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Josh Kopel | Award Winning Restaurant Consultant

Technology for Restaurants: Bo Davis on DIY Tech Solutions

Bo Davis has made a name for himself within our industry by creating MarginEdge, a restaurant management software that helps owners and operators better control costs and scale profitability. But, what most don’t realize is that Bo began as and is still a restaurateur himself. In today’s conversation, we unpack what it took to create a successful restaurant brand and how building tech to solve his problems helped him do it.

For more information on MarginEdge, visit https://www.marginedge.com/.

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Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other content:

Yelp for Restaurants Podcasts

Restaurant expert videos & webinars

Restaurant Marketing: Randy Dewitt of FB Society Thrives

I’m obsessed with massive growth. Though I have no desire to own dozens of restaurants, I think there’s a ton to be learned from the folks that do.

Randy Dewitt is a scaling mastermind. From a single cafe, he launched an empire that includes Twin Peaks, Velvet Taco and countless other national brands.

We recommend you Check Our Restaurant marketing strategies to Boost your Sales.

Today Randy shares the essential elements that have enabled him to create hit after hit.

For more on FB Society go to www.fb-society.com

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SignUp for Our Weekly Newsletter: https://pineapplepost.news

Booktime on Josh’s personal calendar: https://bit.ly/3otQm8z

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

Full Comp –https://restaurants.yelp.com/full-comp-podcast/

The Happy Mouth Morning Show –https://restaurants.yelp.com/happy-mouth-podcast/

Restaurant Marketing School –https://restaurants.yelp.com/hospitality-marketing-podcast/

The Playbook –https://restaurants.yelp.com/the-playbook-restaurant-stories/

Restaurant Profitability: Julia Coney’s Wine for Change

For many of us, wine is hard. It’s a world with a language all its own and there’s justsomething about it that’s always made feel foolish.

Whether by design or not, that uneasiness…thatinaccessibilityneeds to change.

One of the soldiers leading the charge towards diversity and inclusion is Julia Coney. Hermissionis to bring the world of wine to underserved groups and bringing diversity to the industry at large.

Today we explore her role within the industry and her efforts to make the wine world look more like the world around us. For more on Julia and her initiatives go to www.juliaconey.com

SignUp for Our Weekly Newsletter: https://pineapplepost.news

Booktime on my personal calendar: https://bit.ly/3otQm8z

Downloadour restaurant recovery guide: https://bit.ly/2ZAcmo0

Wantto streamline your front-of-house operations and increase sales? Head over to http://restaurants.yelp.com/fullcomppodcast toclaim your free page and learn more about these powerful tools for your business.

Restaurants Technologies: The Case for Change with Celebrity Chef Andrea Drummer

I’ve never wanted to be the first anything. It takes courage to do something no one has ever done before, to dream a new dream. Chef Andrea Drummer has that courage. Today we discuss the changing tides within our industry and our culture…covering everything from cannabis to diversity.

Click to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Click here to book time on my personal calendar.

Click here to download our Restaurant Recovery Guide.

Want to streamline your front-of-house operations and increase sales? Head over to http://restaurants.yelp.com/fullcomppodcast to claim your free page and learn more about these powerful tools for your business.

SHOW NOTES

  • Noticing race inequality
  • Grew up poor in a middle-class neighborhood
  • Noticed white flight
  • Noticed the difference in education when attending a partially private, predominantly white high school and majority black high schools
  • Called an n-word at age 19 by a man in a pickup truck
  • Starting in culinary
  • Always been creative in the kitchen
  • 1st career in non-profit
  • Advocated against cannabis use
  • 2nd career as a cannabis chef
  • Getting into cannabis cooking
  • Moved to California from New York
  • Went to culinary school
  • Stress of culinary school caused illness
  • Severe chronic pain
  • Prescribed opiates but took cannabis instead to relieve pain
  • The body metabolizes cannabis in a different way with food
  • Cooking with cannabis made sense
  • Making cannabis use accessible
  • Increasingly being used by the older generation
  • Less likely to be smokers
  • The effects of a cannabis meal
  • Choose your own strength
  • Particpants inform Andrea of what they want to experience
  • Tolerance
  • Strength of high
  • Andrea can infuse on site to strengthen the high
  • Cannabis quality
  • Purchased wholesale
  • One grower
  • Organic, outdoor grown
  • High in THC
  • Business during Covid
  • More enquiries for private dining experiences
  • Focussing on delivering at-home solutions to patrons
  • Minorities and women in the industry
  • Andrew Zimmern mentioned we have the opportunity to change how minorities and women have been treated so far in the industry
  • Andrea creates equality in culture
  • Focusses on uplifting black women
  • Importance of good work environment
  • Kitchens used to be hostile
  • Chefs would throw things
  • Andrea redefines her working kitchen
  • Better working hours
  • Friendly environment
  • If you are not good to yourself, you are not good for the kitchen
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Being apolitical is damaging to the movement
  • Silence is impactful
  • Encouraging non-black folks to listen and be open to hearing the truth
  • The world is changing
  • We all have a desire to be better
  • We are still creating and learning during this time
  • Success has no playbook
  • Andrea is relatively new to culinary business
  • Creating her own rules with intention
  • Being true to oneself
  • Reflecting during Covid
  • Opportunity to be authentic and original when everything is quieter

