Patio Panic? Turn Empty Tables into Tonight’s Hot Spot

Nothing hurts more in peak summer than seeing empty patio tables on a warm evening. The good news? You don’t always need weeks of planning to fill them. Nimble, last-minute marketing tactics, paired with quick-turn menu ideas, can transform a slow night into a profitable one.

With the right approach, same-day promotions can lead to same-day profits, giving you the flexibility to adapt to weather, staffing, and demand.

Why Nimble Patio Marketing Works in August

Summer creates a perfect storm for short-notice marketing:

• Unpredictable weather means diners often decide where to eat just hours in advance.
• Last-minute plans are common as people look for casual, no-reservation options.
• Patio dining is seen as a treat—and guests are often more spontaneous about it.
• Staffing levels fluctuate, so you can plan event size around who’s on shift.

Your Last-Minute Marketing Playbook

• Use Instagram Stories & Facebook Events – Post vibrant, real-time photos or a quick video of today’s patio setup. Announce the special, band, or menu in under 15 seconds.
• SMS & Email to Loyalty Guests – A quick “Flash Patio Happy Hour: Tonight Only!” can reach your most engaged customers and drive immediate response.
• Geo-Targeted Ads – Use Google or Meta ads to target mobile users within 10 km. Simple creative with “Tonight Only on the Patio!” and a mouthwatering image works best.
• Leverage Local Partnerships – Call your craft brewery rep, local musician, or nearby business to help promote to their audience for free.

Smart, Fast Event Ideas That Work

Choose events that are simple to execute and don’t require extensive prep:

• 2-for-1 App Hour – Focus on high-margin, easy-to-share items.
• Sunset Sliders & Sips Sampler Menu – A few small slider varieties and a flight of cocktails or mocktails.
• Local Brewery Feature Night – Pour one partner brewery’s lineup, offer tasting notes, and let them promote it.
• “Bring Your Dog” Yappy Hour – Dog-friendly treats and water bowls add charm and social media buzz.
• Acoustic Soloist or Trivia Host – Compact entertainment that doesn’t require major setup.

Operational Tips for Same-Day Patio Events

Even a pop-up event needs structure to run smoothly:

• Prep Menus & Signage Early – Have a few laminated “pop-up” menus ready to go for easy swaps.
• Limit the Menu – Focus on items that can be prepped quickly and executed consistently.
• Assign a Patio Lead – One person should oversee seating, pacing, and guest experience.

Promote Your Canadian Vibe

Use these events to highlight Canadian ingredients and suppliers:

• Host a “100% Canadian Tap List Night” featuring local craft beers.
• Create an “Ontario Harvest Patio Pairing” with seasonal produce and regional cheeses. Browse some delicious cheese options from ADL here.
• Work with your Canadian-owned foodservice distributor to source and showcase products that reinforce your “buy local” message.

These touches not only support the local economy but also give guests a story to share.

Empty seats don’t have to stay empty. Quick thinking and same-day marketing can make your patio go from quiet to buzzing in just a few hours. Want to learn more about how to increase patio profits? Click here to visit our post highlighting 5 ways to boost profits and keep guests on the patio longer! Keep the summer going, and the margins growing!

Patio Profits: Are You Doing These 5 Things?

As summer winds down, independent restaurants still have a golden opportunity to turn patios into powerful profit drivers. The right combination of environment, menu strategy, and guest experience can boost per-visit spend while deepening customer loyalty. The goal isn’t just more traffic, it’s also more value from each seated guest.

Why This Matters

According to the OpenTable Canada Dining Trends Report, outdoor dining now accounts for up to 30% of total seasonal revenue for full-service independent restaurants. But profitability doesn’t come only from filling seats, it comes from increasing dwell time and average cheque size. With food and labour costs on the rise, late-summer patio service needs to drive results.

So how do you keep guests relaxed, engaged, and ordering just one more round?

