⚾ 5 Restaurant Marketing Tactics I Learned From 24 Minor League Baseball Games

I won’t lie, I had an awesome summer. I went to 24 minor league baseball games across multiple cities and states, and I had a great time. It wasn’t my plan when the summer started, but after a few games of having an absolute blast, it just became the thing I wanted more of.

From home runs to hot dogs, mascot costumes to first pitches, on-field promotions to fireworks ... I was all in.

But you know me, my marketing brain is always firing. While it might have looked like I was just goofing off, I was also gathering intel about how an adjacent service industry succeeds, and how I could bring those lessons back to the restaurant business.

C’mon … you knew this blog post was coming!!

Here are five lessons I learned attending two dozen minor league baseball games that restaurants need to pay attention to:

If you know who you’re for and what your guests appreciate, it’s much easier to make decisions about what to do. Once you know your audience, you can super-serve them.

Minor league teams know that their social followers care about baseball - so that’s the content they create. They know fans in the stands care about family-friendly entertainment, so that’s the stadium experience they deliver.

And they know foodies (like me!) care about a memorable eating experience, so you get wild stuff like two feet of nacho fries (thanks, Hartford Yard Goats Baseball!)

Go to any minor league stadium and ask anyone working for help; where’s the bathroom, how do I place a food order, where’s my seat? Literally anything - and every single time, someone will happily make sure you’re taken care of.

I don’t know how they do it or what the hiring process is, but the service mentality in the minors is almost uncanny. Restaurants could learn from that.

Just ask my friend Boomer from the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers - he’ll tell you the best experience is catching tennis balls in your 5XL pants.

Sure, minor league baseball attracts all kinds of people. You’d think they’d try to have something for everyone. But they don’t.

Instead, they just have the right things. Their menus serve what people expect at a ballpark, in a way that’s operationally serviceable. It’s all about speed and satisfaction.

Restaurants: you don’t need to have everything on your menu. You just need to have the right things. No one is getting a salad at a Lehigh Valley IronPigs game, they want the candied bacon on a stick. But they might want a salad the next day!

Go to any minor league website and you’ll see a promotions tab. Free bobblehead night, post-game fireworks, kids run the bases, $2 hot dog night.

The key? You have to buy a ticket. No ticket, no promo.

Restaurants should follow the same play: all promotional offers should require either a purchase or participation in your rewards program. You can borrow my Zorros de Somerset (AKA Somerset Patriots | New York Yankees Double-A Baseball) drawstring bag while you go shopping for promotional ideas!

This one I’m totally testing at my restaurant and with my clients. The minors are masters at fan engagement through chance-to-win promos: T-shirt tosses, lucky seat contests, kiss cam, “tag us on social” Jumbotron shout-outs.

Everybody loves the idea of getting something free. Everybody likes to feel special. Not everybody needs to win — but everybody needs to feel like they could.

Just ask the New York Boulders and PrimoHoagies Franchising, Inc. in Mahwah about their potato chip toss!

Here are some restaurant promo chances to test:

Which of these sparks the most excitement for you?

What questions do you have?

Who is your favorite minor league team mascot?

Lastly — did you even go to a baseball game if you didn’t get a hot dog? Not in my book. All you need is mustard. 🌭

P.S. Do you want to see the full list of games I attended!??!

Do you need help with any of this? Send me an email: [email protected]

—Rev Ciancio

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