Restaurant Business Plan: Virtuous Leadership by Erick Williams

What does it mean to be a chef? Chef have long been known for high standards, attention to detail and an unparalleled work ethic. But they have also been know for big egos and bad tempers.

Slowly things seem to be evolving. Today we chat with Erick Williams of Virtue who is redefining what it means to be a chef.

Check Our Restaurant Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Business Fast.

Erick’s standards are as high or higher than most but he leads with a grace, warmth and empathy…qualities somewhat unique to back of house.

In our conversation, the chef shares how his life and his career have evolved into something that can only be described as virtuous.

For more on the Erick’s restaurant go to https://www.virtuerestaurant.com

________________________________

SignUp for Our Weekly Newsletter: https://pineapplepost.news

Booktime on Josh’s personal calendar: https://bit.ly/3otQm8z

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

Full Comp –https://restaurants.yelp.com/full-comp-podcast/

The Happy Mouth Morning Show –https://restaurants.yelp.com/happy-mouth-podcast/

Restaurant Marketing School –https://restaurants.yelp.com/hospitality-marketing-podcast/

The Playbook –https://restaurants.yelp.com/the-playbook-restaurant-stories/

Restaurant Business Plan: Chef Donald Young’s Prolific Pop-Up Concept

Today’s guest plays by his own rules. Chef Donald Young is one of the youngest Michelin-awarded chefs in the world who, after years of working in traditional brick and mortar restaurants, gave it all up to build a pop up concept in the heart of Chicago. In our conversation we discuss what it takes to truly master a craft, the power of a beginner’s mindset, adn the courage it takes to start over again. 

For more information on the chef, visit https://www.ducksel.com/.

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Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other content:

Yelp for Restaurants Podcasts

Restaurant expert videos & webinars

Restaurant Marketing Agency: Never Waste a Good Crisis

Optimism. It seems almost delusion in these strange times we find ourselves in. 

The uncertainty that the following months and even following years project is nerve-wracking to a hospitality professional like me. I believe we need to find optimism and positivity to get through it. Despair stops us, where hope drives us forward. 

I spoke to Jon Strader, founder of Hatchet Hall, to talk through the ways he is seizing opportunities in a stalling industry.

We Recommend you to Check Our Restaurant Marketig Strategies to Boost your Sales.

Reinventing the Wheel

They say there’s nothing new in the hospitality industry. At least there hasn’t been in decades. Jon proposed new tweaks and diverging avenues to keep his restaurant afloat.

“We created really well-curated market-style boxes, we got some merch going, we made family-style meals for pre-ordering to go, and that was great for the first couple of weeks! People want to support,” he said. He soon realized that to reignite his operations, however, these small pivots would not be enough.

“We got permission from the city to serve beverages in the parking lot so we put picnic tables out there to try and get the customers’ confidence back. It’s a different game. It’s all about adaptability and coming up with ideas on the fly”.

What I am most inspired by is Jon’s willingness to take these risks with no guarantee that they will pay off. Creating merchandise, installing a pre-order system, and, essentially, remodeling the parking lot is not cheap. These quick-fire experiments take investment and a ton of confidence that the outcome will be worth it. You at least want to break even eventually from those quick changes. Jon’s tenacity and persistence in the face of instability are pretty awe-inspiring to see.