5 Smart Ways to Extend Dwell Time and Boost Revenue

1. Create an Atmosphere Guests Don’t Want to Leave

Think lighting, comfort, and music. Add string lights, umbrellas, potted plants, and cozy seating cushions. A well-curated playlist at low volume sets the tone. Bonus points for misting fans during hot days or fire tables in the evening. Guests stay longer when it feels like a mini escape.

Operator Tip: Offer cozy blankets or branded shawls on cool nights to make guests feel welcome and encourage another drink while they linger.

2. Bundle Shareables and Summer Sips

Design shareable bundles that combine appetizers with drinks: think nacho platters + pitcher of margaritas, or charcuterie board + flight of local craft beers. These bundles feel like better value, encourage group ordering, and typically carry higher margins.

Go further by offering late-afternoon “wind-down” deals or post-dinner sippers like dessert wines or house-made digestifs. A special after-dinner cocktail or coffee pairing can easily add $8–12 per guest.

3. Use QR Codes to Speed Up the First Order

Mobile menus and QR code ordering reduce wait times and get drinks flowing faster. They also give guests more time to browse full offerings—upping the odds they’ll explore the dessert list or try a premium cocktail.

Consider adding “Patio Exclusives” to the QR code menu and test out rotating, limited-time items that encourage exploration and repeat visits.

4. Offer Light Entertainment or Mini Events

From acoustic sets to themed trivia nights, small-scale entertainment draws guests in and keeps them seated longer. If full live music is too much, consider hiring a local acoustic duo for Sunday brunch or partnering with a craft brewery for a Friday tasting flight takeover.

Idea: A “Peach & Pinot Patio Pairing” event showcasing fruit and wine pairings can boost per-guest spend while creating buzz.

5. Train Servers to Suggest One More Thing

Encourage your team to suggest one final drink, coffee, or shareable dessert before dropping the bill. A warm recommendation—“Our house-made gelato is perfect right now”—can lift revenue without being pushy.

To support this, run staff incentives tied to upsells: reward the most successful patio server of the week with a $25 gift card or dinner for two.

INSIGHTS Tip: Late Summer is Your Menu Moment

Update your patio menu to include hyper-seasonal ingredients like Canadian peaches, tomatoes, corn, and herbs. Not only do these ingredients taste great and photograph well, they’re affordable and appeal to the growing “Buy Canadian” mindset.

Promote partnerships with your local, Canadian-owned foodservice distributor to further highlight your support of local. Guests notice restaurants that speak up about community and sustainability.

The delay of game caused by COVID-19 has many on thin ice. Patios have been a boon to weather the storm. Extending patio season into the colder months is essential to maximize capacity. Canadians understand cold and willingly brave it for entertainment — think hockey, skiing, skating, and sledding, to name just a few. Being prepared in all these sports is vital to success.  

The lineup

“If operators can make it work, extending patio season is a source of revenue. It’s that simple. Restaurants right now are in a situation where they have accumulated a lot of debt over the last six to eight months. Anything that can bring in revenue and get them back to profitability is important,” says James Rilett, VP Central Canada for Restaurants Canada.

“If operators can make it work, extending patio season is a source of revenue. It’s that simple.”

James Rilett, VP Central Canada for Restaurants Canada

What will it take to be successful?

Rilett says, emphasizing the three Cs, “Capital, clear rules and customers.”

“The capital or investment and infrastructure, if needed, might be difficult for some operators but worth the effort.”

Your checklist… at a minimum

• Ensuring you have the required space for a cold weather patio
• Finding suitable tables and chairs, wind breaks, and heaters
• Making doorway adjustments
• Finding mats suitable for the elements and winter weather-ready vests for serving staff

“It’s imperative that operators clarify and understand the rules and regulations set out by their municipality to operate a patio beyond the typical season,” Rilett adds.

These R and Rs include space restrictions, operation times and acceptable equipment (heater types). Reach out to your local government to confirm understanding, if required. It’s in your communities’ best interest to be successful.

“Finally, customers need to embrace the change,” says Rilett.

The game plan

Comfort. For customers, definitely, but also for staff. Remember, comfort is both physical and psychological.

