Filling Your Restaurant Diary in 2024: 5 Tips to Increase Reservation Bookings

Welcome to 2024, where the UK culinary scene is buzzing more than ever—here are five savvy strategies to ensure your restaurant’s reservation diary is as full as your dining room every night of the week.

Summer is fast approaching with its action-packed lineup of activities from the Euros, Olympics, Wimbledon, Edinburgh Fringe, and many more! Events will be a massive part of the Summer season this year all across the UK, with crowds gathering to watch events and corporates enjoying annual Summer parties. Now is the best time to get ahead and increase your pre-booked sales through the power of events in your hospitality venue. 

Ways to Fill Up Your Reservation Diary

1. The Power of Social

Leverage social media to get the edge this Summer. More and more of your potential customers are using social media to discover their next venue. The power of visually appealing images, behind-the-scenes videos, videos and sharing user-generated content is key to setting you apart. But don’t stop there. Look at what small investment you can make, target your key customers, and get in front of the right audience through paid adverts. However, before you get the content right, remember the power of food and event spaces to drive your reservation diary. Tap into the events taking place, and advertise your space as a destination ahead of time. 

2. Lean Into Events and Moments

With so much on the calendar this Summer your venue needs to “own” these events, but be selective – don’t do everything, but do one or two really well! If your local area are mad Football fans and you have private spaces, beer gardens and dining rooms to hire, tap into that. If your venue is right on the doorstep of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, then create events that get people in. Think about your private dining rooms and how you can host pre- and post-fringe events. Think about getting artists involved, too and making it experiential! 

3. Know Your Local Event Planners

Who in your area are your target corporate customers, which offices are located nearby, and how are you targeting them? Get to know them, offer them incentives, and preview your menu and spaces by throwing regular launches to showcase your private hire spaces and menu offerings, which are critical ahead of summer and the festive season. Tap into your local businesses and show them that your venue should be their first choice when they book corporate events, including summer parties and offsite meetings. 

4. Collect and Learn From Customer Feedback

The good and bad of customer feedback should be a tool for change and good within your venue. Turn-taking feedback into a learning moment for you and your team. What’s working and what can you optimise? Track feedback and even incentivise. Why not give away a discount on the next private dining booking for events and private hire, or an upgraded drinks package? Knowing what your customers want and need will only help you continue to fill your reservation diary time again!

5. The Power of The Function Sheet

And lastly to, one of the most important tools your hospitality venue can have to ensure the whole team is on the same page…this is not just a checklist, it’s a communication tool for all of the team. Used by the front-of-house team, kitchen and all event operations to minimise the risk of misunderstandings and miscommunications. The function sheet helps you with:

• Running order: the start and end times along with a detailed timings plan 
• Menu and dietary requirements: the menu for food and drinks, along with guest meal requirements such as allergens and preferences 
• Room and audio set-up: how the seating arrangement should be set up, along with AV requirements such as mics, speakers, and TVs 
• Staff requirements: how many staff are required, what their role is – any special guest requests 

Harness the Power of Events to Fill Up Your Reservation Diary

Turn leads into confirmed bookings and increase revenue with Tripleseat, the ultimate event management software. Over 15,000 hospitality venues globally turn to Tripleseat to manage events of any type and size. Leading UK venues like Daisy Green, Brindisa Tapas, Sixes Social Cricket, Aqua, and many more trust Tripleseat to streamline the event management process. Brindisa Tapas, based in London called Tripleseat a “Gamechanger” and rates us 5 stars on Trustpilot, where we’re rated “Excellent”. Book a FREE demo today with our local London team and grow your event business today.