Do you visit your favorite restaurant for normal dining? Or Are you tempted by the offers, happy hours, and festivals that it organizes more often? Over the years casual dining restaurants and QSRs have been betting big on LTOs as a great marketing tactic to woo their customers coming back to the restaurant again and again. According to reports, restaurants have earned anywhere between 10-60 percent of their monthly revenue from these LTOs.

And, one of the most common and basic marketing knowledge one should acquire as a restaurateur is how to play with different concepts on restaurant LTO. It’s a combination of brand awareness generation and customer engagement on your restaurant menu. It helps you drive interest, excitement, and traffic to your restaurant. According to Technomic, there’s been a 64 percent increase in LTOs in the last five years globally.

“LTOs are limited-time offer deals or special menus that are curated by various restaurants in the F&B industry to give their guests an exclusive experience other than the regular food experience. Most of the F&B brands decide and plan LTOs to curate a wholesome experience during special occasions, and festivals so as to plan new and fresh dishes apart from the already running menu,” pointed out F&B expert Neha Bahl who has worked with multiple restaurants and hotel chains.

According to Kamal Jalan owner of The Boozy Griffin and The Black Pearl Bengaluru, “Today's consumers seek customized experiences, which is driving demand for more personalized marketing. If you are aware of your visitors' preferences, you can run your operation to cater to their desires.”

Top Reasons why Restaurants use LTOs:

Service Assessment

“Our LTO focuses on delivering an experience which can take the food lovers on a journey of National and International food trends and our guests can enjoy with their loved ones. Recently, we have curated the exciting Old Delhi Food Festival- Dilli Meri Jaan showcasing majestic culinary experience with rich and authentic flavors and traditional decor of Purani Dilli under one roof at Seventh Sense Restaurant. We did marketing, promotions, and influencers activities on multiple platforms to reach the right audience,” said Tarunpreet Singh, F&B Manager at Seven Seas Hotel.

According to restaurant experts, the reach of LTO helped them build a database with more guests detail and it also helped them in increasing the ratings of the restaurant and hotel on all social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Google, TripAdvisor, etc.

A Sales Gainer

Singh also added that Dilli Meri Jaan food festival whose menu was designed by Corporate chef Saurabh Singh was a grand success with a 70 percent revenue increase as compared to normal days. “Our upcoming event will be Food Bazars of India and we are targeting LTO incremental revenue by over 1 lakh per day,” added Singh.

Commenting on the same Bahl, mentioned, “LTOs add a certain amount of profitability to the restaurant PnL. Usually, this percentage adds from 10-30% to the total profitability as these can be planned with cost control of the raw material.”

Working as an Efficient Marketing Tool

There’s no denying that food festivals and happy hours have turned into great marketing tools for restaurants. From hotel chains like Hotel Royal Orchid Bangalore that is organizing an authentic taste of the traditional kebabs from the rugged mountains of the northwest frontier at its restaurant Tiger Trail. The menu is guaranteed to give patrons a gastronomic experience with a side of Lucknowi-style sheermal and gravy to go with the kebabs.

Launch of New Menu Items

On the other hand, The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat celebrates an authentic Chinese delicacy ‘Peking Duck Fest’ at Nori. With more than 400 years of history, Peking Duck is one of the most famous dishes in Beijing or Mandarin Cuisine. The innovative in-house culinary team of pan oriental outlet, Nori, of The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat has mindfully curated an elaborate spread of sumptuous Peking Duck specialties for the patrons to tantalize their taste buds. The fest will boast a wide array of flavorsome delicacies, starting from soup, and appetizers to the main course, including, ‘Duck and Winter Melon Mushroom Soup’, ‘Duck and Celery Dumpling’, ‘Duck Dim Sums’, ‘Roasted Duck’, ‘Fried Buns’, ‘Steam Lotus Buns’, ‘Duck Meat Yachai Fried Rice’, ‘Sliced Duck Beijing Style with Pancakes’ to name a few.

LTO Hall of Fame

From McDonald’s famous paneer tikka burger to KFC's limited period hot wings and Domino’s coming up with a limited period menu just to offer something new to customers. Every restaurant that has experimented with LTOs knows well what has been the LTO hall of fame menu items.

GenZ customers seek profitability over loyalty, with more and more people eating on the go, LTOs that feature bowls, salads, chicken, and burgers are more likely to attract customers.

“We offer both vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters, grills, salads, and beverages. The main dish options at the buffet are plentiful and include both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Additionally, we have distinct sections for chaats and live counters for pizza, pasta, etc. Desserts also come in a vast range. There are cakes, kheer, custard, ice cream, and more desserts! In reality, the list is limitless,” pointed Jalan.

Similarly, for Singh, some of the top choices from his restaurant would be Seven Seas style Teh pe Teh Paneer Tikka, Dogla Kofta, Dal Mangalam, Treasured Kebab Pizza, Spanakopita, Bunny Chow, and our most loved dessert Signature Gur Rasgulla.