Winning the battle to fill seats is always a challenge, but these days it takes more than just tasty food, sharp service and exceptional surroundings to drive business. People need to be lured — whether it's by a great deal, a social media hook or a reason to celebrate — before they will cross your threshold. Here is a collection of ideas that might provide a little inspiration.

Look for a hook: a theme, that is.

Baby boomers respond well to nostalgia themes. Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar & Grill figured that out this past summer, when he rolled back menu prices to 1980s levels to cook up some traffic on Sunday nights through Labor Day.

The ongoing Allnighter promotion at Denny's combines two draws for the youth crowd: a late-night, musician-inspired menu and popular music between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Recently the chain collaborated with country band Rascal Flatts to create the Unstoppable Breakfast, a biscuit topped with country-fried steak, eggs, American cheese, country gravy and three bacon strips, with a side of hash browns.

North Pond Restaurant in Chicago paired a 1929-inspired dinner with an expert panel discussion that analyzed the current state of the economy. There was no retro price on the $59 retro meal, which included a “bathtub gin cocktail,” consommé, candied beets, Waldorf salad, lobster and quail à la king and a pineapple upside down cake.

Speaking of nostalgia, Café Adelaide and Swizzle Stick Bar in New Orleans launched Everything Old Is New Again Thursday and Friday nights to celebrate the era of the supper club. Evenings feature eating, drinking, dancing and “carrying on.”

A number of San Francisco-area restaurants recently created theme nights that stirred up business during normally slow periods, including:

• On Porchetta Mondays, Poggio in Sausalito put a spit-cooked pig at the center of the menu.

• During Steak Frites Wednesdays at Grand Café in the Hotel Monaco, a steak, fries and draft beer combo sold for $18 — less than a steak alone would typically run.

• Epic Roasthouse launched a “three Bs” lunch: a burger, beer and brownie for $20, about the price of a burger alone.

  Promotions centered around the pain of income tax time are popular. A classic ploy, used by Brabo in Alexandria, VA, is to cover the sales tax during meals. T.G.I. Friday's ran a Tax Break promotion that rewarded April 15 guests with free $5 and $10 gift cards. Members of the Friday's guest rewards program racked up double points during April.

  Also in April, green trailblazer Pizza Fusion celebrated Earth Week with giveaways and family fun, including organic family day and go organic kids day. Free pizza and drinks and raffles for bicycles, a Sierra Club trip and more ran throughout the week.

Give a gift: a gift card.

Manny's Steakhouse in Minneapolis jumped on an opportunity when the local Morton's Steakhouse abruptly shut down. Manny's reached out to guests holding Morton's VIP and gift cards, inviting them to join the Parasole Dining Club, run by Manny's parent company, and offering them a $100 credit at Parasole's restaurants for doing so. “No restaurant can replace Morton's, but we want to give its loyal guests an opportunity to discover a restaurant we hope they'll love just as much,” says Phil Roberts, founder of Parasole Restaurant Holdings and Manny's Steakhouse.

BUILDING A BUZZ: Ted’s Montana Grill dangled a Toyota Prius, a trip to Montana and other goodies to bring attention to its burger offerings (left); sexy drinks, tasty treats and wedding party attire were on the agenda at a bridal fair designed to drum up nuptialrelated business for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises restaurants in Chicago (center left and center right); meanwhile, in L.A., Blue on Blue (right) recruited new Facebook fans with the promise of nine days of dining deals, including dollar drinks and freebie food.

The Akron branch of Fleming's used gift cards to boost private events. The restaurant rewarded the host with a $50 card for every $500 spent, plus a $25 card for each guest.

Bring in a guest chef/author/bartender.

Routines and consistency are admirable, but sometimes they border on boring. Stirring up a little excitement is as simple as having someone else mix the cocktails, or sauté the supper, and connecting this kind of special event with a charity builds good vibes with your guests and would-be guests.

At Vie in Chicago, frequent customer Jim Adams approached owner/chef Paul Virant with a proposal to bartend for a night. For every drink sold, $1 went to a local charity, and Vie matched the donation. Sbicca Bistro in Del Mar, CA, has scheduled similar guest bartender nights regularly for more than two decades, inviting fundraising groups to bring in their own bartender.

The author of a book about bees caused a buzz at FARMbloomington's Summer Culinary Guest Dinner Series earlier this year. The $44 five-course dinner included a welcoming cocktail; honey-flavored beverages and a wine pairing were extra. A local honey farm provided samples of its products at the Indiana restaurant.

For Blue Restaurant & Bar in Charlotte, NC, the ticket is opera. A $65 multicourse meal includes performances by artists from Opera Carolina and a champagne reception. At the opposite end of the cultural spectrum, Boston's Rialto Restaurant & Bar brought in Harvard University's Hip Archive for an evening of break dancing and food.

Make a game of it.

Contests can be a fun way to drum up some action. Ted's Montana Grill recently asked burger fans to explain why they like the chain's version; in exchange, entrants qualified for a free burger and a chance to win a Toyota Prius or a trip to Montana. Fans were invited to upload a photo, make a video, perform a song or write something describing their feelings and submit it to the company's website. “Say it. Sing it. Or shout it out,” says George McKerrow Jr., c.e.o. of the chain. “We want everyone, everywhere, to know just how great our burgers really are, and who better to tell the world than our very own fans.”

Schlotzsky's introduced three Big League Clubz sandwiches with the help of a web microsite in which fans could enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to St. Louis during Major League Baseball's all-star game. The site included video games and a fantasy baseball league that involved drafting friends for teams. It included links to Facebook and other social networking sites.

This past summer, a new operation in Atlanta, Pacci Ristorante, promoted its presence by letting a server's coin flip determine whether breakfast was on the house. The promotion, called The Scramble Gamble, covered special menu items. “We wanted all the neighbors to know that we're a great place for breakfast, so we came up with the Scramble Gamble as a way to introduce ourselves to them,” says Keira Moritz, executive chef. The staff delivered sugar cookies decorated to resemble fried eggs to invite neighbors to try their luck.