Delight Your Guests This CNY with Unforgettable Dining Promotions
Boost your customers’ Chinese New Year dining experience this festive season with engaging promotions that leave your guests delighted.

Contents
- Craft a Festive Menu That Captures the Spirit of CNY
- Engage Guests with Memorable Promotions and Events
- 1. Set Menus
- 2. Early Bird Discounts
- 3. Lucky Draw Prizes
- 4. Free Gifts
- 5. Social Media Contests
- 6. Family-Friendly Activities
- Keep Operations Under Control During the CNY Rush
- How a POS System Can Help
- Plan Early for a Prosperous CNY
Get ready for the festivities (and more scrumptious food once again) for Chinese New Year is just around the corner! At this time of the year, restaurants have an incredible opportunity to help guests celebrate with memorable dining experiences that uphold the tradition and togetherness of CNY.
No doubt, there will be many customers on the lookout for special Chinese New Year menu restaurant options and engaging Chinese New Year promotions, especially now. Without further ado, let’s delve into how you can prepare for and make the most out of this festive season.
Craft a Festive Menu That Captures the Spirit of CNY
A thoughtfully curated menu is at the heart of every successful CNY celebration.
With that, you want to serve traditional dishes that not only honor the occasion but also bring deeper meaning to the dining experience. Here are some symbolic dishes to consider in your menu:
- Fish (鱼): Represents abundance and prosperity, sounding similar to the Chinese word 余 (yu), which means "surplus."
- Dumplings (饺子): Resembling ancient Chinese gold ingots, dumplings symbolize wealth and prosperity.
- Longevity Noodles: Their unbroken length signifies long life and good health.
- Sweet Rice Balls (Tangyuan): These round treats symbolize unity and togetherness.
Remember, these dishes bring more than just good taste to the table—they are a reflection of the spirit of Chinese New Year. And having them in your menu offerings is how you create a dining experience that resonates deeply with your guests.
Engage Guests with Memorable Promotions and Events
Beyond the menu, creative promotions and festive activities are key to elevating your customers’ Chinese New Year Dining experience during their celebrations and keeping them coming back after.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
1. Set Menus
Curate CNY set menus featuring signature dishes for a fixed price. There are many Chinese New Year menus at restaurants throughout the CNY season, typically offering convenience and value, especially for families or groups celebrating together. You can promote these as limited-time-only options to further generate excitement and increase bookings.
While you’re at it, it’s a good idea to make your set menus available early on before CNY rolls around so that families can secure their plans for celebration well in advance.
2. Early Bird Discounts
Adding to the previous point, consider offering early bird discounts to encourage your customers to book in advance. A special offer like "Book by [date] to receive 10% off your CNY meal" can incentivize early reservations and help you manage peak demand efficiently.

3. Lucky Draw Prizes
Gift exchanges are a part of Chinese New Year, and it doesn’t have to be just between families.
Add an element of excitement to the atmosphere by hosting a lucky draw for diners who visit during the CNY period. Prizes can include a free meal, festive hampers, or vouchers for future visits. Not only do you boost foot traffic this way but your guests are sure to have a fun time.
4. Free Gifts
Speaking of prizes, free gifts such as custom and pow packets, festive desserts, or small souvenirs with a minimum spend make great promotional items too. These gifts add a personal touch and can help you see an increase in repeat customers.
5. Social Media Contests
Encourage patrons to share their Chinese New Year dining experiences on Instagram or TikTok. Offer a reward, such as a dining voucher or a special dish, for the most creative or engaging post.
With social media often ripe with people uploading and sharing photos during the celebrations, this is a cost-effective way to boost visibility and attract new diners.
6. Family-Friendly Activities
Many families get together during Chinese New Year, making it a great time to host engaging events like:
- Lion dance performances to entertain and draw crowds.
- Dumpling-making workshops to immerse families in traditional culinary practices.
These events create a festive atmosphere that appeals to not just families, but also groups of friends celebrating together too.
Keep Operations Under Control During the CNY Rush
With promotion and celebration comes more foot traffic into your establishment. Chinese New Year is one of the busiest times for restaurants, so efficient operations are crucial. This is where having robust technologies and systems in place becomes invaluable, such as a good POS system.
How a POS System Can Help
- Seamless Reservations: Manage high volumes of bookings efficiently, reducing double bookings and ensuring smooth customer experiences.
- Special Menu Management: Easily program CNY set menus and track sales trends to identify your best-performing dishes.
- Promotion Tracking: Monitor the success of your dining promotions to optimize future campaigns.
- Inventory Management: The system offers real-time inventory tracking, ensuring you can easily manage your stock of seasonal ingredients, minimize wastage, and optimize your supply chain.
- Streamlined Front and Back of House Workflow: Features like automated order tracking and kitchen display systems help keep communication and coordination between servers and staff in the back of house smooth sailing.
- Order Tracking: A POS can properly track, sort, and monitor orders from start to finish all in one place, getting food to your customers sooner with fewer delays.
A solid POS, such as Eats365’s F&B POS system, can help get all your operational needs under control during the CNY rush, even during peak periods. Not only do you save yourself from being overwhelmed, but technology makes it all the easier to track your promotional success and customer engagement.
Read more: Guide to The Best Kitchen Display System for Your Restaurant (eats365pos.com)
Plan Early for a Prosperous CNY
With Chinese New Year approaching fast, now is the time to start planning your festive offerings. From crafting a festive CNY menu to launching creative promotions, there are plenty of areas you can get creative in for providing a celebration that delights guests while also driving business growth.
But with the crowds and high traffic that come with most festive seasons, you definitely want to get a head start in ensuring your restaurant is ready. And that’s where Eats365 is here to help. With one of the best POS systems in Malaysia backing you up, there’s no crowd that your restaurant can’t handle this coming CNY!
Consult our F&B experts for more information or request free demo now!