How to Create a Restaurant Marketing Plan: Strategies, Tips & Template
The Rezku Team
How to Create a Restaurant Marketing Plan: Strategies, Tips & Template
Building a successful restaurant takes more than great food and service.
You need a clear, actionable restaurant marketing plan to attract new customers, retain regulars, and grow your brand.
Whether you’re opening a new location or trying to boost traffic at an existing one, this guide walks you through the exact restaurant marketing objectives, strategies, steps, and tools to market your restaurant in 2025 and beyond.
We also provide restaurant marketing strategies examples and give you a marketing plan template for a restaurant to help your business grow.
TL;DR
- A restaurant marketing plan outlines your goals, target audience, budget, and strategies for attracting and retaining customers.
- Great marketing strategies for restaurants include social media, local SEO, events, loyalty programs, and influencer partnerships.
- Use our free restaurant marketing template to build a restaurant marketing plan tailored to your business and market.
What Is a Restaurant Marketing Plan?
A restaurant marketing plan is a structured document that outlines how a restaurant will promote itself to increase visibility, drive traffic, and generate revenue. It includes the restaurant’s marketing strategy, goals, target audience, budget, and chosen promotional tactics.
Unlike random promotional efforts, a well-structured marketing strategy for a restaurant focuses your resources and ensures every dollar and hour invested in marketing contributes to specific outcomes. It’s an essential part of your restaurant business plan marketing strategy, helping both new and established restaurants grow intentionally.
Why Do You Need a Good Restaurant Marketing Plan?
Wondering how to start a restaurant business and attract customers? Already own a well-run restaurant, but struggling to stand out in a saturated market? One key consideration is implementing a solid marketing strategy. A great marketing plan provides your team with clear direction, helps track results, and ensures consistency across all channels.
It also lets you adapt faster to restaurant industry trends and shifts, whether that means pivoting your social media approach, adjusting menu positioning, or launching targeted campaigns for slower days. Restaurants with clear, goal-oriented marketing plans see stronger ROI and better long-term brand loyalty.
What Is a Restaurant Marketing Strategy?
A restaurant marketing strategy is the set of actions you use to reach potential diners and build loyalty. While your marketing plan is the overall roadmap, the strategy is how you execute it—from the platforms you use to the tone of your messaging.
Your strategy may focus on digital-first tactics, such as Instagram and Google Ads, or more local, experiential approaches, like in-house events and community partnerships. Smart restaurants employ multiple strategies to stay top-of-mind for various types of guests.
7 Restaurant Marketing Strategy Examples
A restaurant, new or already established, can adopt several types of marketing to help attract and retain customers. Marketing strategy for a restaurant examples include:
1. Social Media Marketing
Restaurants utilize social media platforms to increase awareness, showcase their dishes, and share behind-the-scenes content. Instagram is great for visual storytelling. What works: consistent visuals, showing the team behind the food, and real-time Stories.
Avoid stock imagery or the use of AI. Even low-production smartphone content, such as photos and videos, can outperform polished ads if it’s personal and authentic.
2. Local SEO & Google Business Profile
If your Google Business Profile is outdated, you’re losing revenue. Restaurants that update their hours weekly, add real photos of their food, and respond to reviews often rank higher in local search results.
Include structured menu links and holiday hours. It’s free traffic—too many restaurants ignore it.
3. Email & SMS Marketing
Restaurants that capture customer emails at point-of-sale or Wi-Fi login can use automated emails for post-visit follow-up, birthday promotions, and seasonal menus. SMS should be used for high urgency—“tonight only” or “limited tables left.”
Avoid oversending. One email per week is often ideal for casual concepts.
4. Loyalty Programs
Digital loyalty platforms or integrated POS programs can help increase visit frequency. Programs tied to actual spend (rather than visits) tend to generate more repeat business.
The best POS system for a restaurant, such as Rezku, will allow you to track customer data, personalize offers, issue VIP cards, and more. Use the data to segment customers by frequency or average order size and target high-value guests with tailored rewards.
5. Events and Promotions
What moves the needle isn’t just generic “live music” nights. Strategic events—like first responder appreciation day or wine-and-food pairing menus—can tie into local culture.
Promotions work best when they’re time-boxed and exclusive. Track redemption rates to know what works.
6. Influencer Collaborations
Don’t just collaborate with anyone with “foodie” in their handle. Vet micro-influencers based on engagement rate and local audience fit. Look at their past content to assess quality and tone.
A well-executed partnership can generate 20+ content assets from one visit.
7. Community Partnerships
Local schools, gyms, or non-profits often need food donations or sponsors. Restaurants that give thoughtfully (not randomly) earn lasting goodwill. Instead of just donating a gift card, invite the group in for a dine-to-donate night with a clear giveback percentage.
What Should Be Included in a Marketing Plan for a New Restaurant?
The marketing strategy of a restaurant should incorporate several key factors to be as effective as possible. Let’s take a look at these.
Business Overview
Keep it short. Outline cuisine, service model (fast casual, full-service), price point, and neighborhood context. This guides all marketing decisions.
