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Advertising for restaurants
Most people choose a restaurant on a phone, within two kilometres, in the ten minutes before they decide. Everything else is secondary.
Key points
- Map results and photographs decide more bookings than any campaign.
- The menu must be readable text, not a PDF or an image.
- Regulars are worth more than reach; build a way to reach them directly.
Restaurant marketing has one dominant channel and a long tail of things that matter far less. The dominant channel is the map result on a phone.
Get the listing right first
| Element | Effect |
|---|---|
| Correct opening hours, including holidays | very high |
| 30 or more current photographs | very high |
| Menu as readable text | high |
| Reviews above 4.3 with responses | very high |
| Booking link that works on a phone | high |
| Correct category and attributes | medium |
Wrong opening hours is the most damaging and most common error. Someone who arrives at a closed door does not return, and frequently says so publicly.
A restaurant with excellent food and a neglected map listing loses to a mediocre one with 200 photographs and current hours. That is not fair, and it is what happens.
The menu must be text
A menu as a PDF or a photograph cannot be read by search engines, is unusable on a phone, and excludes anyone using a screen reader.
A menu as ordinary web text is searchable, meaning someone looking for a specific dish in your town can find you. In practice that generates a measurable stream of visits nobody attributes to anything.
Keep prices on it and current. A menu without prices increases hesitation.
Photographs, in priority order
- Food, well lit, from above and at plate level. Daylight beside a window beats any flash.
- The room, occupied and in the evening. Empty rooms photograph as empty.
- The exterior at dusk, so people recognise it when they arrive.
- People, staff and guests with permission.
Update seasonally. A terrace photograph in December and a Christmas menu in July both signal neglect.
Build a direct line to regulars
Reach on social platforms is unreliable and shrinking. A direct list is not.
Practical routes: a printed card on the table offering something small for signing up, a booking system that captures consent, and a simple monthly message about the changing menu.
Two hundred regulars reachable directly are worth more than four thousand followers.
Delivery platforms, used deliberately
Commission of 25 to 35 per cent turns a profitable dish into a break-even one. Used to fill Tuesday evenings, that is acceptable. Used as the main channel, it is not.
Every delivery order should carry something that steers the customer to ordering directly next time. That single insert is the only way to convert platform volume into a business asset.
What rarely pays
Printed advertisements in regional papers without an offer. Sponsored posts that reach a broad, distant audience. Discount vouchers that attract people who only ever come with a voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Are delivery platforms worth it?
For volume yes, for margin rarely. Use them to fill quiet periods and steer regulars to direct ordering.
How many photographs are needed?
Thirty, updated seasonally. Food, room, exterior at night, and people, in that order of importance.
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