Creating a New Wheel

Another bold leap that Jon Strader took was to buy a new restaurant. 

Yes, you read that right! He bought a new restaurant.

I have been speaking to quite a few hospitality industry influencers about the closures of restaurants. It’s truly heartbreaking to see those staples of high streets close, but when one door closes, another opens.

Jon saw an opening with his business partner, Jack Leahy, to go for a potential business idea that they had always fantasized about. 

“We had always just joked around about having a pizza concept, but when the pandemic happened I said, we should really go for it,” he reveals, “I think everyone is looking for approachability and an entry-level experience so I think the category of coffee, pizza, burgers, sandwiches, and tacos are kind of recession and COVID-proof.”

On a shoestring budget, they transformed a closing restaurant into a New York style, casual dining pizza concept. They were frugal with equipment and design to get the restaurant up and running practically overnight. It shows me that with some ingenuity and determination, you still have a fighting chance.

“You almost need to reconceptualize completely and start over” Jon advises and I couldn’t agree more. In these rocky times, it seems we almost have to get back to basics and reimagine what the industry could be. It’s equally excruciating and exciting. We’re in for a complete shakeup. 

I, for one, am so excited to see what comes next.

Restaurant Profit Margin: Marketing Masterclass with Brett Linkletter

Great food, drinks and service are only half the battle. What’s the point of offering a world-class product and service if no one knows about it. As hospitality professionals we are as responsible for restaurant marketing our wares as we are for perfecting them.

But how?

Enter Brett Linkletter of Misfit Media. Brett and his team have been working for years to master social media marketing and advertising. On this episode, Brett runs us though his tips and tricks for sharing your vision with the world.

Click to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Click here to book time on my personal calendar.

Click here to download our Restaurant Recovery Guide.

Want to streamline your front-of-house operations and increase sales? Head over to http://restaurants.yelp.com/fullcomppodcast to claim your free page and learn more about these powerful tools for your business.

SHOW NOTES

  • Beginnings of Misfit Media
  • Marketing vs Advertising
  • Marketing articulation of what makes your product or service good
  • Advertising is to create awareness
  • Misfit Media three stage process
  • Difficulties during Covid
  • 150+ clients pre-covid
  • 25% clientele canceled wiith no warning
  • 25% paused until further notice
  • Pivoting during Covid
  • Optimizing systems for online
  • Develop new systems
  • Becoming more effective as an agency
  • Investing more during Covid
  • DineLine
  • Integrated solution from marketing to sale
  • enables online ordering for restaurants
  • POS integration
  • Misfit Media marketing integration
  • delivery from third party apps
  • Restaurants haven’t changed much in the past 100 years
  • Opportunity to do things differently
  • Josh has done physical advertising e.g mailers
  • Found more success with digital paid advertising
  • Paid advertising works so well because it is hyper focussed
  • Underutilized – restaurants are slow to move into technology
  • Misfit Media find the best results with Facebook and Instagram advertising
  • Next Door and Yelp marketing have good results too
  • Budgeting for paid social media advertising
  • Ad spend of $500 per location per month
  • No need to spend more than that
  • Frequency of an ad – number of times someone has seen the ad
  • Wasting money if the same people are seeing the same ad again and again
  • Messenger is also high open rate
  • Average engagement rate for followers is 0.5%
  • Advertising to grow followers arre not useful
  • Create a custom audience after collecting data
  • Enables you to exclude customers already collected
  • Every dollar spent is going to acquisition and building database
  • Advertising group should be min 30,000 people
  • Key KPI
  • Cost per contact
  • Good average is $1-1.20 per lead
  • If 20% of leads collected convert to customers, that is a $5 acquisition
  • Biggest advertising mistake
  • Boost posts
  • No KPIs for success
  • Lazy way to advertise
  • Learning abut social media advertising
  • Restaurant Accelerator course by Misfit Media
  • Billy Gene marketing programs
  • Reopening campaigns step by step

Restaurant Business Plan: Keith Benjamin’s Empire Vision Crafting

The numbers tell the story. Statistically, it’s nearly impossible to scale within our industry which is why so few do so. Keith Benjamin is the exception. With over 15 locations under his belt, Keith has broken the mold by systematizing that “it factor” we’re all looking to achieve. In today’s conversation, we discuss how to build with intention, the tools to create massive awareness, and the essential elements of a cool concept. 

