Lotería Night
Community Event Series · Event Production · Paid Social
CLIENT El Gallo Giro
ROLE Concept, Event Production & Social
LOCATIONS Panorama City, Van Nuys, Huntington Park
DATE October – November 2024
A free game night series I created to turn slow evenings into full dining rooms at El Gallo Giro. Built around a game our customers grew up playing, the first night sold out, lifted sales 17%, and earned two more.
140
RSVP spots claimed in Panorama City and Van Nuys
2
follow-up events approved after the first night
3
lotería nights over the course of 5 weeks
The Opportunity
Filling Seats After Dark
The CEO flagged slow sales at three locations, especially in the evenings. The answer wasn’t another discount. It was a reason for the neighborhood to come in and stay.
Lotería is a traditional Mexican game with deep cultural roots, played across generations by the first-generation Mexican-American community that makes up El Gallo Giro’s core customers. A game night could bring families together, build community around the brand, and fill the stores during hours they’d normally sit empty.
What I Did
Bringing Lotería to the Table
I pitched Lotería Night to the CEO as a free, RSVP-only game night designed to do three things: bring people in, keep them there, and give them a reason to come back. Once he said yes, I owned it end to end. I built an Eventbrite page for each location, worked with our graphic designer on the flyers, and ran Facebook ads targeting the surrounding neighborhoods.
For each event, I ordered supplies, set up the room, and coordinated store managers and staff, from prepping tables to calling the cards. I put together prize bags, secured concert tickets through our PR partner, and had staff pass out pan dulce and champurrado samples so players were craving more before the last card was called. Every prize was chosen to bring guests back: gift cards and coupons for the restaurant, plus concert tickets that kept El Gallo Giro top of mind.
“We used to play lottery all the time and this brought many, many warm feelings to me. Continue making people happy, you made this old man happy.”
— Frankie, Panorama City
The Results
Sold Out, Then Asked Back
Every RSVP spot was claimed before the doors opened: 60 of 60 in Panorama City and 80 of 80 in Van Nuys. On the night of the first event, Panorama City’s net sales rose 17% over the same night the week before, an extra $1,980 from a free event. That lift is what got the next two nights approved, and guests kept commenting and DMing to ask when the next one was.
