10 Proven Restaurant Marketing Ideas

Just having good food and ambience is not enough anymore if you want your restaurant to stand out amongst competitors and bring in new visitors. 

You need to put in the extra effort to properly market your restaurant if you want your business to grow. Or else it will just be left behind by others who are focusing on marketing.

Restaurant marketing can help you promote your restaurant, get more customers, and increase your sales. Almost 90% of restaurants and other food service businesses are already using restaurant marketing strategies to expand their business, and it’s bringing in great results. 

But what exactly is it, and how can you also do it? Let’s find out.

What Is Restaurant Marketing?

Restaurant marketing is a bunch of strategies restaurants use to promote their business. It’s all about getting people to notice your restaurant, visit it, and keep coming back.

There are several stages of restaurant marketing, which include things like making people aware of your business and highlighting what makes your restaurant unique, whether it’s the food, ambience or any other special feature.

The main goal? To make your restaurant stand out amongst competitors, attract more customers, and increase revenue. 

How to Market a Restaurant?

Now we know what restaurant marketing is, but how exactly do you market your restaurant? There are a lot of ways how you can do that. Starting from the basics and must-dos, we have:

Create a Website 

A website is the first place people go to learn about your restaurant online. So, if you don’t have one already, make sure to create a website that clearly showcases your location, menu, speciality and hours. Add pictures of your food, customer reviews, contact details, etc. 

Take restaurant Miss Lily’s website as an example:

Right on their homepage, they have included pictures of their restaurant, food and services so people can see what to expect. They’ve included features to find their restaurant’s locations, check their menu, make a reservation, and get delivery, which is all important information that potential customers would want to look for before giving your restaurant a try. 

By creating a website like this, you’ll make it easier for people to access your restaurant and, in turn, increase sales. You can use platforms like WordPress, WIX, Squarespace, etc, to create one. There are several customisable templates available to help you out. 

Your website will be the first impression you’ll have on your customers so make sure it is easy to navigate. 

Create a Google My Business Profile

Google My Business is how people find your restaurant on Google Maps and search results when they search for a keyword related to your business. For example, let’s say you own an Italian restaurant in NYC. By creating a profile on GMB, whenever someone searches “Italian restaurants in NYC” on Google, your restaurant can appear in their search results.

So, it’s important to create a profile here. Simply search “Google my business” and create a profile.

Add all of the important details about your restaurant, like the location, hours, website, menu, etc. so your potential customers can easily find out anything they want to know. And if you’ve good reviews here, it’s a plus point that can bring in more customers.

Offer Online Delivery

More than 50% of the population prefers online delivery over going out to eat. This number has increased even more since the COVID-19 pandemic. Even big names like Domino’s have claimed that over 60% of their orders are placed online.

These statistics clearly show that people are moving towards online delivery more than going in person, so this is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss out on. Partner up with delivery apps like Uber Eats or DoorDash, or set up your own online takeaway ordering system to take orders. 

This not only increases your sales but also makes your restaurant accessible to people who want to eat at home. The more people you’re accessible to, the more customers you’ll have. In fact, restaurants with online ordering systems have noticed an increase in their takeout profits by 30% compared to those who don’t have such systems. 

Optimise For Mobiles

Most people search for a restaurant or place an order from their phones. So, it’s important to make sure that your website works well on mobile devices, loads fast, and is easy to use. 

If customers can’t easily read or use your site, they won’t stick around, and that’s a lost sale.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure your site is mobile-optimised:

• Compress images to improve loading time.
• Make sure your text is easy to read, and you’re not using any overly fancy fonts.
• Make buttons large and easy to tap.
• If you’re running ads on your site, check their placements on mobile so that they don’t cover or overlap any important texts.
• Test your website on multiple devices and see how it works.

Build an Email List

Maintaining a good relationship with your customers and keeping them engaged is an important aspect of restaurant marketing. You can do this with the help of email marketing. Collect emails from your website or in-store, then send out special offers, new menu updates, or events. 

You can offer exclusive incentives, like a special discount, to encourage more sign-ups and create excitement around your restaurant’s brand.

Take Salt House, for example. A restaurant in London built an entire email list by creating a pre-opening landing page. Here’s how: They offered a chance to win a £250 bar tab at their VIP opening and promoted this offer across social media. By sharing behind-the-scenes photos of the restaurant’s development, they attracted over 1,000 customer emails in just one month, with a 25% email open rate and 10% click-through rate.

List on Major Platforms

Sign up on platforms like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and local directories. Many people look for restaurants on these sites. So, being listed there means more visibility and more chances to get noticed by potential customers.

These are some basic but extremely important marketing strategies to help you connect with your customers, make your restaurant easy to find, and grow your business.

Restaurant Marketing Ideas

Aside from creating a website and running campaigns, there are also several other ways how you can market your restaurant. Here’s a list of 10 such creative restaurant marketing ideas that can help you promote and grow your business:

1. Create an Online Presence

Having an online presence is now more important than ever since most of your customers are online. In fact, 90% of customers research a restaurant online first before visiting it.

