Restaurant marketing: filling tables without giving away the margin.

There is a question I always ask when I talk to someone who runs a restaurant: out of ten tables on a Friday night, how many came through a channel you own? The usual answer is uncomfortable. Between the booking portal, the discount platform and the delivery app, many restaurants have outsourced the relationship with their own customer.

The problem is not using those platforms. The problem is having nothing else.

The arithmetic of the permanent discount.

Discount platforms promise full tables on slow days. And they deliver. But it is worth doing the full calculation: discount plus commission on an already reduced ticket, served with the same staff and kitchen costs as a full-price table.

And the least visible effect is the worst: the discount customer learns not to come back without a discount. That is not a criticism of that customer; it is the behaviour the mechanics incentivise. A restaurant that lives off this does not have a clientele, it has rented traffic.

The way out is not to shut the door on platforms overnight. It is to build, in parallel, the owned channels that let you depend on them a little less each month.

Owned channel 1: your Google listing, where covers are decided.

Before booking, almost everyone does the same thing: looks up the restaurant on Google, checks the rating, reads two or three recent reviews and scrolls through the photos. That listing is your first dining room.

What makes the difference in hospitality:

• Your own photos of real dishes, in natural light if possible. The photos customers post take over if you do not post better ones.
• A linked and up-to-date menu. A two-year-old menu with old prices creates distrust before anyone walks through the door.
• Recent reviews with replies. The average rating matters less than the date of the latest review and the tone of the responses. A bad review that is answered well counts for more than ten good ones with no reply.
• Exact opening hours, including public holidays. An unexpected "closed" after someone has made a trip is a negative review almost every time.

Owned channel 2: the digital menu, more than a QR code.

"Digital menu restaurant" is one of the most-searched terms in the sector, and for good reason: the QR code is here to stay. But most digital menus are a heavy PDF that reads badly on mobile.

A well-made digital menu is a fast web page, readable with one hand, with the featured dishes at the top and no download required. And it has one advantage a PDF will never have: it is indexable content. Dishes, allergens and prices become text that Google and AI assistants can read and cite when someone searches "where to eat rice nearby".

Owned channel 3: direct booking.

Every booking that comes through your website or your phone is margin that stays with you and a contact you keep. The book button needs to be one click away from any page, and the process has to be shorter than the portal's: if booking directly with you takes more effort than booking through the platform, the platform wins.

The contact comes with the most undervalued asset in hospitality: your own customer base. One message a month, with judgment and consent (the new seasonal menu, the date you open the terrace), brings back people who chose you once already. Acquiring a new customer will always cost more than bringing back a happy one.

And Instagram, where does it fit?

Instagram does a specific job: showing the atmosphere and the dish before the visit. It is a shop window, and as a shop window it is useful. What it is not, is a reliable booking channel: the algorithm decides who sees you, and the day it decides otherwise, you have nothing.

The practical rule: post what you already do (dishes, team, season), always link back to direct booking, and do not invest time there that you have not yet invested in your Google listing and your website. The order matters.

A restaurant marketing plan, on one page.

1. Month 1: complete Google listing, your own photos, readable digital menu, direct booking button visible.
2. Months 2 and 3: review system running (asking while the experience is fresh, replying to all), first contact capture with consent.
3. From month 4 onwards: a monthly message to your own base, review of which tables come from which channel, and a gradual reduction of platform dependency.

None of this requires a big investment. It requires treating marketing the way you treat the kitchen: local produce, consistent execution and no shortcut that puts the margin at risk.

In the restaurant marketing guide I explain how I work through these elements with restaurants and bars. If you want a quick read on where you stand, the diagnostic tool takes three minutes.

Frequently asked questions.

Is it worth being on discount platforms?

They can help fill slow days or get your name out there, as long as they stay a supplement and not the main channel. If a significant share of your tables depends on discounts, the model is eating into your margin.

What matters more, Instagram or Google?

Google, without question. On Instagram you have to earn attention; on Google the customer is already looking for you with the intention of eating out. Sort your listing and website first; Instagram comes after, as a shop window.

How do I get more reviews for my restaurant?

By asking at the moment of satisfaction (when paying, if the service has gone well) and making it easy with a QR code or a direct link. And by replying to all of them: the reply is marketing for the next customer.

Does the digital menu have to be a PDF?

Better not. A PDF is heavy, reads badly on mobile and Google does not handle it well. A menu as a web page is faster for the customer and becomes content that ranks.

How much should a restaurant invest in marketing?

Before talking numbers, it is worth exhausting what costs little and returns a lot: Google listing, reviews, digital menu and direct booking. Paid advertising makes sense once that base is already converting.