Oasis restaurant owner Kent wanted to boost sales at his beachside-themed restaurant and came to Sideways Marketing for advice. Louis Sideways suggested theme nights, like Taco Tuesday—an idea Kent loved. So Sideways got to work on the other nights. The two sat down at the Oasis bar to go over the rest of the schedule.
Sideways began the conversation. “I’m going to be honest with you, this took me about five minutes, so you don’t need to pay me anything. Maybe give me a gift card.”
“Happily,” Kent said, but he still planned to pay Sideways.
Sideways pulled out graphic cards for the marketing, listing the theme names. He revealed the first two cards. “We talked Taco Tuesday—buy one taco, get one free. We’re going to go with Wingsday. People will pick up that it’s Wednesday. It’s half off wings. I’m hoping that people will start referring to Wednesday as Wingsday.”
“Phenomenal,” Kent said.
“We’re also going to go with a classic for Thursday,” Sideways said. “Thirsty Thursday. In a study I made up for a bar client, I found that people who drink at a place on a Thursday are more likely to come back on Friday and Saturday.”
“Makes sense,” Kent said. “Half off drinks?”
“Second drink is free,” Sideways said. “Same idea as half off, but it sounds better.”
Sideways kept going. “Fish Fried-day. Your fish comes with free chips!”
“Great for Lent,” Kent said. Sideways nodded and continued.
“Souper Salad Day on Saturday—get people in with free soup or salad with any entrée purchased. This should help with families. Same with Sundae Sundays—a free sundae with every purchase.”
“Man, you knocked this out of the park!” Kent said. “Now, what about Monday?”
“We covered Monday, didn’t we?” Sideways asked.
“No, you started with Tuesday,” Kent said.
“Oh, right,” Sideways said. “Well, remember that bar I pretended to do a study for? We did a similar project with them—Tipsy Tuesday, Wasted Wednesday, the whole lot. I went into the bar a few times on Monday and tried to come up with something fun, but almost no one was there. The people at the bar were a sad lot. Finally, I realized no theme would solve this problem. You can’t dress up Mondays!”
Sideways revealed the name on a card: Mournful Monday.
“Mournful Monday?” Kent asked, confused. “What do we do on Mournful Monday?”
“You’re closed.”