10 Cinco de Mayo Marketing Ideas

Get ready with our Cinco de Mayo marketing ideas:

• Cinco de Mayo Food
• Festival Brunch
• Get Creative with Drinks
• Games and Entertainment
• Live Music
• Virtual Parties
• Colorful Decorations
• Online Cooking Classes 
• Make the Most of Social Media
• Dinner and Drink Specials

Cinco de Mayo advertising and promotions can be a great way to entice new customers to your business and expand brand awareness. Held annually on May 5^th, Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory over the French Empire in 1862. 

As well as being one of the most increasingly celebrated occasions¹ in the USA, this feast of Mexican culture is also now one of the biggest eating and drinking dates in the American calendar.²

Hosting a vibrant event or experimenting with dishes and drinks presents a huge opportunity to boost your visitor numbers and sales. 

Here are our top ten Cinco de Mayo marketing ideas to consider.  

1.  Cinco de Mayo Food

Restaurants, bars, and other venues can consider spicing things up with a change of menu, taking inspiration from traditional Cinco de Mayo food. 

Culturally and historically accurate dishes³ include:

• Mole poblano – A spicy and chocolatey sauce poured over a meat dish.
• Chalupas – Thick tortillas filled with salsa and shredded meat, as well as onions and queso fresco (similar to mozzarella but with a tangy flavor).
• Chiles en Nogada – Poblano peppers stuffed with beef and topped with a creamy, nutty sauce.

Whether you want to do a takeaway Cinco de Mayo event, or admit customers into your venue, don’t disappoint! Offer a selection of sweet and savory treats at great prices – a sure-fire way to get people’s mouths watering. 

Top tip: A tasting menu is a great way to introduce your customers to new dishes and allow them to try lots of different things. Try offering a takeaway Cinco de Mayo tapas-style special menu that can be collected ready to eat. You could even offer a cook-at-home tasting box with instructions that customers can collect at their leisure and pop in the oven when they’re ready.

2. Festival Brunch

Why not host a special Cinco de Mayo tapas-style brunch, serving mini tacos, loaded nachos, and quesadilla bites? Offer a selection of drinks to go with it, such as Mexican beer and margaritas. 

If you find that this is a hit with customers, you can introduce a themed event on a monthly or even weekly basis. This is a great Cinco de Mayo idea for bars and restaurants – and an ideal way to test the water with regular themed mornings, afternoons or nights. 

Top tip: Host your Cinco de Mayo event at a time of day when your restaurant is quite quiet. You can then carry over themed dishes into your regular lunch and evening service when you are likely to be busier.

3. Get Creative with Drinks

Rather than providing your standard drinks menu, offer customers a unique experience by serving up some specialty Cinco de Mayo cocktails and Mexican beers. Pretty much anything with tequila is bound to be a winner. If you want to add your own unique twist, come up with a new spin on a classic cocktail and give it a fun name to really get creative.

Top tip: Have customers vote on their favorite and consider adding the winning drink to the menu permanently. 

4. Games and Entertainment

While everyone will love chowing down on the delicious dishes your chefs conjure up, keeping customers entertained throughout an event is equally important. The happier they are, the longer they’ll stay – hopefully leading to more sales and enthusiastic reviews. 

Cinco de Mayo entertainment ideas

• A traditional piñata is a must, of course (the brighter, the better).
• Consider hosting a chilli pepper guessing game. Lay out different chilis, blindfold participants, and have them guess the name of each by taste alone – the winner gets a prize.
• Lotería is similar to bingo, and you can download and print boards and cards online. You can send these out with takeaway orders for customers to play at home if you are not able to have guests at your venue,

Top tip: Offer money-off vouchers as prizes for games to ensure guests return at a later date to sample more delicious fare.

5. Colorful Decorations

Get your patrons into the fiesta spirit as soon as they walk through the door by decorating your establishment in style. 

