Off season in a tourist town: how a café wins over the locals

What should a café do when the tourist season ends? In a tourist town, the off season is carried by locals, and you have to win them back on purpose. Remove what kept them away in high season (queues, tourist prices, a menu for visitors), give them a reason to come regularly and reward every visit all year, for example with a loyalty card. Add opening hours that match real demand, a shorter menu and events for people who live nearby.

This guide is for cafés, bakeries and small restaurants in mountain resorts, spa towns and by the sea. If you run a city venue that loses customers in summer, that is a different problem: a summer slump, not the end of a season.

Why locals stayed away during the season

In high season you live on visitors, and the locals quietly drift away. The reasons are usually practical:

1. Queues and full tables. A local has ten minutes for a coffee on the way to work, not half an hour behind a coach party.
2. Visitor prices. A price a tourist pays once is too much for someone who comes three times a week.
3. A tourist menu. Dishes made for photos and regional specialities that locals do not eat every week.
4. Nobody recognises them. Tired staff and seasonal workers who do not know who the regulars are.
5. Parking and traffic. Full car parks and closed streets all season.

None of this is about your coffee. Locals simply got used to going elsewhere, and your job after the season is to change that habit back.

When to start: in the last weeks of the season, not in October

The best time to reach locals is while the season is still running and the tourists start to thin out. The locals you want to keep are still coming in.

1. Find out when your season really ends. Pull the number of receipts per week for last year from your POS and mark the week it started to fall.
2. Two to three weeks before that, start offering the loyalty card to everyone who looks local: they greet staff by name, come in work clothes, pay with a local club card.
3. In mountain resorts you have two quiet periods: in spring after the ski season and in autumn before it. The plan below works for both.

How to reach the locals again

Locals need to hear one thing: the season is over and you are here for them.

1. A board outside. Short and friendly: new opening hours, soup of the day, coffee to go. Write it in the language locals speak.
2. Your Google profile. Update your off season opening hours and add fresh photos of the autumn offer. Locals check it when they are not sure you are open.
3. Local channels. The town's social media group, the notice board at the town hall, the nursery, the school, the local newsletter.
4. People who worked the season. Staff from hotels, ski lifts, shops and rental places are locals too, and after the season they finally have time. Invite them in person, for example to an end of season coffee.
5. Neighbouring businesses. Agree with the bakery, the florist or the hairdresser to recommend each other.

A locals' offer that does not insult them

The most common mistake after the season is a big "locals' discount". A local thinks: I paid a third more all summer. They feel fooled, not welcome. This works better:

• Change what bothered them, not the price tag. A smaller portion at a lower price, a soup of the day, lunch for people at work, coffee to go without waiting.
• Reward frequency, not where people live. Whoever comes often gets more. That is fair to locals and visitors alike.
• Local food. Bread from the local bakery, the dishes locals eat on an ordinary day, not only at the festival.
• A table for neighbours. One table where locals meet, with the newspaper, where nobody rushes them.

If you change prices for the off season, say why: a shorter menu, different ingredients, fewer staff. The same menu with different prices in August and October looks two faced.

A loyalty card for locals: visits all year round

A tourist comes once or twice. A local can come a hundred times a year. A loyalty card therefore rewards locals by its nature, without shutting anyone out.

• A stamp for every visit, a reward after 8 to 10 visits. A free coffee, cake or soup. A local fills the card in a few weeks, a tourist rarely does.
• A card on the phone, not in the wallet. With Rewardly, customers add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from a QR code on the counter in about 10 seconds, with no app (how it works). It stays on their phone all year, even if you close for a few weeks between seasons. You can sketch it first in the free loyalty card maker.
• A card by invitation only. In Rewardly a card can be public or invite only. Invitations go out by email or as a private link, for example to the town's group.
• Double stamp days. Rewardly offers them on stamp cards in every plan, and they give locals a reason to come in the quietest weeks.

The card has to keep working in high season. A local with six stamps on the card will queue in July far more willingly than one with nothing going.

