How do sports impact restaurants — and even the revenue of non-sports-theme restaurants? Here are a few quick statistics: When Lebron James returned to Cleveland and the Cavaliers, the city saw a 30%-200% increase in local restaurant revenue.
His return boosted restaurant revenue all year long, including during winter, Cleveland’s traditional restaurant off-season.
Experts estimate that his return was worth $500 million to the city of Cleveland.
Sports mean big money for the restaurant industry — with or without your city’s own Lebron James, and both on and off social media.
But it’s likely that if you’re not a sports bar or sports-themed restaurant, you may have viewed sports restaurants promotions as outside of your purview. Not only is that a mistake, but it’s a costly one.
The sports industry is worth $73 billion and growing. In a nutshell, there are four ways to take advantage of sports fandom:
- Make your restaurant(s) THE destination for watching games
- Make your restaurant(s) THE place to get delivery or takeout for the games
- Involve yourself in the sports conversation
- Tie promotions to teams and, possibly, their successes
Duffy’s Sports Grill, one of our clients, overcame its local football team’s lackluster performance and generated a whopping 1,270% increase in consistent Sunday visits with an overall 7.5% increase in total sales.
Similarly, a taco restaurant in California offered a free taco promotion that got people so excited that an arena full of fans chanted “We want free tacos!” during a game — and, of course, they could be readily heard on the broadcast, too.
The Greene Turtle, another of our clients, utilized their loyalty app to add more gaming elements to watching sports events, ensuring guests chose that restaurant as their go-to, game-watching destination.
How did these restaurants get such incredible results? It’s not nearly as difficult as you might think.
We’ve created a free eBook called “Lets play ball: what non-sports themed restaurants can learn from sports themed restaurants” to explain exactly how these restaurants created their successes — and to help you generate ideas of your own.
Read our free whitepapers now and begin taking advantage of the lucrative sports fan market.
