Restaurant Marketing: How to Get More Customers (2026)

Your food is good, your team is good, and still too many tables sit empty on a Tuesday night. You are not alone: according to the National Restaurant Association, 60 percent of US operators reported softer customer traffic in 2025. If you want to know how to get more customers to your restaurant, skip the one big campaign. Build a few weekly habits.

Short answer: Restaurant marketing comes down to four things: getting found locally (Google Business Profile, reviews and your menu online), showing what it feels like to eat at your place with short videos, running local ads for your quiet days and building your own list of regulars. Start with your Google profile: it is free, and it is what people see when they search Google Maps for a restaurant nearby.

We follow De Waterkant, a fictional waterside café with sixty seats, a patio and a busy owner.

Get found locally: Google, reviews and your menu

When someone searches "restaurants near me", a map with Business Profiles often shows up first. According to Google, three things decide who appears there: relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot change distance, but you can work on the other two.

• Complete your profile. Correct category, holiday hours, a booking link and attributes such as outdoor seating. Google says complete and accurate profiles are more likely to show up in local results.
• Add your menu. Restaurants can use the menu editor to list dishes with descriptions and prices, so people see what you serve without opening a PDF.
• Use photos that match reality. Real dishes, your dining room, the patio and the team. Refresh them every season.
• Ask for reviews and reply to them. Ask every guest, for example with a QR code on the bill. Under Google's review policy you may not offer a reward in return (so no free dessert), and you may not ask only happy guests. Reply to every review briefly and kindly, including the critical ones.

The same rules of thumb apply on Tripadvisor, Yelp and your delivery apps: ask, respond, never buy.

De Waterkant puts a small card with a QR code on every bill: "Enjoyed it? Tell the neighborhood."

Social media and short video: show what it feels like

People choose restaurants on feeling. Short vertical videos on Instagram and TikTok show whether it looks delicious and cozy. You need no film crew, just a routine:

• Dishes: sauce poured over steak, pizza coming out of the oven, a cocktail being shaken. Ten seconds is enough.
• Atmosphere: the patio at sunset, a full room on a Friday.
• The team: the chef explaining the new seasonal dish.

UGC from guests. UGC stands for user generated content: photos and videos your guests make themselves. When someone tags you in an Instagram Story, you can reshare it with one tap. To use it in an ad, ask permission first and keep the reply.

AI video as an extra. AI lets you produce extra ad versions quickly, such as an AI persona announcing your new lunch menu. Two rules: never let an AI persona pose as a real guest who ate at your place, and never show a dish that looks different in real life. Our guide to AI labels on ads explains when you need one.

De Waterkant films three clips every Thursday during prep: the weekend special, the cake counter and the catch of the day. Twenty minutes for a week of posts.

Local ads for your quiet days

A Facebook and Instagram ad reaches people nearby who do not follow you yet. Four restaurant advertising ideas that keep it simple:

1. Target a radius around your restaurant. Small for a neighborhood bistro, larger for a place people drive to.
2. One offer per ad. "Monday mussels night" or "Sharing board for four on the patio". Not "Come visit us".
3. Aim at your slow moments. Check your till for the days that lag behind and point your ads there.
4. Make it measurable. Ask guests to mention a code word when they book. Then you know what an ad brought in.

You set the budget and can stop any time. As a rough example, De Waterkant spends $7 a day for five days on the mussels night, within a five mile radius. The full walkthrough is in how to create a Facebook ad.

The restaurant calendar at a glance

• January and February: often quiet. Time for a winter deal and Valentine's Day.
• March to May: patio season, Easter and Mother's Day (dates vary by country). Advertise the patio when the forecast shows a warm day.
• June to August: patio, tourists and Father's Day.
• September and October: business lunches and groups return.
• November and December: holiday parties, gift cards and New Year's Eve. Start early: groups often book weeks ahead.

Turn first-time guests into regulars

Bringing back a guest who already knows how good your food is beats chasing a new one. For that you need your own list of email addresses or WhatsApp numbers.

• Build the list at booking and at the table. A checkbox in your booking form or a QR code on the table. Get permission first: WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy requires opt-in, and the EU has similar consent rules for marketing email.
• Send little, but make it count. One message a month, or when something is new: the seasonal menu or a tasting night.
• Reward coming back. A stamp card or a birthday dessert, simple enough to explain in one sentence.
• Host something. A wine tasting or quiz night fills a slow evening and gives you fresh video.

On the first sunny day of spring, De Waterkant sends its WhatsApp list a single message: "The patio is open. Who's coming?"

What each tactic costs

A ballpark overview. Results depend on your location, menu and consistency.

Our suggested order: Google profile and reviews first, then a video routine, then your guest list, and only then ads. The same approach works for other local businesses, as in our hair salon advertising ideas.

In a busy kitchen, the bottleneck is usually making all that content. In Genly you paste your website and create posts, ads and short videos of your dishes in your own brand style. You can start with a trial that includes 100 credits, and plans start at 39 euros a month.

Frequently asked questions