Start being active on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. Participate in viral trends, memes, or challenges to get people’s attention. Engage with your followers and even non-followers to give your business exposure.

For example, the fast food restaurant chain Wendy’s got a lot of attention for their savage replies to customers and roasting other competitors. People from all over the world found this funny and relatable, so they interacted more with their brand. 

This helped them reach millions of followers and potential customers, leading to tons of free publicity. 

2. Give Discounts or Promo Codes

Everyone loves discounts and good deals. So, offer limited-time discounts or promo codes to attract new customers and bring back the old ones. For example:

•  “Happy Hour: 20% off drinks from 3-6 PM”
• “Use CODE10 for 10% off on your first online order”

Giving such discounts and offers increases the chances of customers picking your restaurant over others.

One example of this is Domino’s “Buy One, Get One Free” pizza promotions. These deals not only increase sales during slow times but also bring customers back for more.

3. Have ‘Instagrammable’ Decor & Dishes

These days, people are all about visiting aesthetically pleasing cafes and restaurants that they can post about on Instagram. Instagram reels like “Best restaurants to visit in NYC” and “Underrated gem found in XYZ” are getting viral all over social media and getting millions of likes. 

So, making your restaurant “Instagrammable” is a good marketing move that you can use to attract influencers and visitors.

Change your decor, ambience, lighting and plating so that they look good in photos & videos. You can even include things like a “photo booth” or “selfie booth” to attract Instagram users. This is great because the more people post about your restaurant online the more exposure you’ll get. And currently, Instagram reels are one of the best ways to get that exposure.

4. Launch a Loyalty or Rewards Program

Reward your customers for their purchase or visit. This increases their loyalty, and they will come back again and again. For example, you can offer things like: “Get a free drink after ten visits” or “Earn points for every $1 spent, redeemable for discounts or freebies”

Starbucks is a great example of this. Their loyalty program reached 34.3 million active U.S. members in Q1 2024. This not only increases customer purchases but also makes them feel appreciated.

5. Collaborate With Food Bloggers & Influencers

Getting recommendations from someone you know and follow is more effective than any regular ads. According to a research, 49% of customers trust and follow an influencer’s recommendations.

So, collaborate with food bloggers and influencers who have a good amount of following. Invite them for a free meal and, in return, ask them to share their experience online. Their followers would be interested in what they post and will most likely visit your restaurant once recommended. 

6. Pop-Up Restaurants and Limited-Time Offers

You can also open a pop-up restaurant in a new location. Pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants that show up at specific locations for a short period of time. This way, you can test how your restaurant and food will perform in different locations before you open an outlet there. It also helps you introduce your restaurant and its experience in new locations.

Offer limited-time deals like “Buy one, get one free offer available only till next 3 hours”. Now, why is this a good marketing idea? Because it will create a sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out) among customers and urge them to make purchases.

7. Use User-generated Content

Encourage your customers to share their experiences by posting photos, videos, or reviews online. This content will not only help you get in the eyes of potential customers but also build a community that people trust. Your future customers will be more willing to try out your restaurant once they see the real experiences of other users. 

For example, Starbucks launched the #RedCupContest, inviting customers to post pictures of their holiday-themed cups. This campaign generated thousands of posts, giving Starbucks free advertising during the holiday season.

8. Offer Special Services Based on Festivals & Occasions

Festivals and special occasions are a time of celebration and gathering. And most people visit restaurants at a time like this. So align your offers with these occasions and create a personalised experience for your customers.

For example, during Christmas, have Christmas-themed decorations and add a festive menu with dishes like roasted turkey or hot chocolate. On Valentine’s Day, you can offer a romantic candlelight dinner package or special desserts for couples that could attract more customers.

You can also do something like what Chick-fil-A did. They offered a year’s worth of free food to their first 100 visitors when they opened their outlet in a new location. This created a lot of buzz around their brand and made people interested in visiting them. 

These extra efforts not only attract customers but also make your restaurant stand out during busy holiday seasons. 

9. Engage With Your Customers Regularly

Use social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or even email newsletters to stay connected. For example, you can share behind-the-scenes kitchen moments, recipes, or upcoming specials to keep them interested. The more they interact with you, the more they’ll remember you.

Responding to reviews, both good and bad, is also very important. Thank customers for positive feedback and show your concern for the negative ones. You could even host online polls, asking them about their favourite dishes or suggestions for the menu. This makes customers feel valued and more likely to revisit.

10. Host Events and Workshops

Give people a reason to visit your restaurant beyond just dining. Hosting events like karaoke nights, trivia quizzes, or live music performances can make your place a fun hangout spot. You can also organise workshops like cooking classes or wine-tasting sessions to make the experience more interactive for customers.

Blackmarket Bakery in San Diego does this. They regularly offer baking classes to their customers, which is not only a fun experience but also lets the owners generate more revenue than usual.

These events don’t just bring in more customers, but they also give customers an experience to talk about. It’s a great way to share the word about your business.