season is ripe with opportunity for c-stores and restaurants. After all, consumers are back in the hustle and bustle of daily life and seek convenience, but aren't willing to forego the culinary experiences that bring joy. 

In this article, we share actionable fall promotion ideas to increase check size, drive repeat visits, and improve loyalty. That way your small business can thrive, from spooky season to the holiday season. 

4 Fall Promotion Ideas That Drive Results for Restaurants and C-Stores 

You can't run that "final summer sale" forever. Here are the best fall marketing ideas we can think of to attract new and existing customers to your establishment and boost sales: 

1. Seasonal Product Bundles That Encourage Upsells 

Bundling has always been a top-tier marketing strategy. Customers think, "Why would I buy one item when I can buy multiple items for a little bit more?" You can bundle: 

• Hot Drinks and Baked Goods: A coffee shop could pair pumpkin spice lattes and apple cinnamon scones. As an added benefit, the bundle will be a smash on social media. 
• Complimentary Food Items: Who says no to chili and cornbread or a bowl of soup and a sandwich? Some dishes were made for each other—especially during fall weather. 
• Fuel and Food: There's no law that says you can only bundle food. So, c-stores should seriously consider a fuel and food deal, where customers get a discount on snacks when they fill their tanks. 

2. Limited-Time Menu Items with Autumn Appeal 

Now that your bundling game is on point, you can focus on scarcity. Customers spend money on limited-time offers because they don't want to miss sales. Here are a few ideas to get you started: 

• For Restaurants: Cook up seasonal menu items for the fall season. Examples include butternut squash dishes, pumpkin desserts, and cider-based cocktails. 
• For C-Stores: Set up fall-themed snack displays and promote maple or pumpkin flavored food and snacks. You could even create special Fall products, like a hot cheddar and apple sandwich. 

Remember, for this fall promotion idea to work, you need to drive scarcity. Make sure customers know the deal will only last until a specific date, e.g. October 31st. 

3. Gamified Loyalty Campaigns for Fall 

Ready to have some fun? One of our favorite fall and holiday marketing campaign ideas revolves around gamification. Basically, turn your promo into a fun game for customers to play. 

For example, you could introduce a "trick-or-treat" punch card or mobile stamp program. Then, when customers reach the required number of visits, they earn a surprise reward. 

You could also institute a visit streak challenge with ties to the season. For instance, customers could earn a free drink if they visit three consecutive days before Halloween. Or free snacks if they buy their "big game" drinks from your c-store on consecutive Sundays. 

One more tip: give your fall-themed loyalty campaign a clever name, like “Rake in the Rewards” or “Leaf Through Your Offers”. This will make it more fun and memorable for customers. 

4. Fall-Themed Events and Experiences 

Finally, consider hosting a special fall event and/or experience. 

A restaurant could host a harvest dinner, Halloween party, or Oktoberfest celebration. A c-store could host a pumpkin carving contest or set up hot drink sampling tables on weekends. Either could host a celebration for National Business Women's Week and offer discounts to female customers. 

Ask yourself, "What can I do to drive interest and foot traffic this autumn?" Local events tend to perform well in these situations. Host one before the upcoming holidays and see if it improves revenue. 

How to Make Your Fall Promotion Stand Out  

Most restaurants and c-stores will run fall promotions. You need to make yours stand out. Otherwise, customers will forget about your small business and support another. Good news: there are a few simple things you can do to capture your customers' attention this fall. 

Personalize Offers Based on Guest Behavior 

Personalization always wins. If you can customize your fall marketing ideas to fit the unique personalities and habits of your guests, you'll be more successful. 

For example, you can use loyalty software to segment customers by visit frequency and product preference. You can then offer them personalized, fall-themed deals: 

• Target daily coffee drinkers with a “Buy 5, get 1” deal 
• Target families with a "Kids eat free on Mondays" deal 
• Target seniors with a "Half-off lunch on weekdays" deal 

We've talked a lot about personalization and marketing automation on this website. We encourage you to comb through our blog for all the juicy details on these promotional strategies. 

Optimize Mobile Messaging for Timing and Relevance 

If you have access to customer phone numbers, or publish a mobile app they can download, you have a serious advantage. How so? As of 2024, 100% of SMSs are viewed. So, you can send perfectly timed, highly relevant messages that customers are almost certain to see. 

Doing so will bring more people to your brick-and-mortar storefront, boost engagement, and ultimately, lead to more customers for your business. Here are a couple of messages you could send: 

• SMS: “Warm up with $1 coffee on your next visit—today only!” 
• Push Notification: “Spooky savings await—check your app!” 

If you really want to get fancy, use geo-targeting technology to message people who are already near your establishment. This will attract foot traffic during fall months—or any month. 

Promote User-Generated Content for Authentic Reach 

They say that word-of-mouth marketing is the best promotion for a small business. These days, word-of-mouth marketing typically happens on social media and is referred to as user-generated content (UGC). Smart restaurateurs and c-store owners use UGC to their advantage. 

First, encourage customers to take photos of the fall drinks, foods, and experiences you offer and post them to their Instagram and TikTok accounts. Then promise to repost the best content across your company's channels as well. You could even turn the process into a contest and say something like, “Show us your #FallFaves and win a free meal/gas gift card in November!" 

Social media marketing is one of the best ways to reach new customers. And you don't even need to create your own content. Use the social media idea above—or one of the many other ideas on the internet—to infuse your social media channels with posts that drive new and repeat business.

