Who I work with · Food and drink

Marketing for restaurants.

Diners decide on their phone, often from the parking lot. Wrong hours or a menu that will not open, and they pick the place next door.

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How the work actually comes in

The honest version.

Most people choosing where to eat never reach your website. They search, tap your Google listing, check the hours, scroll the photos, open the menu, skim the newest reviews and decide. That listing is your front door, and usually nobody maintains it. Hours changed in October and nobody told Google. The menu link goes to last year's PDF. The photos are whatever customers uploaded. They already found you. The listing decides the rest.

Regulars choose differently. They already know the food, so they are checking something specific: are you open Monday, is the patio open yet, do you do takeout, can they book a big table for Saturday. Each of those is a small question with a small answer. When the answer is missing or wrong, they do not call to ask. They go where the answer is obvious.

By the numbers. Census County Business Patterns, 2023 counts 427 businesses classified as full-service restaurants in Plymouth County, 450 in Bristol County, 657 in Norfolk County and 1,153 in Rhode Island, which is a lot of places a hungry person can pick instead. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. Counts cover businesses with paid employees.

Where the work leaks

Your Receipt, restaurants.

SICC MEDIA

Customer copy

Receipt #49CFBE · RESTAURANTS

01
Google hours that are wrong
LEAKING
Holiday closures, the winter Monday you stopped opening, the kitchen that closes before the bar does. If Google says open and the door is locked, that diner does not come back, and some of them write the review on the drive home.
02
A menu that is a PDF or a photo
LEAKING
A scanned menu or a PDF makes a diner pinch and zoom on a phone, on cell data, in a dark car. Search engines read it poorly too. A menu written as real text on a real page loads fast, reads on any screen and can be found when someone searches for a dish.
03
The order button goes somewhere else
LEAKING
The ordering link on your Google listing may send people to a third-party delivery app instead of your own ordering, and you pay for that sale. Check where every button on your profile actually goes. Some of them were set up by someone who is not you.
04
Reservations or walk-in, and nobody can tell
LEAKING
If you take reservations, the booking link belongs on your listing, your site and your Instagram bio, all pointing to the same place. If you are walk-in only, say so plainly, so nobody wastes their evening hunting for a booking link that does not exist.

This is the general version

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The leak that costs the most

You missed the call. Now what?

One missed call. Two endings.

2:14 PMIt is the middle of the Friday dinner rush. The phone rings. You cannot get to it.
2:14 PMThey hit voicemail and hang up without leaving a message.
2:15 PMThey tap the next name on Google.
6:40 PMYou see the missed call. You call back. No answer.
The party of 12 went to whoever picked up.

An example of how it plays out, not a real customer. The text-back is part of automation for restaurants.

Timing

The year, for restaurants.

Shore restaurants in New England live on the summer and survive the winter, and the marketing has to follow that. Spring is for fixing the listing, the photos and the menu before the crowds arrive. Winter is for regulars, private parties, holiday bookings and the reduced-hours notice that actually reaches Google. Updating hours the week they change matters more in January than in July.

Where I would start

Local SEO for Restaurants

Your Google Business Profile is where most diners make the call, and fixing it is unglamorous, fast and visible. Correct hours, holiday hours, a real menu link, the right category and current photos. Nothing else on this list pays off until what people see on Google is true.

See the plan →

Everything I do

Ten services, written for restaurants.

Or skip straight to your problem

I run My business and I keep losing jobs to My problem

The list is not everything. Not on it? Pick “a business not listed,” or run the free Receipt. It works for any business.

Service 01Branding for Restaurants

Your brand shows up on the sign, the menu, the takeout bag, the specials board and the Instagram grid.

Service 02Websites for Restaurants

A restaurant site has three jobs: show the menu, show the hours, get someone to book or order.

Service 03Marketing Planning for Restaurants

Restaurants rarely have a general marketing problem.

Service 04Social Media Management for Restaurants

Instagram is the second place diners check after Google.

Service 05Content Design for Restaurants

For the restaurant that posts its own stories but hates making the graphics.

Service 06Online Stores for Restaurants

Most restaurants do not need an online store.

Service 07Automation for Restaurants

The phone rings through the Friday rush, a private party quote goes unanswered, a reservation no-shows.

Service 08Voice Agents for Restaurants

Restaurant calls ask the same handful of things.

Service 09Local SEO for Restaurants

For a restaurant, local SEO is mostly your Google Business Profile being right: hours, menu, category, photos, reviews.

Service 10Paid Ads for Restaurants

Ads can fill a private room, launch a new menu or announce an opening.

Questions

What restaurants ask first.

Do I need a website if everyone finds me on Google and Instagram?

Yes, but a smaller one than you think. Google and Instagram send people somewhere when they want the full menu, private dining details or a way to book. If that somewhere is a PDF or a dead page, the listing did its job and the click died. A fast menu page and a clear booking path cover most of what a restaurant needs.

Should I be on every delivery app?

That is a margin decision, not a marketing one, and I will not pretend otherwise. What I can do is make sure people who would happily order from you directly see that option first. Then the apps are a choice you made, rather than the default your Google listing made for you while nobody was looking.

How do I handle the winter slowdown?

Tell people early and tell them everywhere at once. Reduced hours go on Google the day they change, then the site, then social. After that, give regulars a reason to come in on the quiet nights: a set menu, a locals night, the private room for small parties. The quiet months belong to the people who live here all year.

Where they are

Towns with the most restaurants.

Providence, RI · 245Quincy, MA · 93Warwick, RI · 84Plymouth, MA · 81New Bedford, MA · 80Fall River, MA · 75Newport, RI · 69Cranston, RI · 67Brockton, MA · 49Braintree, MA · 47

Business counts by town, Census category "Full-service restaurants". Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023.

Close neighbors

Other food and drink businesses I write for.

Food trucksCoffee shops and cafesCaterers

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