Pride Month Restaurant Promotions: Celebrating at Your Venue

Pride Month is a big deal. We are talking about massive celebrations, parades, and festivities. So, how do you get on board as a restaurant owner? What can you do to join the community celebration this June? Well, you can certainly use Pride Month restaurant promotions.

Promotions can entail almost anything. You could promote a massive party or drag brunches. Or you could promote a special happy hour deal, simultaneously announcing your business as a safe space and ally.

Using restaurant promotions is a great way to grow your business and brand awareness while supporting a great cause. They say people vote with their feet; by encouraging foot traffic for LGBTQ+ celebrations, you’re being an active community member.

In this guide, we’ll give you all the information you need to launch restaurant promotions this Pride. With a water-tight understanding, foolproof strategies, and valuable insights, it’s an easy road to successful promotion. Give us as little as 5-10 minutes, and you’ll be ready to go.

What Is Pride Month?

It’s a month-long celebration every June to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights. You’ll find the rainbow flag flying around cities and outside people’s houses. Charity events and parades are also in full flow in public spaces. Pride is a time of celebration and excitement, creating a welcoming space for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Getting involved with your restaurant is a fabulous idea.

But before you start running Pride promotions, you need to understand the history of Pride. Where did this celebration all start? Behind the fun-loving and colorful celebrations you see today, there’s actually a more somber story.

Pride Month was born out of the Stonewall Riots of June 1969. This was a month-long period of unrest and protest following the raiding of an NYC gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. Frustrated and worn by long-lasting oppression, members of NYC’s LGBTQ+ community took to the streets. Their movement would transform gay rights, and the riots and protests spread across the globe.

The Stonewall Riots of June 1969 were instrumental in shaping the history of gay rights. Shortly after, the American Psychological Association declassified homosexuality as a mental illness. We also see the announcement of the first few same-sex marriages. Because of the Stonewall Riots’ impact, we now celebrate Pride every June.

When planning restaurant promotions for Pride Month, it’s essential to keep the significance of the celebrations in mind. This isn’t simply an opportunity for event marketing but a poignant celebration of achieving milestones for gay rights.

It’s also important to note that many members of the LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination worldwide. Your promotions should offer welcoming, safe spaces and show awareness, no matter how fun the events lined up.

How To Use Pride Month Restaurant Promotions

So, now you have all the context you need, how exactly should you use Pride Month restaurant promotions? What are the best ways to use promotions this June? We’d say to focus on social media platforms (like social media contests and event adverts), decorations, and event planning.

Social media channels are a great way to get the word out and reach a larger audience. This is important when marketing any event, but it just means spreading a wider positive impact. There are restrictions in terms of location as a restaurant, especially if you aren’t a chain. Using social media is great for bypassing location-based restrictions around engaging with fresh faces and encouraging more foot traffic.

Decorations as physical promotions are equally important, as they signal that you are a welcoming space. As a restaurant, simply flying the rainbow flag is a symbol that guests can expect an inclusive dining experience. Community centers and safe hubs don’t have to be formal; you can offer that safe space at your restaurant tables. Decorations help get this message across (if you like, you could fly the flag year-round).

Finally, events are some of the best restaurant promos for Pride Month. You could run happy hours with specialty cocktails — perhaps decorated with edible glitter or rainbow layering — or drag brunches. There are so many options for Pride events. These are some of the best types of promotions as they encourage foot traffic, drive your profit, and encourage community.

To summarize, here are our top three suggestions when it comes to using Pride restaurant promotions:

1. Use social media channels for marketing events and running online events like competitions.
2. Use decorations to signify that your restaurant is safe for LGBTQ+ celebrations.
3. Run events to garner foot traffic, boost profit, and encourage community gatherings for in-person celebrations.

3 Benefits of Pride Month Restaurant Marketing

There are tons of benefits to investing in Pride Month restaurant marketing. It’s a fantastic event to celebrate, and it’s something that’s rewarding on many levels — both business-wise and personally. This June, there’s an opportunity to invest in a different marketing league for your business.

Here’s our take on the top three benefits you’ll get from this type of marketing and promotion.