“For customers to embrace the change, operators must make it as comfortable as possible,” says Rilett. “Wind breaks, heaters and hot drinks on the menu but also through marketing initiatives like (BYOB) ‘bring your own blanket’ to make it inviting and a destination/experience.”

Bright and warm lighting, fabrics and music all add to the feel of the space and create a non-temperature warmth.

“It will be difficult on staff moving repeatedly between warm to cold. It’s imperative to keep your staff comfortable braving the elements,” says Rilett. Providing branded toques and vests, an allowance for boots, or setting shifts to rotate between patio and indoor dining can ease their minds and reduce their exposure.

Remember to share safety protocols with customers and staff repeatedly for their mental comfort. Make sure customers know your operation cares for their wellbeing and their community.

How do you know it’s working? “If people are willing to come there and Instagramming and telling their friends about it, it’s a success,” says Rilett.

Breakaway

No matter the weather, customers crave great food. 

Rilett reminds us, “Adapt your menu to outdoor dining. Offer more soups and stews, hot toddies, hot drinks. Maybe, don’t offer fries.”

Yes, it’s about taste, but it’s also about the three Ts: transport, texture, temperature.

Transport

How is the food delivered to the table? Use insulated mugs (branded, of course), ceramic bowls that can be preheated (those with lids are even better), and embrace extra layers like cozies or napkins to retain heat.

Texture

What foods should be the stars of your winter patio? Baked, stewed, braised, roasted — just the words evoke warmth. How about patio-only specials? Soups you can sip paired with comfort-filled sandwiches and wraps or hearty baked items that retain heat (such as smoky butternut squash mac and cheese, chicken black bean enchiladas, turkey pot pie).

Temperature

Add a selection of hot beverages with and without alcohol to increase the temperature — think house-mulled wine, chai spiced hot chocolate, caramel apple cider, maple walnut latte, and teas.

Heat up dessert selections, too. Fresh from the oven cookies, hot pear crisp with warm caramel sauce, warm hand pies are only a few examples. 

“To extend patio season, almost every part of the business will be affected, from adjusting table configurations so indoor diners don’t sit next to a cold door area to special patio-only menu items,” says Rilett. 

Face off against the weather and put your patio into overtime. Be creative. Make it comfortable. Be memorable. Game on!

Heat up your patio with creative twists

• Toque night — the crazier the better and get staff involved.
• Scarf it up — wrap up necks and scarf down great food.
• BYOP — bring your own pillow. Go beyond blankets and encourage your customers to bring their own comfort options.
• Hot stones — create the Zen of warmth.
• Inside out — warm up with a hot sauce challenge.
• Ice ice baby — think oysters, caviar.
• Hand and foot warmers — warm hands, warm heart. Provide disposable hand/foot warmers or invest in rechargeable (and cleanable) ones.
• Brain buckets — trivia nights, winter sport-themed, helmets optional.

Whether you are seating 10 guests or more in a physically distanced space, creating an outdoor patio environment that is just as good as your indoor guest experience should be the key focus throughout your patio planning.

The space may be temporary, but guests’ experiences are long-lasting and so are their memories, so it is remains critical to a restaurant brand’s overall success to invest sufficient planning and development to create a seamless dining experience.

By being thorough in designing and executing your perfect patio experience, you will be in an ideal position to attract diners.

Daniel Lemin, Strategy & Analytics Lead at Convince & Convert, says, “When choosing a restaurant, GenZ and Millennials are 99% more likely to rely on social media and online reviews than are GenX and Boomers.” By being thorough in designing and executing your perfect patio experience, you will be in an ideal position to attract these diners.

Seasonal patios often pose many challenges for restaurateurs. Should you install heat lamps for cooler nights? What’s the seating plan? How do you schedule wait staff for patio season? What patio trends make sense to your restaurant brand?

There are many considerations in how you approach your patio to ensure it is “the place to be seen” this summer with many Instagrammable moments. To create this winning formula, you must consider important factors from an operational perspective as well as the details of the atmosphere.

