Before I get to the UN-usual ways, let me quickly cover the usual ways and the WHY.
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There are two reasons a restaurant should collect the birthdays of their customers and offer them a free meal for their birthday.
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1)   Very few people will dine alone on their birthday and you’ll make money from the other guests.
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2)   Collecting birthdays gives you a great “reason-why” to ask your customers for their email address and other contact information you can use to get those people back throughout the year.
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A whole book could be written about WHY you should have an email list of your customers.
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I’ll sum it all up by saying an email list allows you to control your customer list.
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You may have hundreds or even thousands of social media followers but the platforms have the control.
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They can shut down your account for any reason.
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They want you to pay them to reach most of your fans.
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Plus you have zero control over WHEN your posts are seen.
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I feel sad every time I see a Taco Tuesday Facebook post from a restaurant on Wednesday or Thursday.
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And a quick word about the actual gift you give to your customers for their birthdays.
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Don't cheap out and offer a free dessert or appetizer or worse...alcohol.
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Offer a free meal for anyone in your "birthday club".
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You can set a dollar value on it so everyone isn't ordering the "lobster".
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You can permit only one birthday celebrant per table so the Smith Quintuplets don't all show up on the same night.
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Although those Smith quintuplets do bring a crowd, so maybe.
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You should allow them to claim it anytime during the MONTH of their birthday.
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Most will have family plans for the actual day.
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Allowing them to use it anytime during the month gives you multiple opportunities to remind them via email....increasing the likelihood they will come in and bring 1-3 people who have never eaten with you before.
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And of course, TAKE PICTURES OF EVERY BIRTHDAY TABLE and use it on your social media.
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There are worse things to be known for than being the go-to spot for birthday parties!
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OK…Now the UN-Usual Ideas…
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1) Let local businesses offer a birthday deal to your restaurant.
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What businesses in your neighborhood know the birthdays of their customers?
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Doctors, dentists, chiropractors, therapists, lawyers, accountants, financial planners and the like.
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I'm sure exactly zero of them do anything for their client's/patient's birthdays.
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Primarily because they have nothing exciting to offer and they don't have the budget to pay for gifts.
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More than zero of them could be convinced to give them a FREE Birthday meal at your restaurant.
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When thinking about local businesses don’t overlook large local employers.
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All employers know the birthdays of their employees.
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A quick email to HR offering a  free birthday lunch for the birthday person is likely to get a response.
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Start this quest for collaborators in your own life/business.
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Are any of your good restaurant customers doctors or dentists or chiropractors or accountants?
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Who is YOUR doctor/dentist/chiropractor/accountant etc?  Who is your spouse's?  Your kid's?  Your parent's?  Your cousin's?  Your best friend's?
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A quick social media post will likely bring you leads...

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If you're on the fence or nowhere near the fence on this idea, think about this...
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Giving away free food for a birthday is the best kind of advertising.
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First of all, it's a special occasion...once a year... so you're not devaluing your products or services.
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It's advertising you pay for only AFTER it works.
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If it doesn't work, you don't pay.
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Imagine you spent $300 on an ad of some kind...local paper, magazine, radio etc.
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Let's say that ad brought you 10 customers over the course of the next month.
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That means you paid $30 to get a customer but you had to pay that $300 all up front regardless of how many customers you got... 100 or 0.
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As a restaurant, by giving away a free meal, you only "pay" when they show up to claim their birthday meal but they typically bring 1-3 full paying customers with them.
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Do the math...$300 to get an unknown number of customers via a general ad or put that same $300 into 30 free meals (assuming hard cost ~$10 each) that you're paying for one at a time as the birthday tables come in and some of those people are going to join your birthday club.
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Your "advertising" becomes exponentially more profitable handing out free birthday meals..

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2) Once you know someone's birthday, you also know someone's HALF birthday....6 months before their birthday.
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 While they may get a lot of birthday wishes on the actual day, they'll get zero on their half-birthday.
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You can have fun with this one...maybe a 50% off coupon on a specific item...or half the table eats free...ok maybe not that one.
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"Buy at least two entrees and get half a birthday cake FREE."
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If you've got a budget for printing you could send actual half birthday cards with a coupon inside.