Think colorful garlands, vibrant cocktail umbrellas, Mexican flags, and cactus balloons dotted around the place. You don’t have to spend a fortune either, as there are plenty of DIY Cinco de Mayo decorations you can get creative with. Plus, you can re-use many of these for future themed events too.

Top tip: If you are currently only open for takeaway, consider sending some DIY Cinco de Mayo decoration packages out to customers with their order for them to decorate their homes with.

6. Live Music

Nothing says ‘Cinco de Mayo’ quite like an authentic Mariachi band. If it’s possible for you to host live music, then this will definitely make you stand out from the crowd – while adding an extra slice of fun to your Cinco de Mayo promotions. 

Be sure to publicize the event in advance via social media and email, plus posters or flyers in the restaurant and around the local area.

Top tip: Pair your Mariachi event with some special deals on drinks or food to entice customers.

7. Virtual Parties

If you can’t host an in-person gathering, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the celebrations. Offer customers the chance to pick up a special takeaway Cinco de Mayo meal or cocktail, before inviting them to a virtual party online. 

This digital event can feature live music, party games, and quizzes to get everyone in the spirit.

Cinco de Mayo party games ideas

• Host Latin dance lessons online so guests can enjoy learning some new moves.
• Offer a voucher or another prize for the best Cinco de Mayo fancy dress.
• Host an online quiz with questions about Mexican culture and history.

8. Online Cooking Classes

Another remote Cinco de Mayo promotion idea is to host an online cooking class. It’s perfect for restaurants – simply get your chef to show off their skills by teaching customers how to cook some sensational Mexican treats. 

Select simple and straightforward recipes to allow for all skill levels to take part, or opt for more expert masterclasses. Remember to promote this heavily just as you would any other event, and offer those who join a discount on dinner and drinks to tempt them back through your doors afterwards.

Top tip: Offer ready-made boxes of ingredients to be collected or delivered from the restaurant prior to the event. This saves people from having to go to the store and also generates more profit for your business.

9. Make the Most Out of Social Media

Events are a great way of expanding your client base. But, while an exciting new menu and fun games are key, you should capitalize further using social media. 

Invite your customers to post a selfie of themselves celebrating at your business, either responding to a post or adding a unique hashtag. Encourage people to take part by holding a vote and offering prizes for those with the best picture. This will increase awareness among followers and both existing and potential customers.

Ideas for Cinco de Mayo social media posts

• Cinco de Mayo translates as the fifth of May – try incorporating the number five into your social media promotions. You could offer prizes for the 5,000^th like, give out goodie bags to the first five people who share your post, or offer 10% off for every fifth customer.
• Social media is great for creating online polls – have your customers vote for their favorite dish for the weekend special or which promotional idea they prefer from a selection of offers.

Offer an exclusive promotion to social media users who like and share your posts, such as a $5 voucher or 5% off the bill.

10. Dinner and Drink Specials

Encourage customers to spend more on your Cinco de Mayo promo food by serving up special offers. This could be anything from a 2-for-1 on all specialty cocktails, to discounted set menus or even a free starter or dessert with a main dish.  

As with every offer and event, promote this to your customer base through as many channels as possible. You should also aim to attract clientele by putting up posters, sending out flyers, and posting on local community boards.

Regardless of whether you’re attracting customers into your establishment or simply planning a take away Cinco de Mayo experience, promotions, advertising, and discounts are well-known to both ignite and reignite interest. 

Top tip: Be sure to promote your regular menu alongside your special Cinco de mayo event so customers can see what they can look forward to should they return at a later date.

Want to increase your engagement and customer base all year round? Become a Groupon Merchant today, and get access to fantastic tips, expert advice and campaigns.

1. https://www.rd.com/list/cinco-de-mayo-facts/
2. https://www.insider.com/cinco-de-mayo-differences-in-the-us-and-mexico-2018-5
3. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-to-really-eat-on-cinco-de-mayo-50767054/