Marketing Goals & KPIs
Don’t just say “increase traffic.” Set goals like “achieve $2,000/week in takeout sales by Week 8” or “generate 150 pre-opening email signups.” Tie each goal to measurable KPIs like CTR, conversion rate, or ticket size.
Audience Personas
Use actual local data, like demographics from your ZIP code, Google Analytics insights from a landing page, or observed customer behaviors. Create 2–3 profiles: one lunch diner, one evening diner, one off-peak (e.g., students, families, solo workers).
SWOT Analysis
Think operationally. Strength: the chef has following. Weakness: no parking. Opportunity: few restaurants offering your cuisine. Threat: road construction during launch. Make this specific.
Competitive Research
Visit 3–5 nearby competitors. Note their social presence, promotions, review strengths and weaknesses. Look at their menu pricing and positioning. Use this to avoid copying and instead stand apart.
Budget Allocation
Break down your launch and ongoing marketing budget: 40% digital ads, 20% content creation (photo/video), 15% print, 10% software, 15% contingency. Adjust based on what performs.
Channel Strategy
Decide platform roles. Instagram = brand storytelling. Google = intent capture. Email = repeat business. Don’t treat every channel the same. Assign cadence and content type to each.
How to Create a Successful Marketing Plan for a Restaurant Business: 8-Step Guide
Creating a successful marketing strategy for a new restaurant or one that’s already open needn’t be daunting. Your business can follow these eight steps to make a plan that works.
1. Define Your Target Audience
Base this on more than instinct. Use Census data, Point of Sale trends, and guest feedback. Identify core groups: weekday lunch crowd, weekend family groups, or takeout-heavy late-night orders.
2. Perform a SWOT Analysis
Use real risks and advantages. If your landlord offers signage visibility, that’s a strength. If your location is in a hidden corner, call it out as a weakness—and plan signage and ad spend accordingly.
3. Set Clear Marketing Goals
A good marketing plan doesn’t have 10 vague goals. Start with 3: one for awareness (e.g., impressions), one for conversion (reservations, orders), and one for retention (repeat visits). Each must be measurable.
4. Identify Your Market Differentiators
This isn’t about being “authentic” or “quality.” Focus on verifiable points: fastest lunch service in the district, only restaurant offering rotating chef collaborations, etc. Be specific or don’t list it.
5. Craft Your Brand Story and Elevator Pitch
Get your pitch to 20 words. Example: “A chef-owned neighborhood spot serving handmade pasta and natural wine in a no-fuss setting.” Avoid generic phrases. It should explain why someone would come in today.
6. Choose Marketing Channels
Narrow your focus. Trying to master TikTok, Facebook, Google, Yelp, email, and flyers all at once rarely works. Pick 2–3, dominate those, and then expand. Match them to your audience’s attention, not just trends.
7. Allocate Budget Wisely
Look at ROI. One $500 influencer dinner that gets reposted and drives 40 covers might outperform $2,000 in poorly targeted ads. Spend on content that can be reused across multiple platforms.
8. Track, Analyze & Adapt
Use actual POS and web data to measure outcomes. Check: What promos converted? What emails had the highest CTR? Don’t guess—set a monthly review process and build decisions off performance, not preference.
Free Customizable Restaurant Marketing Plan Template
Download our restaurant marketing plan template to start planning your strategy. This editable document includes prompts for setting goals, outlining promotions, budgeting spend, and tracking performance over time. Available in PDF and Word formats.
Key Takeaways
A solid restaurant marketing plan combines strategy, structure, and storytelling. With clear goals, a defined audience, and the right tools, any restaurant can increase visibility, drive traffic, and grow sustainably.
Use our restaurant marketing plan sample in PDF or Google Docs formats to kickstart your efforts and adapt based on real results.
FAQs
What is the role of a marketing plan in your business strategy?
It provides a roadmap to attract customers, grow your brand, and allocate resources effectively. A strong marketing plan aligns your business goals with actionable steps that drive results.
How to set the right marketing objectives for a restaurant?
Focus on outcomes like increasing foot traffic, boosting social engagement, or improving customer retention. Make sure goals are specific, time-bound, and tied to KPIs.
What are some examples of restaurant marketing goals?
Examples include: “Increase dinner reservations by 20% this quarter,” or “Grow Instagram engagement rate to 10% by July.”
How to create a successful marketing plan for a fast food restaurant?
Focus on high-volume digital ads, geo-targeted promotions, loyalty apps, and speed-based messaging. Consistency and quick-value offers are key.
What are the benefits of creating marketing plans for restaurants?
They improve ROI, increase efficiency, help you stay consistent, and give your team clarity. They also make it easier to track what works.
What are the 5 C’s of a marketing plan for restaurants?
Company, Customers, Competitors, Collaborators, and Context—used to analyze your market and shape your strategy.
What are the 7 P’s of restaurant marketing plans?
Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Process, and Physical Evidence—a foundational framework to cover all aspects of your marketing approach.
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