Early bird, student and weekend specials that make you money

A special makes you money when it moves customers into hours you would otherwise lose, and costs you money when it discounts tables you would have filled anyway. So put early birds on the first sitting, student offers on quiet weekday afternoons, and weekend specials on the experience (brunch, a roast, a set menu) rather than on the price.

The difference between the two outcomes is almost always the window, not the discount.

Which hours actually need a special?

Before you write any offer, find the hours that are genuinely quiet. Most owners can name their quiet period, and a good number are wrong about it: it is often narrower than remembered, or a different day, or the gap between lunch and dinner rather than the whole afternoon.

Look at a few weeks of till data by hour and day. On Mosey, your analytics measure quiet hours from your own trade, so you can point an offer at the real gap instead of a round number. A special aimed at the wrong window is a discount handed to people who were coming anyway.

How do you price an early bird menu?

Price it from contribution, not from your normal menu. Contribution is what a cover leaves after the food on the plate, and on an early sitting that is the number that matters, because your staff and your lights are already paid for.

As an example, using round illustrative figures:

• Your evening à la carte averages €38 a head, with food costing about €11.
• An early bird of two courses at €27, with food costing about €9, leaves €18 a cover.
• An empty table at half five leaves nothing.

So the early bird earns €18 a cover that you did not have. The risk is the customer who would have come at eight and paid €38 now coming at half five and paying €27. If one in three early bird diners is that customer, your real gain is smaller than it looks. That is why early birds belong on early slots with a firm cut-off (before seven, say, and seated by then), and not on a Friday at eight.

Two more rules. Offer a short menu that uses what you already prep, so the kitchen is not running a second operation. And state the conditions plainly: the time it applies, the days, and whether the table needs to be back by a set time.

Three ways to run an early bird on Mosey

Each one suits a different kind of place.

• An Early Bird offer on your booking slots. A perk badged on the early times while a diner is choosing when to book, and honoured at the table. No ticket, no code, and no commission, because no money moves through Mosey. The wording is copied onto each booking, so staff see what was promised even if you change the offer later. It needs reservations switched on.
• A Deal Hour. A price drop on the items you choose, in the days and hours you choose, on in-venue, collection or delivery orders. Free to run. It suits places where people walk in rather than book.
• A paid promotion. A set menu bought in advance, capped at a number and valid on the days you pick, paid into your Stripe account before anybody arrives, at 4.5% commission.

Our guide to early bird offers for reservations covers the first in detail, and Deal Hours the second.

How do you attract students without becoming the cheap place?

Students are a real market in any college town, and they are mostly free in exactly the hours you are not busy: weekday afternoons and early evenings. They are also price-sensitive and loyal to habit, which makes them good regulars if you get the format right.

What tends to work:

• One clear student item, not a percentage off everything. A lunch bowl and a drink at a fixed price, served at the counter, is easy to run and easy to understand.
• Weekday, daytime only. Keep it off your busy nights entirely.
• Check the card at the counter. If the price depends on being a student, your staff ask for a student card. Keep that part simple.
• Reward the habit, not the visit. A frequency-based loyalty programme (come in a set number of times a month, get something free) fits student patterns better than a discount, and loyalty on Mosey is free to run.
• Make collection easy. A student between lectures wants to order ahead and pick up. Order Ahead runs at 1.5% commission.

Weekend specials: sell the occasion, not the discount

Your weekend is not where you need a discount. Friday night and Saturday are usually your strongest trade, and a cut-price weekend offer mostly gives money to people who were coming anyway.

A weekend special earns its place by being a reason to choose you: a bottomless brunch, a Sunday roast with a set price for the family, a dish that only runs on Saturdays. Price these at full margin, cap them if the kitchen needs it, and describe them as things people want rather than as savings.

On Mosey, a daily special shows to people nearby and stops showing by itself when it ends, so a Saturday-only dish is not still advertised on Tuesday. Specials are free.

How do you tell people without paying for reach you do not need?

Start with the people who already like you. Customers who follow your business, your loyalty members and your recent regulars are the cheapest audience you will ever reach, and they are the ones most likely to come on a Tuesday.

Then, if you have something genuinely worth announcing, pay to reach strangers. A Boost or a sponsored post on Mosey shows you the estimated audience and the exact price before you pay. Boost a dish rather than your whole venue: a photograph of one specific plate makes somebody hungry in a way that "good lunch nearby" does not.

Did the special work?

Decide before you start what success looks like, and write the number down: twenty more covers on Tuesday, forty early birds a week, ten new loyalty members. Then check it after a month.

If the quiet slot is busier and your full-price nights are no quieter, keep it. If full-price customers have drifted into the cheap slot, tighten the window or change the offer. If nothing moved, the window was wrong or nobody heard about it, and both are cheap to fix.

Pick your quietest window this week and put one offer on it. Claim your business free or See pricing.