For restaurants ยท Marketing planning
A marketing plan for restaurants.
Restaurants rarely have a general marketing problem. They have a Tuesday problem, a January problem, or a private room nobody books. The plan starts there.
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Slide it
You vs. Joe & Mama's Kitchen.
Left is your website today. Right is the one Joe & Mama's Kitchen has. Drag the line, then hit the button.
Crickets on the left. That is the problem.
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Illustration. Joe is made up. Your competitor is not.
The restaurant version
Why it matters.
Ask an owner what the marketing is for and the answer is usually more people. More people on which night? A packed Saturday does not need help. The empty weeknight, the dead weeks after the holidays, the function room that books twice a year: those are specific problems with specific fixes, and a plan that names them is worth more than any posting schedule.
Seasons make this sharper on the coast. In a beach town the summer looks after itself, so the plan is really about the other months: keeping regulars, filling private events, and deciding whether to cut hours or push a winter offer. Write that down before September, not in the middle of February.
What I would build
For a restaurant.
A written position: what kind of meal you are, for whom, and why someone picks you over the other places nearby. Short enough that a server can say it to a guest who asks.
The offer, defined tightly enough to put a price on: a weeknight set menu, a locals night, a private dining package. Something specific to promote instead of a vague invitation to stop by.
Which channels get effort and which get ignored. For most restaurants that means the Google listing and one social platform done well, instead of five accounts posting stale specials.
What gets measured: covers by night, private event inquiries, direct orders versus app orders. Plus the threshold that triggers a decision, so the plan changes when the numbers say it should.
The mistake I see
Marketing the busy nights because they look good
Posting a packed dining room on Saturday is satisfying. It also spends your best content on the night that needed nothing. Meanwhile Tuesday stays empty because nobody gave anyone a reason to come on Tuesday. A plan aims effort at the gaps, not at the highlights.
What you get
Marketing planning.
Before anybody designs anything, I figure out what you are selling, to whom, and what has to happen every week.
- A written position: what you sell, to whom, and why you over the alternative
- The offer, defined tightly enough to put a price on
- Which channels get effort and which get ignored
- A weekly rhythm somebody can actually keep
- What gets measured, and the threshold that triggers a decision
How it goes
For a restaurant, step by step.
→ Keep scrolling. It moves sideways.
One long conversation
Your numbers, your best customers, the jobs you wish you had more of.
Narrow it
Most plans fail from doing six things badly. I pick two.
Write it down
One page. If it needs ten, it will not survive a busy month.
Set the review
A date to look at it honestly and change it.
Step five is you.
The free Receipt shows what your restaurant should fix first. About half a minute, no card.
Print my Receipt →
Questions
What restaurants ask.
Is a plan worth it for a single location?
One location is exactly where it pays off, because there is nothing else to absorb a bad month. The plan is one page. It names the slow periods, the offer for each, the two channels that get attention and the weekly routine. It takes one long conversation, and it changes how everything else gets spent.
Should we discount to fill slow nights?
Sometimes, carefully. A discount that trains people to come only on half-price night is a bad trade. A set menu, a themed night or a small event gives people a reason without cheapening the regular menu. I help you price it so it fills seats without eating the margin.
How often do we revisit the plan?
Before each season. A seasonal restaurant usually needs a summer version and an off-season version, and the review date is written into the plan itself. If the numbers move sooner, the plan already says what to do about it, so nobody waits for the calendar to admit something is not working.
Everything else
Other services for restaurants.
Same service
Marketing planning for other businesses.
Where I work
Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Start here
See what your customers see.
The Receipt looks your restaurant up the way a customer would and itemizes what is costing you calls. It is free. Or skip it and book fifteen minutes with me.
Or text (508) 546-9942