When I was running my restaurant, we had a saying: grand opening every month.

I'm not joking. We would literally find any excuse — any excuse at all — to get people in the door. And I mean any. We did a Smash Bros. tournament once. I put out a message asking who had a Switch and extra controllers and a projector, and people just showed up with their stuff because they wanted to play. That was the whole event. It cost us nothing and the place was packed.

We did karaoke nights. Themed promos. Collabs with the oil change place next door — they put something on their big letter sign, we put up flyers, and somehow people showed up for that too. We had themed nights that were, honestly, a little dumb. But people came.

Here's the thing I figured out: you're not really throwing an "event." You're just giving people an excuse. That's it. People need a reason to go somewhere new or try something again. It doesn't have to be a big reason. It just has to be a reason.

Why this works

Think about how people actually use restaurants. Some will become once-a-weekers. Some come once a month. Some will show up every two months with a group of friends. They all have different habits. You don't know which category any given person will fall into until they actually come in.

So the name of the game is casting as wide a net as possible. You want to get as many different people through the door as you can, because some percentage of every single one of them is going to turn into a regular. Maybe it's a Smash Bros. person who's never heard of you. Maybe it's someone who just moved nearby and saw a flyer. You don't know. You just keep throwing things at the wall.

And here's the startup parallel that I love: startups talk about "always be launching." Product Hunt drops, press pushes, beta releases — it's always something. Same exact logic. You're constantly giving people a reason to pay attention. Restaurants should think the same way.

What this actually looks like in practice

You don't need a budget. Here's some of the stuff we pulled off for next to nothing:

Ask people to contribute. I asked customers if they had a projector I could borrow for a Smash Bros. night. Someone brought one. I asked if people wanted to help paint the restaurant once. People showed up. I'd feed them. It cost me food I had anyway, and suddenly I had a crew. People genuinely want to be part of something local and new. Just ask.

Cross-promote with neighbors. Whatever businesses are near you — go introduce yourself. The oil change place next door became one of our best promo partners. You'd be surprised. Local small businesses want to support each other. It's a soft thing that's easy to overlook but it works.

Keep it simple. An "event" doesn't have to be complicated. Special promo + a theme + a reason to share = enough. You don't need catering or a DJ or a ticket system. You just need something to say on Instagram and in a text blast.

Text your list. Any time we had something going on, we blasted it out. Not spammy, just: hey, we're doing this thing this week, come through. That's it.

The only thing that matters is getting them in the door

Once someone comes in, the food does the work. If you're good — and you better be — they're coming back. The promo, the event, the stupid theme night — that's just the push. It's the reason someone who wouldn't have thought about you this week thinks about you.

Grand opening every month. Some excuse, every month. Try it for 90 days and tell me your regulars count hasn't gone up.