7 Ways to Prepare Your Hospitality Venue for Sporting Events

As a hospitality business, you're always on the lookout for opportunities to promote and grow your venue. One area you may not have considered is major sporting events.

These big occasions aren't just for sports bars to capitalise on. Many different hospitality venues can take advantage of these events.

In our comprehensive guide, we'll show how to make the most of big sports events, and how a table management system like ResDiary can help.

Why are sporting events important for hospitality venues?

Major sporting events present many opportunities to attract new customers and grow your business - not just with a one-off visit but by turning them into regulars in the long run. Some of the top benefits they can offer include:

• Bring in new customers: Showing major sports events is an excellent opportunity for your venue to bring in new customers. Sports fans love getting together to watch events with their friends. Many customers also head to hospitality venues like bars and restaurants to save money on pay-per-view events like boxing and mixed martial arts events. Plus, of course football and rugby tournaments, and marquee horse racing events can all draw out big crowds. This can all result in increased revenue for your business with benefits like group bookings and increased spend per head thanks to drink packages.
• Capitalise on attention: Major sports events attract serious interest from fans. When everyone is talking about the Melbourne Cup, the Grand National or other sporting events, it's an excellent opportunity for your business to capitalise on by creating a special event of your own to piggyback off of it. Get on social media or send out branded communications to enter the conversation and advertise the unique experiences available at your business.
• Build an atmosphere: No matter how much you've focussed on building the right ambience in your venue, there's no substitute for big games for drawing in larger groups or parties. Plus, your customers will never forget watching a huge final in your venue, increasing their positive association with your business. So, they'll be back for the next big match or event, but will be keen to return on other days, too. Of course, this necessitates exceptional service from your team. Make sure you have enough staff on hand to provide smooth, fast and seamless service.

7 ways your venue can capitalise on sports events

Want to make the most of the next major sporting event in your venue? Here are seven of the best ways you can make sure it's a great success for your business, whether you’re running a bar or a restaurant.

1. Optimise your table plan

Preparing your venue for viewing sports games can require changes to be made to your seating plan. Tables may need to be repositioned to see the big screen and be more suitable to larger groups. With the right technology, it’s easier to make these adjustments as simple and flexible as possible.

With ResDiary, you can create segments, enabling you to change parts of your table plan during certain time periods. You can create a segment specifically designed for major sports events, with tables automatically joining together for large groups. You might also minimise the number of seats facing away from screens.

All of these changes will be reflected in your diary, allowing you to automatically accept more large bookings than you usually would - while still maintaining control of customer flow thanks to smart booking rules. Segments even allow you to open up different parts of your business, such as an outdoor space with a big screen, which is perfect for summer events.

With this feature, you can easily switch between a specialised plan and your regular plan. When the next big event rolls around, it's right there ready for you to use again.

When hosting a sports viewing event, you won’t be able to stagger your bookings in the manner you would usually like. This can result in your bar and kitchen becoming extremely busy at key times.

Tackle this with a more streamlined menu that your kitchen knows inside and out. You’ll also need to pay close attention to your booking data and ensure you have the team members you need to take on the rush.

2. Prepare your team for game day

Hosting viewings for sporting events might mean different challenges for your front-of-house and kitchen teams. This requires some additional preparation.

When hosting major sporting events, you can hopefully expect to have more customers visiting than usual and probably at around the same time too. If you have a bar area, you can expect rushes at key times like half-time also.

Here are a few ways you can ensure that your team is ready for everything that comes with hosting a sports viewing event:

• Pre-orders: With tools like ResDiary promotions, you can easily create a set menu for pre-order on game day. This set menu might be far more straightforward than what you usually offer, enabling your kitchen to handle the rush of a major sporting event. Customers can pre-order food and drinks so they know what to expect. This also makes inventory management simpler, as you have a clear picture of what customers will be served.
• Pre-shift meetings: Pre-shift meetings are useful tools for ensuring your team is ready to go when it comes to any service. When you're expecting the rush that comes with major sporting events, they can be especially vital. Poor service and slow drinks can kill a customer’s desire to return to your venue for the next big match. Use pre-shift meetings to ensure your entire team is in the zone of game day.
• Review booking data: Your booking data is the key to a successful service. When you know how many customers are going to visit your venue and which party sizes you need to accommodate, planning becomes much simpler. You’ll ensure you have enough staff on-hand to cope with demand.
• Specialised training: Training your staff should be a constant pursuit for your business. When a major sporting event rolls around, it's especially vital. Ensure your team is equipped to conduct a quick service and to manage larger groups. For late night events, you might even want to brush up on your practices for dealing with intoxicated customers. 
• Order-at-table QR codes: Want to avoid total stampedes at your bar before and after the game, and during half-time? At-table QR codes are the perfect way to do just that. This enables sports fans to order food and drinks without missing a moment of action. Plus, it helps to take some pressure off your team.

3. Invest in your viewing experience

If you want your venue to be known as the place to enjoy the big sporting events, you need to offer a viewing experience to back it up. Failing to deliver in this area can lead to a seriously diminished experience for your customers.