For more information on Keith's restaurant group, visit https://uptownhospitality.com/.

____________________________________________________________

Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other content:

Yelp for Restaurants Podcasts

Restaurant expert videos & webinars

Restaurant Consultant: Ellen Bennett’s Entrepreneurial Grit

The hardest part of ownership isn’t owning the business, it’s in owning the choices you’ve made and the impact they have on you and your team. Today, we chat with multi-million dollar culinary clothing maven, Ellen Bennett. Ellen wrote a book that’s one part biography and one part action plan for aspiring entrepreneurs. In this conversation, we run though what the past 10 years has been like for Ellen, bringing to light the leadership lessons that have made her company so successful.

Check Our Restaurant Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Business Fast.

You can pick up Ellen’s new book Dreams First, Details Later at major retailers everywhere.

____________________________________________________________

Full Comp is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time.

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out our other shows:

Restaurant Marketing School

Restaurant expert videos & webinars

Technology for Restaurants: Ken Grossman’s $3000 Investment to Billion Dollar Company

Ken Grossman is a craft brewing pioneer. In the late 1970’s, he, along with about half a dozen other brewers, started the first craft breweries in the US. Over 40 years later, the other guys are no longer in business and Ken’s company is worth over one billion dollars.

Check Our Restaurant Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Business Fast.

In our conversation together we talk about what it took to survive in those early days and the critical decisions he made along the way to become the king of craft brewing.

For more on Sierra Nevada go to https://sierranevada.com

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SignUp for Our Weekly Newsletter

Booktime on Josh’s personal calendar

We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting:

FULL COMP

The Happy Mouth Morning Show

Restaurant Marketing School

The Playbook

Restaurant Advertising: 12 Proven Strategies to Fill Seats in 2026

Expert Summary

Restaurant advertising expert Josh Kopel recommends that operators focus 70% of their ad budget on retargeting existing customers and lookalike audiences rather than cold traffic. The restaurants seeing the highest ROI in 2026 combine Google Local Service Ads with geo-fenced social campaigns within a 5-mile radius. Below is the full 12-strategy framework.

To bring in more diners to your restaurant, creative and unique marketing tactics are essential. In this article, we’ll reveal 10 verified ways of advertising that can help build up a bigger customer base for your business and make it the talk of the town.

Restaurant advertising is the paid promotion of your restaurant through channels like Google Ads, social media, local directories, and traditional media to drive awareness, foot traffic, and revenue. Unlike organic marketing, advertising gives you direct control over who sees your message and when. The key to effective restaurant advertising isn’t just spending money — it’s investing in the right channels with the right message at the right time. After running ad campaigns across three multimillion-dollar restaurant concepts, I’ve found that most restaurant owners waste up to 40% of their ad spend on poorly targeted campaigns that drive one-time visits instead of repeat customers.

Key Takeaways

I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on restaurant advertising over my career, and the single most important lesson I’ve learned is this: the best restaurant ad in the world is worthless if you don’t have a system to turn that first visit into a lifetime customer. Focus your ad budget on driving measurable, repeat revenue — not just impressions.

Josh Kopel, Michelin-awarded restaurateur and host of Full Comp podcast
  • Craft a winning restaurant marketing plan to identify target market and set clear advertising goals.

  • Leverage social media, paid ads, organic reach & user-generated content for promotion.

  • Offer special offers & promotions to boost sales and engage local community through analog mediums.

Crafting a Winning Restaurant Marketing Plan

The first step in the process is to identify your target market and establish clear advertising objectives.

Generating interesting advertisements that speak directly with potential customers will help ensure they keep coming back over time as well. Following these key guidelines can enable you to create an efficient restaurant marketing plan which has all the necessary ingredients needed to achieve massive success.

Check Our Restaurant Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Business Fast.

Identifying Your Target Market

Gathering customer insights and analyzing your competition are both essential to building successful marketing strategies that reach the right people.

Consider key attributes like location, type of restaurant, food options offered when segmenting into distinct buyer personas. This should help you determine your target audience with precision.

Once identified, it will be easier to craft campaigns which connect directly with customers, aiding in encouraging a loyal clientele base for long-term success.

