1- Share to Win
One of the most common and effective restaurant contest ideas is to hold a contest. Request that your customers post images of themselves eating at your restaurant or eating your food on social media (in case of online ordering).
Request that they tag you and use a unique hashtag (highlighting so you can discover their photos quickly). The person whose post gets the most engagement can then be rewarded.
You might even provide a discount on their next order to the top five contestants.
P.S. Don't forget to share consumer posts on your social media accounts (via stories). This will encourage people to share it in exchange for a shoutout. You could even want to include them in your story's highlights.
2- Engage to Win
Another common contest method is to invite people to like the post, follow your account, and tag their friends in the comments section in order to win a reward. A gift card, a free lunch, or another incentive could be used to attract them to join.
Here's an example of a restaurant giving away a free supper to its Facebook top admirers.
You may run similar contests on a variety of platforms to grow your social media following. You improve involvement, make sure to choose an enticing present.
3- Gift Cards
You'd want to offer something different after giving away free meals and discounts in past contests. Gift cards come very handy in this situation. Customers can use their gift cards to dine in or order food from you at any time. They can even give it to their friends and family members.
Take my word for it, but don't take my word for it. Take a look at the following figures:
Customers desire a gift card from their favourite restaurant in 56 percent of cases.
Customers spend 38% more than the gift card's face value, according to 65 percent of customers.
Gift cards, according to 44% of consumers, inspire them to explore a new restaurant they might not have tried otherwise.
4- Restaurant Memories
Here's where things start to get interesting. Every one of us has a favourite restaurant or destination. All you have to do now is encourage your customers to tell others about their experiences at your business.
This contest will remind your consumers of their last visit to your restaurant, help them recall their experience, and encourage loyalty. Cactus Club Cafe did it this way.
It will serve as a wonderful source of social proof and user-generated content, in addition to enhancing engagement. You may even include this into your marketing initiatives to emphasise how popular your business is.
5- Leave a Review
Every restaurant relies heavily on customer feedback. It allows you to demonstrate that your cuisine and service are of the highest quality, attracting new customers. In reality, most individuals read restaurant reviews before going there.
Encourage your consumers to post candid reviews on social media or third-party review sites (TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.).
This contest, however, should not be held on social media. Instead, you'll need to use email marketing to promote this contest. Send an email to your customers asking them to post a review in order to be entered into a drawing for a reward.
6- Food Photography Contest
Food photography has become fashionable. For example, if you search for #food on Instagram, you'll find 463,915,738 results (as of writing this article). This reflects how enthusiastic individuals are about taking images of food.
For you, this means that the images of the meals will be seen by all of the participants' followers, raising interest in your business.
There is, however, a catch. There are two types of photography competitions you can hold:
Customers might get a discount if they upload photos of your restaurant's cuisine.
Invite friends over for a free supper, with the best photo winning a coupon or gift card.
Source: https://eatanceapp.com/drive-customer-engagement-to-your-restaurant-with-contests/