How to Increase Restaurant Revenue with Takeout Fundraisers

How to Increase Restaurant Revenue by Giving Back

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced thousands of restaurants to close to dine-in customers, many restaurant managers are brainstorming how to increase restaurant revenue.

 

One way is with takeout fundraisers. Just like a typical restaurant fundraiser, a fundraising group orders food on a specific day and your restaurant donates back a percentage of the group’s sales, usually 15-25%. The only difference with a takeout fundraiser is that the group orders takeout and eats at home instead of inside your restaurant.

 

Even though a portion of sales goes back to the group, the benefits for your restaurant can be huge. The fundraiser attracts a large group of extra customers that otherwise would not have ordered from your restaurant. Offering fundraisers also builds your brand awareness and shows your community that you care.

 

Take the example of a local Mexican restaurant in Washington state. In late March 2020, they earned $1,400 in total sales with a takeout fundraiser and strengthened ties with their community at the same time. Learn more about their story here.

 

Check out the video below to see how to increase restaurant revenue with takeout fundraisers and how to reach fundraising groups near you through the GroupRaise platform.

(Video was created pre-pandemic, but the basic principles still apply.)

 

Ready to get started? You can get listed on the GroupRaise platform in 3 minutes.

Video Transcript

Restaurant fundraisers – they are a great way to engage your community and grow your business. Let’s look at why you should be using this profitable and scalable community marketing approach in your restaurant.

 

Take this restaurant on a Tuesday night. They’ve got 200 customers who are averaging $10 a plate, bringing in $2,000 in sales.

 

Now let’s analyze this. They have 30% food cost, 30% labor cost, 30% utilities and rent, and 10% profit – the common 30-30-30 rule. So from $2,000 in sales, they bring home $200 in profit.

 

What would happen if they hosted a fundraiser with a local elementary school? The fundraiser brings in 50 extra customers and creates $500 in sales. But let’s dig deeper.

 

The restaurant incurs the same 30% food cost for the event, but because the lights are already on and the staff is already there, there’s only a small incremental cost of 10% to serve the extra fundraiser customers. So if the restaurant donates 20% to the cause, the profit for the fundraiser is 40% or $200.

 

From hosting the fundraiser, the total sales increased by $500 (25%) and the overall profit went from $200 to $400 which is a 100% increase!

 

If a restaurant group hosted two fundraisers a month at 100 locations, they would increase sales by $100,000 monthly or $1.2 million annually – not to mention building relationships with 240,000 community members.

 

If you’re looking for a turnkey way to grow your restaurant’s fundraising program, GroupRaise.com has streamlined the process of organizing restaurant fundraisers and tracking their impact.

 

By creating a fundraising profile with GroupRaise, it’s easy for community groups to find you online. Community groups receive digital marketing tools to help make restaurant fundraisers successful, and our analytics help you understand the relationships you are building in one simple view.

 

Let GroupRaise help you take advantage of this profitable customer acquisition strategy in your restaurant!