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You could also simply buy traditional birthday cards and cut them in half.
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3)At the same time you're collecting the birthdays of your customers, get the birthdays of their kids!
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Obviously if you're a high-end steak house, this idea is probably not viable nor appealing to you , but if families come and eat at your place this one fits right in.
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Maybe you have a special menu for kid birthdays...maybe a cake is involved.
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A physical birthday card sent directly to the kid is something worth testing.
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Send 20...get the cards from the dollar store and the whole mailing is $30-$40.
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See how many parties you get and the income generated.
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Imagine kids all over town bugging their parent's to go to your restaurant for their birthday.
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Maybe you become well known for something they can only get by celebrating a birthday at your place.
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4) Get MORE gifts for your customers.
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What other businesses in your area have a low cost product/service they could give away to get people to try them out?
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I asked Chat GPT to list me 20 such businesses...
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Coffee shops: They could give away a free small coffee or tea to new customers.
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Bakeries: They could give away a free pastry or small baked good to new customers.
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Gym or fitness center: They could offer a free one-day gym pass or fitness class to new customers.
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Bookstores: They could give away a free bookmark or discount on a book purchase to new customers.
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Hair salons: They could offer a free haircut consultation or small discount on a haircut for new customers.
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Nail salons: They could offer a free basic manicure or discount on a full-service manicure for new customers.
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Clothing stores: They could offer a small discount on a first-time purchase or a free accessory with purchase to new customers.
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Pet stores: They could offer a free sample of pet food or a discount on a pet toy or accessory for new customers.
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Dental clinics: They could offer a free dental cleaning or consultation for new patients.
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Car washes: They could offer a free basic car wash or a small discount on a full-service car wash for new customers.
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Yoga or Pilates studios: They could offer a free trial class or a discount on a class package for new students.
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Juice bars: They could offer a free small smoothie or discount on a larger smoothie for new customers.
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Tanning salons: They could offer a free tanning session or discount on a tanning package for new customers.
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Massage studios: They could offer a free 15-minute massage or discount on a longer massage for new customers.
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Ice cream shops: They could offer a free small scoop of ice cream or a discount on a larger size for new customers.
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Florists: They could offer a free single stem flower or discount on a bouquet for new customers.
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Art studios or galleries: They could offer a free art class or a discount on a piece of artwork for new customers.
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Language schools: They could offer a free introductory language lesson or a discount on a language course for new students.
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Barber shops: They could offer a free hot towel shave or discount on a haircut for new customers.
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Photography studios: They could offer a free headshot session or discount on a family portrait package for new customers.
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Do you  personally know any people in your area who own those types of businesses?
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Do any of your customers?
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Your outreach to them is simple...
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You could also offer to return the favor and let them offer a free meal from your restaurant to their customers for their birthdays.
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If that works out well for them, approach them with the 1/2 birthday idea.
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Of course, you don't have to limit these types of collaborations to just birthdays.
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You can do them year round.
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But that's a subject for a different article.
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4.5) You can and should celebrate YOUR birthday..."your" as in "you" the business owner AND the birthday of the business....even your spouse's, your kid's, your pet's.
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Lots of fun could be had with this one.
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Have you been in business for over 10 years?
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Maybe for 1 hour on the business birthday (or the closest day that is normally slow?) you roll back prices to what they were on day 1?
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Or you have a special menu of those items and prices...or a special section of the restaurant if this idea scares you a little.
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One hour only...no reservations...meal has to be ordered before the hour is up.
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If  you don't fill a table someone may be seated with you!
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You want your place STUFFED with people and get your social media folks taking lots of pics and videos.
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Give people bonuses for dressing in period costume if you've been open for a really long time.
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Have fun with it.
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For your own personal birthday you could do a  similar rollback or a special for people born the same year...maybe they get an extra special something if you have the same birthday as the customer.
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Since you've been collecting birthdays from your customers you can actually see which of them share a birthday with either you or the business.
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Anything different and unexpected will stand out.
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For any questions or help implementing any of the above, please reach out via email, phone or text.
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Thank you,
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Leo Quinn
Birthday Profit Systems
518-288-8711
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