How to attract uni students to your venue

Students are some of the most valuable customers to hospitality venues. With a £21bn student economy and the average student spending 9% of their income on restaurants and takeaways, the UK student scene is thriving. 

This is great news for hospitality venues looking to broaden their horizons and open their doors to students. During term time it is well worth utilising student trade, and making a special effort to attract the uni students nearby.

If that sounds like something your venue would be open to, here are some of the best ways to get uni students through the door.

5 of the best ways to get uni students into your venue

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Bring out the student discount

Who doesn’t love a discount?

The truth is, uni students will often go wherever the best deals are because they don’t have much money. The majority of students don’t have a stable income outside of their student loan, and this leaves them with less money than they’d like to spend on going out for food or drinks.

To entice them in, why not create discounts and offers that are suited to their needs? This could include food and drinks offers, special discounts on certain days, or loyalty rewards. Bring Your Own (BYO) options are also a great idea for restaurants who want to welcome students. 

Don’t forget to mention student discounts on digital menus 

Once you’ve got these discounts and offers in place, why not shout them out on digital menus and social media? Marketing your offers will help you reach more students, and spread the word that you’re a student-friendly venue.

Digital menus by Yoello are easily customisable and allow you to change your offers as frequently as you’d like. You can add reminders and banners to menus to direct students to the best offers for them.

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Try timed menus for student discount days

If you’ve decided that you’re going to set out a dedicated student discount day, why not advertise that with a timed menu?

Timed menus are easy to operate, and mean that you can always set the menu to change on certain days. No more forgetting to mention the student discounts you offer, it will be automatically updated depending on the data you input.

Consider working your student days around the times when students go out socialising. Wednesday is usually a sports social night, while Thursdays and Saturdays are also popular. 

Check which nights are popular with students in your area, and tailor your offers and discounts to the day when they are going out.

Introduce happy hours (whenever you like!)

Students love nothing more than happy hours! Discounted alcohol is a great way to reel in the student punters and become the go-to place for pre-drinks. Whilst students can get a little bit rowdy from time to time, a great way to control the hours that they drink at your venue is by implementing happy hours.

You can be sure that if you set happy hours from 5-7pm, they will likely clear out once happy hour is over. This means that you get them at the start of the night, before things get rowdy.

Plus, don’t rule out that many students are happy to enjoy an afternoon pint. Setting a happy hour from 3-5pm isn’t unheard of in student towns, so choose happy hours that suit you.

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Host fun events!

When you’re a student, finding a fun place to hang out (that’s free!) can be a challenge. Hosting events is a sure fire way to bring students into your venue, where they will spend money on food and drinks.

BBQ’s, sporting events and karaoke are always a hit, as well as considering the standard events on the calendar like Halloween and Christmas. Hosting student-friendly events is a great way to build a customer base with your local student community.

At Yoello, we work with loads of student-friendly venues to offer the best mobile ordering experience. Learn more about how we do this, and the ways that mobile ordering could boost your venue's foot traffic.