Fall Marketing Campaigns by Guest Segment 

Autumn themes, fall recipes, and holiday meals are great. But they won't boost sales if you promote them to the wrong people. You need to target the right guest segment for each offer. 

Families and Commuters 

Quick service restaurants, coffee shops, and c-stores often target families and commuters. With this in mind, offer early morning breakfast bundles. Or pumpkin-themed kid's meals. Or back-to-school "mom fuel" drink specials. These ideas attract early risers who need to get to work or get the kids to school with offers they're sure to appreciate—and most importantly, take advantage of. 

Students and College Towns 

Is your restaurant or c-store in a college town? Maybe you're in a big city, but your establishment is close to a local university. Whatever the case may be, you can target teachers and students with fall marketing campaigns. For instance, you could offer "snack packs" or "buy one fall drink, get two fall drinks" deals to college study groups. You could also offer free delivery to on-campus teachers if they spend X dollars or more. Finally, consider starting a referral program so both students and teachers tell their friends and colleagues about your business. Again, word-of-mouth marketing is gold. 

Professionals and Remote Workers 

What if your establishment targets a more professional crowd? Promote the fact that your restaurant or c-store has free Wi-Fi; then offer work-friendly discounts on weekday afternoons. Good luck keeping people away from that coffee and pastry promotion between 2pm and 5pm. You could also offer loyalty tiers for weekday purchases. This will bring professionals and remote workers in on a regular basis.  

3 Fall Promotion Tools to Help You Execute Efficiently 

We've given you a bunch of fall promotion ideas to implement. Now let's talk about tools to make the implementation process as simple as possible. Here are three to get ASAP: 

1. Use Loyalty Software to Automate and Track Campaigns

Every restaurant and c-store should use loyalty software. Once you add this tool to your local business tech stack, you'll build strong connections with customers and drive more revenue. 

When it comes to fall marketing strategies, you can use loyalty software to set up visit-based challenges, progress alerts, and redemption flows. Put simply, you can encourage customers to visit more frequently, track their visits in real time, and reward them when they reach specific thresholds. 

Paytronix is ideal for this. Our platform gives you all the tools to create a compelling loyalty program and boost spend. In fact, our customers enjoy an average 18% boost in order frequency and a 400-500% jump in 1:1 marketing effectiveness with our platform. Plus, Paytronix gives you real-time data about your loyalty program and marketing campaigns, so you can act as quickly as you need to. 

2. POS Data and Segmentation for Smarter Offers

You have a POS system, but you might not use it to its full capacity. Take your POS data and segment it to build campaigns around top-sellers, low-margin items, and/or visit gaps. (If your current POS system doesn't allow you to do these things, consider switching to a POS tool with more features.) 

For example, after looking at POS data, you'll learn which items sell best. You can then run a promotion on said items to drive demand. You'll also determine the length of time between customer visits. Offer discounts to folks who haven't purchased anything in a while. This will help re-engage them. 

Another thing: sync your menu engineering efforts and inventory trends with your fall collection of dishes, snacks, and other items. For example, the POS data might tell you that pumpkin-flavored items are immensely popular in October. So, add pumpkin pie to your menu. Or order pumpkin-shaped candies to sell in your c-store. Give the people what they want! 

3. Run A/B Tests on Marketing Strategies and Offer Formats

Finally, use analytics tools to compare... Well, everything. 

Do SMS or email marketing messages perform better? Do your social media posts outperform your fall newsletter, or is it the other way around? Speaking of social media, which fall hashtags get the most engagement? Also, do customers respond better to percentage off or dollar off deals? You won't know the answers to these questions until you A/B test your efforts. 

After you run the tests, use your findings to fine-tune your marketing strategies and offer formats. Doing so will help you cater to customer preferences and maximize profit potential. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Fall Promotions 

There are a lot of fall promotion ideas out there. When should you start implementing them? And will they benefit your establishment during a recession? Let's answer these questions now. 

When should I start advertising for Fall? 

Start your fall advertising campaigns a week or two before the autumn season. This will help you get ahead of seasonal trends, build less stressful cross-channel marketing campaigns, and better prepare for the holiday shopping season. Just make sure your advertisements don't overshadow your end of summer sales. 

What are the best Fall giveaway ideas? 

There are many fall giveaway ideas you can use to satisfy customers and boost revenue. For example, you could host a Halloween costume contest and give a free meal to the winner. Or offer special deals on Small Business Saturday, then give a gift card to the customer who spends the most that day. Or hand out free snack packs to customers who purchase drinks on the first day of the NFL season, the first day of the NBA season, or throughout the World Series. 

How can my business profit during a recession? 

To profit during a recession, look to cut unnecessary expenses. Also, test various marketing campaigns to see which ones produce the best results. We recommend loyalty software as well, to encourage guests to make repeat purchases. Finally, consider raising prices. A small increase on every dish or item won't keep customers away, but it will help your bottom line. 

Harvest Seasonal Wins with Top Fall Marketing Ideas 

Fall is the perfect time to run a promotion for your restaurant or c-store. After reading this article, you know how to run said promotions effectively. Now you just have to do it! 

Remember, the best fall promotions align with audience preferences and behavior. They also use scarcity, integrate with loyalty software, and are backed with data. If you can make these things work together, you'll develop marketing campaigns that will supercharge your small business. 

Ready to plan stellar fall promotions for 2025? See how the Paytronix Guest Engagement platform can help you drive revenue and increase retention this season. Book a demo today.