Opening hours and menu in the off season

Off season, uncertainty is your enemy: a local who finds the door closed twice stops coming.

1. Hours that match demand. Your POS shows which off season hours do not even cover wages. It often works better to open earlier for people on the way to work and close earlier in the evening.
2. One fixed closed day instead of random gaps. Locals remember a fixed day off.
3. The same hours for the whole period. Announce any change on the door, on your Google profile and in a message to customers.
4. A shorter menu. Fewer items mean fewer ingredients and less waste. Add one hot dish of the day and baked goods that sell on a weekday.
5. A steady team. If you can, keep the people who know the locals by name through the off season. That is what brings them back.

Community events for locals

Quiet off season evenings suit small events. They need not earn on tickets, only bring in people who then come during the week.

• A board game night
• An afternoon for parents with small children
• A latte art or baking class
• An exhibition by a local photographer or painter
• A local makers' market
• A language evening for people who served foreign guests all season
• An end of season get together for hotel and shop staff

Offer the loyalty card at every event. Pick the quietest day of the off season and repeat one event regularly, so locals remember it.

How to stay in touch with locals through the quiet months

In the off season one or two messages a month are enough, each with one clear point: new opening hours, the soup of the week, an event invitation, a note on when you will be closed.

With Rewardly you send a push notification to every holder of your card at once, and you can schedule it for a specific date and time. If your signup form asks a custom question such as "Do you live nearby?", you can send the message only to those who answered yes. It appears on the phone's lock screen, and Rewardly reports a 90% read rate for push messages. Push notifications are included in Advanced and higher plans and only reach customers who agreed to marketing messages.

Three short examples:

The season is over, and so are the queues. From Monday we open at 7:00 and have a soup of the day.

Board games on Thursday evening. Free entry, and a coffee on us for everyone who brings a friend.

We are closed the last week of November. We open again on 1 December.

How to prepare for next season so you do not lose locals again

Winning locals back every autumn is expensive. Better not to lose them in summer.

1. A locals' hour. Mornings before the tourists arrive are often calm. Tell locals that this is their time.
2. Fast coffee to go. If your space allows it, locals should not have to stand in the queue for a table.
3. The card works in summer too. Stamps keep adding up, and staff know the locals.
4. A message before the season. Tell locals when it will be busy and when it is quiet.
5. Train your seasonal staff. Point out the regulars and teach them to offer the card.

How to tell if it is working

Compare this off season with the same period last year, not with high season. Track receipts per week, new loyalty card holders and how many of them came back.

To see what locals are worth to you:

Monthly sales from locals = number of local regulars × visits per month × average spend

Example with round numbers: after the season a café has 60 local regulars, each comes eight times a month on average and spends €5. That is 60 × 8 × 5 = €2,400 a month. If it wins 20 more locals with the same habit in autumn, that adds €800 a month for the whole quiet period. These are illustrative numbers, not data from a real business.

FAQ

Should I lower prices in the off season?

A general price cut often reminds locals that they paid more all summer. It works better to change the offer (smaller portions, a dish of the day, coffee to go) and reward regular visits. If you do change prices, explain why.

Is it worth closing in the off season?

If your POS shows that the quiet weeks do not even cover wages and energy, a short closure may cost less. Announce it early and reopen with something new. A shorter day or one fixed closed day a week often works better, because locals keep their habit.

How do I tell locals from tourists in a loyalty program?

You do not have to. A stamp card naturally rewards people who come often, and that means locals. If you want a program only for locals, make the card invite only and share the link in local groups, or ask at signup whether they live nearby.

When should I start the locals' offer?

Two to three weeks before the season ends, when tourists thin out and locals are still coming in. By October you are often just catching up.

What if there are few locals in town?

Then each of them is worth even more. Widen the circle to people who work in town, holiday home owners and residents of nearby villages. Set your opening hours for the times these people actually pass by.

Reward locals for every visit, all year round. Try Rewardly for €0

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