Setting Clear Advertising Goals

Advertising campaigns for restaurants should be planned with Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Time-sensitive goals in mind.

SMART objectives provide a framework that ensures the advertising ambitions are practicable and possible. It clarifies these aims while inspiring dedication from your promotional team too.

Allocating Your Marketing Budget

Allocating a sensible marketing and advertising budget is the key to achieving successful strategies and economical resource usage. It is advised that small businesses should invest 7-8% of their revenue on promoting activities.

Creating a Google Business Profile for your restaurant has its advantages, including higher visibility in searches within Maps as well as local search engine results, this then amplifies exposure which can potentially lead to more customers visiting the restaurant online or using an online ordering platform associated with the restaurant. Investing in localized SEO initiatives will improve one’s listing rankings, thus driving extra visitors towards your establishment/ website.

Leveraging Social Media for Restaurant Promotion

Restaurant advertising ideas on social media platforms

To better promote your restaurant in the digital world, try a variety of social media marketing strategies. Using platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram for targeted advertising can be an effective way to build up online presence through appealing visuals and content.

By utilizing these resources correctly you’ll have access to powerful tools that will help spread awareness about your business across different networks. Taking advantage of ads is helpful if you want to effectively scale awareness on a compressed timeline.

Instagram Ads That Entice Food Lovers

Visually appealing Instagram ads for restaurant promotion

Instagram ads can be an excellent way of displaying what you do best in the world. Beautiful images of what you serve, as well as the people you serve, and highlighting your team are surefire ways to capture attention with these advertisements. Be sure to leverage specific calls to action so that viewers of the ads know exactly what you want them to do next. Do not make the mistake of incorporating more than one call to action into each advertisement.

Facebook Location Ads for Local Reach

By utilizing Facebook location ads, local restaurants are able to target customers within their vicinity and invite them to visit with an incentive. That incentive doesn’t need to be a discount. Incentives range from limited time offers to special events.

To begin setting up these promotions, you must define the customer group they want it displayed for and pick exact locations on which advertisements should appear.

Paid Advertising Tactics That Drive Results

Paid advertising tactics for restaurant promotion

Google Search Ads, YouTube Ads and pay-per-click (PPC) will not only increase your restaurant’s chances of appearing higher in search engine rankings, but they also allow you to showcase menus, atmosphere and other offerings that may attract potential customers.

Google Search Ads for Visibility

Google Ads is a powerful and versatile advertising platform that offers reach, targeting precision, cost-effectiveness, and measurable results, making it a crucial component of digital marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes.

Here are some of the biggest benefits to leveraging Google Search Ads:

  1. Vast Reach: Google is the most widely used search engine, allowing advertisers to reach a massive and diverse audience. This extensive reach is beneficial for increasing brand visibility and reaching potential customers across the globe.

  2. Targeted Advertising: Google Ads offers robust targeting options, such as keywords, location, demographics, and even user behavior. This precision targeting ensures that ads are shown to users who are most likely interested in the products or services, leading to higher conversion rates.

  3. Cost-Effectiveness: Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad. This model can be more cost-effective than traditional advertising, as it ensures that the budget is spent on actual leads.

  4. Measurable Results: The platform provides detailed analytics and reporting tools, allowing advertisers to track the performance of their campaigns in real time. This data-driven approach helps in understanding the effectiveness of ads and in making informed decisions to optimize campaigns.

  5. Flexibility and Control: Advertisers have complete control over their campaigns, including the budget, ad placement, and scheduling. This flexibility allows for quick adjustments to optimize performance and manage costs effectively.

  6. High Intent Audience: Since Google Ads often appear in response to specific search queries, they are reaching users who are actively seeking information or solutions, indicating a higher intent to purchase or engage.

  7. Speed and Visibility: Google Ads can provide immediate visibility, unlike organic search strategies which take time to build. This can be particularly useful for new businesses or for promoting time-sensitive offers.

In terms of associated cost, with appropriate keyword targeting such search terms such as “burrito” or “pizza” plus specific geographic settings tailored to target your desired market, restaurants can expect to pay on average $2-$4 per click.

