In today’s dynamic hospitality landscape, capturing and retaining customer interest is no longer just about serving great food or offering luxurious spaces. It’s about creating memorable experiences, understanding shifting consumer behavior, and implementing tailored strategies that directly impact footfall, guest engagement, and revenue. At the forefront of this transformation is Bums On Seats—a leading sales and marketing consultancy built exclusively for hospitality brands. With a deep understanding of leisure activity marketing and sales, Bums On Seats is redefining how hospitality businesses grow sustainably.

The New Era of Hospitality: Selling Experiences, Not Just Products

The hospitality industry has seen a significant shift toward experience-driven demand. Whether it’s a themed dinner night, live entertainment, cocktail masterclasses, or interactive food festivals, leisure activities have become critical in attracting a wider audience. This evolution calls for hospitality businesses to move beyond traditional promotional tactics and embrace an intentional, results-oriented leisure activity marketing and sales approach.

At Bums On Seats, we understand that a packed calendar of compelling events isn’t enough. Success lies in how you market these experiences, build anticipation, drive conversions, and ultimately put more bums on seats.

What Is Leisure Activity Marketing and Sales?

Leisure activity marketing and sales refers to the strategies used to promote and sell non-essential, experience-based offerings within hospitality—like brunch clubs, tasting nights, or rooftop cinema events. These offerings appeal to customers' desires for social connection, novelty, and life>

Here’s how we at Bums On Seats approach this:\

• Market Research: We identify local audience behavior, seasonality, competitor analysis, and past performance data to craft activities that resonate.
  
• Concept Creation: We design leisure experiences that are unique, operationally feasible, and align with your brand.
  
• Sales Forecasting & ROI: We ensure each event is backed by clear revenue expectations, cost management, and strategic upsell opportunities.
  
• Multi-Channel Promotion: From email marketing to social media and influencer outreach, we ensure each campaign reaches the right people, at the right time.

Building a Restaurant Marketing and Sales Plan That Works

No two restaurants are the same—so why should their marketing plans be? A restaurant marketing and sales plan should be tailored, actionable, and rooted in the business’s unique goals, capacity, and guest profile. At Bums On Seats, we don’t believe in cookie-cutter strategies. Instead, we design bespoke plans that are practical, data-led, and sales-focused.

Key Elements of a Restaurant Marketing and Sales Plan

• Audit & Business Objectives - Before building a plan, we evaluate your current sales strategy, digital footprint, guest feedback, team structure, and existing marketing channels. This audit helps us set realistic business objectives—whether it’s increasing weekday covers, launching a new menu, or opening a new location.

• Sales Strategy Development - A solid restaurant sales strategy focuses on three pillars:
• Driving new customer acquisition
  
• Increasing frequency of existing guests
  
• Boosting average transaction value through upsells and cross-sells

We equip your team with tools and scripts to convert enquiries, handle objections, and upsell effectively.

• Tailored Marketing Campaigns - Every campaign—be it a seasonal promotion, themed night, or influencer collaboration—is planned with measurable KPIs. We align campaigns with key calendar dates, local trends, and customer preferences.

• Digital Optimization - Today’s guests find restaurants online before they ever walk in. We refine your online presence—Google listings, SEO-optimized menus, booking platforms, and social channels—to drive traffic and boost visibility.

• Team Training and Sales Coaching - Even the best marketing plan will fall flat without an aligned, well-trained team. Our coaching equips front-of-house and sales staff with the confidence and skills to convert opportunities into bookings.

• Tracking, Reporting & Iteration - We believe what gets measured, gets improved. Our monthly reporting ensures your marketing and sales performance is always being optimized based on real data.

Why This Matters: The ROI of Getting It Right

A great restaurant marketing and sales plan does more than fill seats. It builds a loyal customer base, increases staff morale, and maximizes profitability. Meanwhile, effective leisure activity marketing and sales not only adds a new revenue stream but also differentiates your brand in a competitive market.

Here’s how hospitality businesses benefit:

• Stronger Brand Identity: Experiences give your brand a personality guests remember and recommend.
  
• Higher Booking Frequency: Compelling events give customers a reason to return beyond just food.
  
• Increased Revenue: Upsell opportunities, group bookings, and higher average spend per guest.
  
• Better Team Engagement: Staff enjoy working in exciting environments where events add energy and purpose.

Partner with Hospitality Experts Who Understand Your Challenges

At Bums On Seats, we’ve helped hundreds of hospitality businesses—from independent venues to large restaurant groups—navigate the complexities of post-pandemic recovery, competitive saturation, and changing consumer habits. Our proven sales frameworks, expert mentorship, and strategic planning ensure that every initiative we design translates into measurable growth.

Whether you’re struggling with underperforming nights, planning to launch new leisure offerings, or looking to revamp your entire restaurant marketing and sales plan, we’re here to help.

Final Thoughts

In a world where customers have endless choices, it’s not enough to simply be good—you need to stand out. And that comes from a well-executed marketing and sales plan that combines creativity, insight, and execution. Bums On Seats helps hospitality brands do just that—transforming ideas into action, and venues into destinations.

If you’re ready to take your leisure activity marketing and sales to the next level, or build a restaurant marketing and sales plan that drives real results, let’s start a conversation today.

Visit https://bumsonseats.org to explore how we can help you grow your business and get more bums on more seats.