Quick guide to Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is actually the biggest Sunday of the year for the hospitality industry. In 2016 Mother’s Day spending equalled that of Easter. And all that spending doesn’t just go on a bunch of flowers and letting mum have a lie-in, more than half of UK families (64%) head to the pub for Mother’s Day.

Without a doubt the drink that says ‘I love you’ or ‘thank you’ best is Champagne. We know that consumers over the age of 35 are the biggest consumers of Champagne with 45-54 year-olds making up the largest percentage for Rose and Brut. This age group is also likely to either have children themselves or be treating their own parents, and the majority of mums over 35 think that a family meal out is the perfect gift, according to a Carlsberg Consumer Insight report.

• Champagne buyers by age grouping - Kantar Worldpanel 52 weeks to 28/02/16

Being treated to a glass of Champagne is not a common occurrence for most of us. This can be used to the industries advantage. Making use of our Champagne promotions you could offer a free glass of Champagne for mum as a way to encourage bookings. Advertise in good time, use your website or printed POS to ensure that dads don’t have to go searching for that perfect gift from the family. At Matthew Clark, we can design and print bespoke posters, or table talkers to promote this key trading time of the year.

View our Mother's Day POS templates >

Alternatively, you could hide the cost of Champagne in a ‘package.’ This makes it more palatable to buy, and it’s easier for your staff to make the sale. For example ‘two courses and a glass of Champagne will cost £X’.

Offer your Champagne by the glass as well as the bottle, it's margin making for you, and easier on the pocket for them. Make sure it’s the perfect serve and where possible add theatre, by way of gorgeous stemware, ice buckets, pour from a magnum in front of them, or carry from bar to table through the venue on a tray, making everyone else want one.

It’s also worth noting that the occasion is a Sunday afternoon, with guests likely to be accompanied by children and one of the diners driving. Ensure you have a good soft drinks range, the market has come alive recently with so many new and exciting products available. According to Mintel, 58% of buyers would like to see more choice of premium soft drinks in the On-Trade, so look to Luscombe, Firefly, Karma Cola and Soda Folk.

It isn’t all about family meals, Mother’s Day offers a great opportunity for the trade to benefit from ‘experience’ gifting. Hotels especially should look at offering pampering packages and afternoon teas. Our team can help you in activating a ‘Tipsy Tea’ session. High margin tea and coffee, high margin food, with the addition of high margin cocktails and Champagne, all wrapped up in one package that can be pre-booked and gifted to mums. Likewise combining spa offers with a champagne lunch creates an enticing gift!

Even if you don’t have the facilities for an afternoon boozy tea or spa break package, you can still benefit from Mother’s Day gifting. Great ideas include packaging up a wine tasting evening, where you guide patrons through a range of wines matched with foods or a cocktail masterclass where you get guests the other side of the bar and show them how to shake up some cocktail classics.

Once you’ve got mums into your outlet, it’s time to make sure they come back. Young families are surprisingly big On-Trade spenders (spending 18% more per person on alcohol than the UK average) and are particularly driven by promotions. It could be beneficial to offer a loyalty scheme or customer club to help drive these consumers back into your outlet on quieter days. Examples include a ‘Sunday Lunch Club’, where you offer a discounted rate for ‘club’ members or a stamp scheme where they can save up for a free drink or meal or a ‘Wine Lovers Club’ where you offer a % off particular wines each month. Schemes such as this encourage more premium purchases, increases dwell time and of course, promotes loyalty for your venue.