The Benefits of YouTube Ads

YouTube is one of the world’s largest video platforms, with a vast and diverse audience. This wide reach enables advertisers to connect with a broad and varied audience, increasing the potential for brand exposure and customer acquisition. Here are some of the biggest benefits to advertising on Youtube:

  1. Targeted Advertising: YouTube offers advanced targeting options, including demographics, interests, search histories, and viewing behaviors. This allows advertisers to tailor their messages to specific audience segments, improving the relevance and effectiveness of their ads.

  2. Engagement and Interaction: Video content is highly engaging. YouTube ads can capture attention in a way that other forms of advertising might not, potentially leading to higher engagement rates. Interactive features like clickable links in ads also facilitate direct interaction and immediate action from viewers.

  3. Brand Awareness and Visibility: YouTube’s global platform can significantly enhance brand visibility and awareness. It’s an excellent channel for new product launches, brand storytelling, and creating a strong online presence.

  4. Measurable Performance: YouTube provides detailed analytics, allowing advertisers to track the performance of their ads in terms of views, engagement, and conversion rates. This data helps in optimizing ad campaigns and improving return on investment.

  5. Cost-Effectiveness: With options for different budget levels and a pay-per-view model, YouTube advertising can be cost-effective, especially compared to traditional media. Advertisers only pay when viewers watch or interact with their ads.

  6. Diverse Content Formats: YouTube supports various ad formats, including skippable and non-skippable video ads, bumper ads, and overlay ads. This variety allows businesses to choose the format that best suits their campaign goals and audience preferences.

  7. Integration with Other Google Services: As part of the Google ecosystem, YouTube ads can be easily integrated with other Google advertising services and analytics tools, offering a comprehensive approach to digital marketing.

Pay Per Click Model Explained

The PPC system is an advertising method where the advertiser pays a publisher for each time someone clicks on their ad. Restaurants can benefit from this approach as it provides them with the ability to target google ads to particular audiences and interests, cost-effectiveness in raising visibility online, and immediate presence when using search engines.

Using the pay per click model makes budget allocation easy while helping you reach your desired demographic too. Never spend more than you want to and maximize the dollars that you do invest in digital advertising through the platforms referenced above.

Optimizing for Organic Reach and Free Advertising

Advertising without spending money can be effective in helping get the word out about your restaurant. Generating content from users, networking with local businesses and events, as well as leveraging online reviews are all ways to promote it that don’t require payment.

By optimizing for organic reach alongside paid advertising methods you could greatly increase visibility for your restaurant.

User-Generated Content as Social Proof

Encouraging user-generated content as social proof for restaurant

Harnessing the Power of Online Reviews

The importance of online reviews in drawing new customers to a restaurant can not be overemphasized. Responding proactively to both good and bad feedback is vital for the public’s opinion formation about your establishment, while helping develop trust among potential diners.

Networking with Local Businesses and Events

By collaborating with other local businesses, restaurants can boost their visibility and reach by organizing joint events or promotions, engaging in cross-promotion as well as co-branding products.

Ideal targets include local hotels, apartment complexes, surrounding office buildings, and other local restaurants.

Creative Restaurant Ads That Captivate Diners

One way to maximize the effectiveness of your ads campaign is to incorporate storytelling into ads, forming an emotional connection with potential customers.

Storytelling Through Ad Campaigns

Storytelling through ad campaigns for restaurant promotion

When looking to leverage storytelling techniques in your ad copy, consider crafting an authentic voice, speaking in everyday language, highlighting reviews from customers, and focusing on people instead of products.

Enticing ads capture attention by providing well-crafted tales about the people and process behind your restaurant, rather than just showcasing food alone.

Interactive Social Media Contests

By hosting interactive social media competitions, businesses can boost engagement with their audience and expand recognition for their brand.

Rewards and incentives are given to people who participate in the contest, like sharing posts or tagging friends. Examples of successful restaurant contests include giveaway gift cards, “share-to-win” initiatives and photo/video challenges.

Inviting Influencers to Your Restaurant

Teaming up with food bloggers, Instagram influencers and YouTube content creators have been known to generate great results. Such collaborations provide you the chance to reach wider audiences while helping to make more people aware of your business. Be sure to set specific metrics for success with each influencer prior to having them promote your restaurant. You must do your best to control the message and make the most of the opportunity.

Direct Mail and Local Newspaper Ads for Community Engagement

Sometimes the old school advertising techniques work as well as the new ones. Direct mail campaigns as well as advertising through local newspapers are still effective in targeting those in your community that fall within your demographic.

