Yeah agree. OP could find local foodies on Instagram and tik tok who like to try new things. I even think someone who is doing it as a hobby is maybe even better to work with than someone with a big following.
Invite them to drop in to film their content and offer them free drinks for their content day.
My family used to operate ~30 franchise businesses for about 30 years and they were positioned for morning traffic (people going to work, wanting to grab coffee and quick breakfast bite).
I only mention this because knowing your market and location advantage helps you make some decisions. We focused everything we did on increasing business for morning rush because those few busy hours is where our profits were. So observe the traffic in your plaza. Based on my generalized insights, older customers really like deals. Younger customers are more adventurous and are interested in novelty - so interesting flavours or unique presentation can lure them in.
Anyway, if we still had those businesses, I know for sure I would have gotten us on Tik Tok and just made a bunch of “how it’s made videos” because people constantly asked us how we make things. I’d try ASMR style editing, too.
With food, you need to appeal to the senses and create impulse feelings.
Promos like buy-one-get-one are good, but customers have to be interested in the product first for those to have greater impact.
I’ve also been to restaurants that gave a free candy or dessert if customers posted and tagged them in an Instagram story (or maybe it’s a coupon for extra boba with their next purchase instead of a free food item.) just an idea for reaching your customer’s friends for a low cost. Rewarding a small food item for a “word-of-mouth” moment seems more impactful than spending on paid ads in my opinion, which I feel isn’t as effective.
The franchise head office also sent us monthly promotions and offers to run. They would send a package of signage and decoration that helped promote the offers on-site. And then they’d make regional advertising investments to support us. Sometimes it was combo discounts, limited time seasonal flavours or products, coupons, prize draws - a different thing each month, which is part of quarterly marketing strategy.
Yeah, part of being in a franchise is that you get access to an approved supply chain. So your ingredients are kinda locked and they tend to have legal agreements for maintaining consistency across all their franchise locations. Maybe some are open to regionalized items though…