Look to these areas to ensure you are offering an excellent viewing experience:

• Screens: To deliver a great viewing experience, make sure you have the visual side covered. Invest in the largest, highest-definition screens that your budget allows. You should have defined seating areas where you expect to seat all customers who are viewing the event. Ensure that your screen set-up gives them all a great viewing experience.
• Sound: Just like your screens, you should invest in the highest-quality speakers your budget allows for. Make sure that clear, crisp sound is delivered to the areas you want it to be in. Consider your customers who aren't there to watch. Are they able to have a pleasant experience without being overwhelmed by noise? This is especially important for smaller sporting events.
• Seating: Seating is crucial for hospitality venues at all times, but it can be especially significant for big sporting events. From horse racing to cricket, many events necessitate hours upon hours of sitting - unlike a regular dinner service. Make sure your seats are comfortable enough for them to sit for a long time while viewing a screen.

4. Get the word out

Major sports events can provide new marketing opportunities for your venue, so you need to make sure you can make the most of it. To do this, you need to have effective marketing systems in place.

ResDiary has a range of features to help with marketing a major sports event in your venue. You can create branded communications that are triggered in response to certain actions. For instance, if a diner places a reservation, you can automatically send them an email notifying them that you are showing an upcoming event in your venue and they’re invited.

ResDiary also offers integrations with a range of marketing tools. These help you send automatic communications about future events in your venue through channels like emails and SMS. You can even analyse customer behaviour to help identify your target audience.

Additionally, don't forget to jump into the conversation on social media. Once you have a customer's attention, you can use ResDiary's Meta integration to easily add widgets to your profile for a seamless booking experience.

You can also post a list of events you're showing on your website and put posters up in your venue to remind customers of big upcoming occasions.

5. Event packages and special offers

These days, customers have a lot of options for watching major events in hospitality venues. It's important to stand out from competitors with packages and special offers.

Offer special bundles for larger groups to encourage big parties to come along. Promotions and deals are easy to create thanks to the ResDiary table management system. With ResDiary pre-orders, you can create a menu and allow your customers to order it before they step foot in your venue.

Best of all, when you create and sell a set menu in this way, you simplify food ordering and preparation for your team. Other ways to boost your profits with special deals include a half-time happy hour, running themed promotions and offering discounts for large groups.

6. Take deposits to reduce no-shows

When you've accepted a number of large bookings for a major event, the last thing you want is for parties to fail to appear. This can result in a significant loss in revenue for your business.

Fortunately, ResDiary has the solution to prevent no-shows from ruining game day. With a seamless process for collecting deposits thanks to our Stripe integration, it's easy to reduce the risk of losing out thanks to no-shows.

You can automatically trigger a deposit based on the number of covers in a booking. With a deposit in hand, you can also charge a no-show fee.

Worried about how your customers might react to being asked to place a deposit? Cancellation fees are now mainstream in Australia. Plus, according to ResDiary's 2024 Hospitality Industry Report, 62% of diners are happy to provide their credit card details to secure a booking.

As long as your business has a fully transparent policy in place, deposits are an excellent way to mitigate the impact of no-shows on your business.

7. Partner with local clubs

Want to boost your community engagement and promote your venue to a sporting audience? Establishing a partnership with local sports clubs is the perfect way to do it.

When you build these relationships, you'll get the opportunity to promote your business alongside another community institution. Whether it's a junior, amateur club, or professional club, these partnerships can help showcase your business as the place to see the big game.

This can make your marketing more effective, and you can incorporate the club into your game day festivities. For instance, you could work with club coaches to provide themed activities on the day of the event.

Major sporting events for November 2024-November 2025

Can't wait to apply these tips for the next major sports event? Here are some of the biggest occasions in sports over the next 12 months. Keep in mind that all dates are accurate for the country where the event takes place.

• Melbourne Cup (Australia): 5 November 2024
• Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk 2 (Saudi Arabia): 21 December 2024
• Six Nations Championship (UK, Ireland, France, Italy): January-March 2025
• Australian Open Finals: 25-26 January 2025
• Super Bowl LIX (USA): 9 February 2025
• Cheltenham Festival (UK): 11-14 March 2025
• Carabao Cup Final (UK): 16 March 2025
• Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix: 16 March 2025
• Grand National (UK): 3-5 April 2025
• Welsh Cup Final: 27 April 2025
• State of Origin (Australia): May-July 2025
• FA Cup Final (UK): 17 May 2025
• Scottish Cup Final: 25 May 2025
• UEFA Champions League Final (Germany): 31 May 2025
• NBA Finals (USA): June 2025
• French Open Finals: 7-8 June 2025
• Formula 1 British Grand Prix: 6 July 2025
• Wimbledon Finals (UK): 12-13 July 2025
• FIFA Club World Cup Final (USA): 13 July 2025
• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: 27 July 2025
• US Open Finals: 6-7 September 2025
• AFL Grand Final (Australia): October 2025
• NRL Grand Final (Australia): October 2025

Make special events a breeze with ResDiary

ResDiary is the perfect partner to help you manage the stress that can come with hosting events. Our intuitive online booking system makes it easy for customers to reserve their seat for the big game.

On your end, you can easily manage your bookings using automatic rules and a range of views. Your booking data can be used as a vital tool to understand your upcoming service and properly prepare for it. You can also segment your diary to quickly alter your table plan to reflect changes for major occasions.

Additionally, you can create set menus with ResDiary promotions. This allows you to develop a menu that can easily be prepared for large numbers of people, simplifying your game day service. With ResDiary’s Stripe integration, you can also seamlessly take deposits from customers to prevent no-shows.

ResDiary also boasts over 60 integrations, from marketing solutions to spread the word, to POS systems which keep your operations smooth during the busiest service. Book a ResDiary demo and get prepared to execute on game day.