Restaurant and café marketing guide
A restaurant's marketing has two jobs: bring new people through the door, and bring last month's guests back. The second is cheaper, faster and usually neglected. This guide covers both, with the sums behind each.
→The short answer
Good restaurant marketing brings regulars back and new guests in: a loyalty scheme and email club for the people who already like you, direct ordering so you keep more of each takeaway, honest reviews asked for at the right moment, and local stories the press and food writers want to cover.
(01)Delivery app maths
Where the money goes on a takeaway order.
The real cost of delivery apps, and winning direct orders
| Order | Through an app, at the rates one restaurant told Which? it paid | On your own website, paying by UK card through Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| £20.00 | £13.40, after 33% commission1 | £19.50, after a £0.50 card fee2 |
| £30.00 | £21.00, after 30% commission1 | £29.35, after a £0.65 card fee2 |
Your commission is whatever your agreement with each app says; check it. Ordering on your own site also needs ordering software and, if you deliver yourself, drivers.
Let the apps find new customers
Apps put you in front of people who've never heard of you. That's worth paying for once.
Make direct the easiest way for regulars
A short ordering link on your website and Google profile, collection times that suit, and the same menu and prices. Regulars will order direct if it's just as easy.
Tell collection customers
A card in collection bags with your direct-ordering QR code. For app orders, check your agreement before adding anything to the bag.
Reward ordering direct
A loyalty stamp or a small extra for ordering on your own site gives people a reason to switch.
(02)Loyalty
Last month's guests are this month's easiest customers.
Loyalty that brings people back
| Stamp card | Loyalty app or digital card | Email or text club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | A stamp per visit or coffee; a free one after a set number | The same, on the guest's phone | Offers and news sent to people who've signed up |
| Best for | Cafés and takeaways with frequent visits | Busier places with many regulars | Restaurants with occasions to promote: new menus, events, quiet nights |
| What it costs | Printing | A monthly fee for the software | An email or text service |
| What you learn | Nothing about who's coming | Who visits, and how often | Who opens and books |
An email or text club needs consent for every marketing message, or the soft opt-in: guests who gave you their details while booking or buying, who were offered the chance to refuse then and are offered it in every message since3. A tick box at booking, unticked, does the job. Never buy a list.
A birthday offer is one of the most welcome messages a restaurant can send. Ask for the day and month only; you don't need the year.
(03)Reviews
Including the mistake many restaurants make.
Reviews: the free-dessert mistake
No free dessert for a review
Ask every table, at the right moment
With the bill or the receipt, with a QR code to your review link, when they've said they enjoyed it. Every table, not only the ones that look happy.
Reply, briefly and personally
Thank people by mentioning what they ate. For complaints, apologise once, explain what you've done, and offer to talk directly.
For reviews on Google and Tripadvisor and how they affect the map results, see SEO for restaurants. The templates are in our guide to getting Google reviews.
(04)Local press and food writers
Free coverage, if you give them a story.
Local press, food writers and influencers
Give them a story, not an advert
A new chef, a local supplier, a dish with a history, an anniversary, a charity night. "We have a new menu" isn't a story; "our new menu uses lamb from the farm three miles away" is.
Local papers, radio and community sites
A short email to the right person, with two good photos and a line on why it matters locally. Follow up once.
Food writers and bloggers
Invite them in to eat, with no strings attached. Some will write about you; the ones who don't may come back later.
Influencers, labelled properly
If you give an influencer a free meal, their posts should make that clear. If you've asked for the post or have a say in what it says, it's an ad and has to be labelled as one6. A post that isn't labelled reflects on you as well as them.
(05)Quiet nights
Events and offers that fill the slow end of the week.
Restaurant marketing ideas for quiet nights
A regular night with a reason
Quiz night, a set menu, a cuisine night or a guest chef. The same night every week, so people can plan around it.
Set menus for groups
A clear set menu with a price per head makes birthdays, office lunches and clubs easy to book.
Your email or text club, used sparingly
One message when you have something worth saying beats a weekly discount nobody opens.
Prices people can trust
A lower price on a quiet night, stated plainly. A "was" price you never really charged is a misleading price comparison under consumer law7.
(06)Checklist
Tick off what you already do.
A 10-point restaurant marketing checklist
(07)More for restaurants
Questions
(08)Questions
Bring regulars back with loyalty and an email club, ask every table for an honest review, give the local press a real story, and make sure people searching nearby find your menu and a booking button straight away.
Make direct just as easy: an ordering link on your website and Google profile, the same menu and prices, and a small reason to switch, such as a loyalty stamp. Put a card with a QR code in collection bags.
No. Google doesn't allow any reward for reviews, and UK law requires any incentive to be clearly disclosed. Ask every table for an honest review instead, with a QR code on the bill.
Sources
(09)Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked on the date shown.
- 1The hidden costs of the food delivery revolution, Which?. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 2Pricing and fees (UK), Stripe. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 3How do we comply with the PECR electronic mail marketing rules?, Information Commissioner's Office. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 4Prohibited and restricted content, Google Maps user-generated content policy. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 5Fake reviews: guidance on the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (CMA208), Competition and Markets Authority. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 6Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads, Advertising Standards Authority, CAP and CMA. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 7Unfair commercial practices (CMA207), Competition and Markets Authority. Checked 26 October 2026.
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