Boosting Sales with Special Offers and Promotions

To draw more patrons to your restaurant and enhance sales, utilizing programatic offers such as happy hours and seasonal deals through exclusive emails is an effective strategy. Here we’ll review some tactics for increasing revenue with special promotions.

Happy Hour and Weekly Specials

Happy hour promotions and weekly specials are an ideal way to draw customers during off-peak hours. Making a unique menu for these occasions by offering “less for less” increases perceived value for your customers without sacrificing your profit margin.

Exclusive Deals for Email Subscribers

Giving your mailing list access to limited time offers, menu previews and invitations to exclusive events can prompt guests to add their email address to your mailing list and come back again for future visits.

Keep in mind that it’s as important to incentivize your team to collect data as it is to incentivize your guests to provide it.

Summary

Having an effective advertising plan is essential for any restaurant to draw in more customers and bolster their sales. Restaurant advertising ideas including paid ads, organic advertising, local community outreach and exclusive offers all help create successful branding that will make your restaurant stand out amongst the competition. Utilize these techniques to provide patrons with a memorable experience they won’t forget.

What’s Changed in 2026: Notes From My Coaching Practice

My thinking on restaurant advertising has hardened this year into a single distinction: attention you rent versus attention you own. Every ad dollar rents attention — the moment you stop paying, it’s gone. Social media is rented too, and it’s low-intent by nature. There are no buyers on social media; its only job is to route attention to the surfaces you control.

Because the buying decision actually happens on a handful of high-intent surfaces: your website, your Google Business Profile, Yelp and TripAdvisor. In my masterclasses this year, I’ve pushed clients to fix those before spending a dollar on ads. The average restaurant website converts about 10% of its visitors; the rebuilds we do target 40%. That’s four times the volume from the exact same traffic, without buying a single click.

Here’s the five-minute version I give every client: seed your Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor bios with the high-intent phrases guests actually use to find you and your competitors — “date night,” “best Sunday brunch” — and work those same keywords into your automated review replies, because both the platforms and the AI search engines read them. Authority is the currency of AI search now. After applying this playbook to my own site, my search traffic has been up more than 100% month over month on average. That’s what owned attention compounding looks like.

None of this means paid advertising is dead — it means intent decides. Paid ads for B2C restaurant traffic rarely pencil out, but ads for corporate catering work really, really well, because the person searching already has a budget and a deadline. Rent attention only where intent is high; own everything else.

I break down every channel in my report on the state of restaurant marketing in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you write a restaurant advertisement?

ChatGPT is a great resource for beginning this process.

Highlight the effort that goes into the experience you provide. Remember, people can cook at home, they’re going to your restaurant for an experience.

How do you attract more customers to your restaurant?

In order to attract customers draw more patrons to your restaurant, you must focus on awareness. Utilize social media as well as email marketing to let people know you exist and give them reasons to return.

How can I identify my restaurant’s target market?

By analyzing customer and competitor data, it is possible to identify a restaurant owner target market based on pertinent factors such as food offerings, demographic information, and location.

What are some effective social media marketing strategies for restaurants?

Using advertising geared towards a specific audience, developing attractive content and engaging customers with giveaways or competitions can be powerful social media marketing tactics that restaurants employ to increase their visibility and acquire new patrons.

What are the benefits of digital loyalty programs for restaurants?

Repeat customers can be rewarded, brand loyalty cultivated and customer engagement heightened with the help of both digital marketing and loyalty programs, all beneficial for restaurants as it could lead to increased profits.

Related Guides by Josh Kopel: Want to build a complete marketing system? Read our comprehensive guides on restaurant marketing strategies, restaurant email marketing campaigns, restaurant technology tools, and improving restaurant profit margins.

New research from Josh: The Future of Independent Restaurant Profitability, 2026 · The State of Restaurant Marketing, 2026


About the Author: Josh Kopel is a Michelin-awarded restaurateur with over 20 years of experience building and scaling restaurant concepts. He is the host of Full Comp, the #1 restaurant industry podcast with 500+ episodes and over 1 million monthly downloads. Josh created the Restaurant Scaling System and teaches restaurant owners how to increase profitability through proven marketing systems and operational strategies.

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Leverage Digital Media to Drive Traffic to Your Restaurant

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