What you serve inside, you serve outside

Be prepared for your kitchen to handle the extra capacity. Consider your current equipment capacity, the amount of space in refrigeration and storage, as well as your team’s skill level. A streamlined offering or change of purpose for the area is a better option than having your customers wait an extra 30 minutes for food because you cannot execute to expectations.

Stock up!

From plate ware, glassware and cutlery to napkins, to-go containers and chopsticks, all items need to be stocked up to support the additional seats to service. Be prepared by ordering in advance, as suppliers tend to get busy with patio orders as spring approaches.

Need more staff, but how much?

Calculate the number of shifts per week this will add to your front-of-house schedule and determine the date your new staff need to be hired and trained by. Then work back from that date to allow for enough time for hiring and training.

• TIP: Hire gradually over a few months to alleviate the pressure of mass training to allow new staff to get comfortable and ready for patio season. It does incur higher labour costs on the front end, but will pay off with greater productivity and less turnover throughout the summer.

Your patio design, décor and overall outdoor experience are the fun part of the planning process, and also what define your patio as a place to be and shared on social media.

So, what are the “rules” of patio design?

Know the laws

Each province and municipality has different laws on what restaurants can serve, how they serve it, when they serve it, and where they serve it. Some local laws prohibit outdoor bars while others require partitions or café barriers around sidewalk seating. Educating yourself on local laws and obtaining permits sounds about as appetizing as a spam and prune salad, but it’s a crucial part of the process. Punishments violating local laws and not having proper permits can range from a citation to fines or even closure. Before you start building your outdoor patio, research your local laws and be sure to obtain the proper permits.

Design your seating plan

Your gut instinct might be to place as many tables and chairs in your patio design as possible. After all, more tables mean more customers and more revenue, right? Not necessarily. Make sure you have ample space between tables and chairs for both servers and guests to manoeuvre through your restaurant’s outdoor seating, struggle free. A cramped floor plan can take away significantly from the patio experience and have a negative effect on sales.

As well, ensure your patio can take advantage of a view if you have it with as many seats possible. Obviously, these will be in high demand and the more you can take advantage of the view, the more you can mitigate potential customers being upset. If a view is not part of the patio experience, use high walls to create a more intimate experience. Some of the best patios are ones in parking lots that have used this strategy to make you feel like you are in an oasis.

Find appropriate furniture

• TIP: Do NOT reuse your interior table and chairs for your patio.

A patio requires patio furniture made of durable materials that can hold up to the wear and tear of the outdoors. Look for furniture that’s weatherproof and easy to clean. If space and storage are an issue, opt for stackable chairs. Additionally, make sure your patio furniture jives with your restaurant’s décor and atmosphere. For example, if you run a high-end restaurant, you may want to reconsider outfitting your patio with foldable plastic chairs.

Patio pitfalls

When serving outdoors, you must be prepared for whatever Mother Nature has in store. You’ll need solutions for keeping bugs away, providing shade from the sun, keeping your diners warm on cooler evenings, and of course what to do in case of rain! Your weather preparation plans can significantly add or detract from the outdoor dining experience.

Patio perfection

Acceptable restaurant patios have these basics and essentials mastered, but great restaurant patios take it a step further. Give your outdoor seating a personal touch to distinguish yourself in the market. Enhance your diners’ experience with food and bar specials, live music or yard games. A restaurant patio that’s well planned, unique, and full of character can quickly turn those one-time customers into regulars and boost profitability. And remember, 35% of Canadians prefer to visit a restaurant or bar when going out with family and friends — far ahead of the second-favourite option, outdoor activities, selected by 23% of Canadians (Source: Restaurants Canada-sponsored poll). Canadians will come if you build your patio the right way.

When all these items are considered in your patio planning, the result will be a patio experience that customers will remember and great word of mouth for your brand. With your operational overhead covered by your revenue inside, a well-operated patio can add 30% profitability on the additional revenue brought in. It can be very lucrative indeed to ensure these details are part of your plan to create the perfect patio experience!