1. You Build Brand Awareness

Marketing your restaurant this Pride is a great way to re-establish your brand. It strengthens brand awareness and helps your ideal customers understand you as a company.

Having a core set of values and beliefs is really important for a business. This makes your brand more likable and easy to understand. Strengthening how you present your brand also helps customers connect with you better.

2. You Attract Engagement and Boost Profit

Engagement can take many forms. When you invest in Pride promotions, this could mean social media engagement on posts and giveaways. It could also mean more people visiting your restaurant for special events.

Engagement is great for profit and marketing goals. It helps build traction and keep your business successful and healthy. In-person engagement is particularly beneficial, so aim for customer engagement like buying drinks at your happy hour.

3. You Support a Beautiful Community

Most importantly, by investing in Pride Month restaurant promotions ideas, you’re showing support for a beautiful community. Never underestimate the importance of individual action. By running Pride promotions, you show that your restaurant is safe and supportive. This is so important, as members of the LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination today.

This shows that you support an inclusive society, and that’s a valuable way to build community connections.

4 Best Pride Month Happy Hour Ideas

Are you set on happy hour promotions? Great choice. Happy hours are a great way to gather foot traffic to make your Pride celebrations a jam-packed success. Nobody wants a party with nobody showing up, do they? A happy hour is one of the best types of marketing ideas.

Here are our top four favorite Pride Month happy hour ideas; you can adapt a couple or steal them all. It doesn’t have to be as simple as knocking 50% off drinks; you can create extra tempting experiences and factors. Anyway, whatever floats your boat — check these out:

1. Design Specialty Cocktails That Fit the Pride Theme

You could use rainbows or extra details like edible glitter. You could serve these during happy hour or reduce their price in happy hour and serve them throughout June.

2. Rename Your Drinks List With Drink Specials That Reflect Pride

For instance, you could name drinks after celebrities or allies. Again, you could limit these drinks to happy hour or serve them only as a secret menu during happy hour.

3. Run Happy Hours Alongside Events

Another way to guarantee happy hour success is to coincide with events like drag brunches and quizzes. This way, you double the interest and the likelihood of foot traffic.

4. Give Tickets or Prizes Out Alongside Happy Hour Drinks

You could give out tickets for a prize draw. Or you could even give out small gifts (like a miniature rainbow flag) with every happy hour drink. Adding the “winning element” is a great way to make happy hours more exciting.

Marketing Your Promotions: Pride Month Marketing Ideas

Of course, some promotions market themselves to a certain extent. However, others, especially events, will require you to market them to really see their full success. So, what are some top Pride Month marketing ideas for your restaurant and its promotions?

We’d like to take a first look at your existing marketing channels. You will want to play to your strengths, especially considering you’ve only been in business for a month or two. So, do you have a killer email list? Great traction on social media platforms? Figure out your strengths.

If you’re out of ideas, just check out our top ways to market restaurant promotions this Pride:

• Use Reels on social media channels like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Use SMS marketing if you have a phone number database
• Use email marketing if you have a large email list
• Post on Facebook groups
• Let your local tourism board know (chances are they’re supporting Pride events in your destination anyway)
• Make sure your restaurant has decorations
• Chat with your existing customers and let them know
• Consider investing in proximity marketing
• Invest in WiFi marketing so you have a more solid base of marketing contacts for the next Pride

Beambox: A Solution for Collecting Contacts

If you fall into that last category, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. You should invest in WiFi marketing so that you’ll have contacts for better Pride marketing by next year. All it takes is one captive portal.

A captive portal is a temporary barrier for those joining your guest WiFi. Instead of allowing them to join immediately, it triggers a form on a web page. To proceed, they must enter whatever details you request in that form.

You can ask for phone numbers, email addresses, reviews, etc. We’d focus on email addresses or phone numbers, which form the basis of SMS and email marketing campaigns. The best part is that you’ll get your results almost immediately.

You’ll likely be set for the next Pride. However, this is also a great way to get some last-minute contacts for this Pride.

At Beambox, contact collecting is our bread and butter. We offer all-in-one WiFi marketing software with a personalizable portal, so you can choose what contact details to collect. Start your Beambox free trial today, and you’ll be set for Pride Month restaurant promotions.

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