Marketing Strategy for Restaurant Startups: Crafting a Winning Formula

In the town where I live, we have 1 restaurant. 

You’d think that there would be an opportunity to thrive there, right?

The restaurant industry is fiercely competitive. Whether you're nestled in a bustling city or a serene countryside, there's always a diner, café, or eatery vying for the same customer base. For a startup restaurant, the initial period is crucial. It's not just about serving amazing dishes or bar food but ensuring people know about them and choose your establishment over others. 

Marketing Strategy for Restaurant

Here's a comprehensive guide on developing a winning marketing strategy for a restaurant that can be applied universally.

1. Understand Your Target Audience:

Every restaurant has a unique vibe and culinary specialty. 

If you are serving burgers and fries, and have 600 tv’s up on the walls showing sports, well then who are you targeting? Are you catering to families, young professionals, health enthusiasts, or fast-food lovers? 

When you think of people coming into your establishment, who are they? How do they want to be treated? How do they want to be served?

2. Establish an Online Presence:

This is where the rubber meets the road for me. Most older restaurants do a pretty bad job at communicating recent menus, enabling online orders, or generally being a presence on social media that is effective. The marketing strategy for a restaurant depends on the internet, people!

In the digital era, having an online presence isn't optional. At the very least, your restaurant should have a responsive website (a website that conforms to a mobile website) and active social media profiles.

Actionable Step: Use platforms like WordPress or Wix to design a user-friendly website. Ensure it's mobile-optimized, and contains your menu, contact details, and reservation options from opentable.com and others.

DoorDash & Uber Eats

I get it, they charge you money. But believe me, it’s helping you reach more people by enabling doordash or ubereats. Put yourself in your potential customers' shoes.

It’s 12 p.m., you are hungry, it’s a lazy Sunday. Rather than go out, order DoorDash, take a shower, and get back into pajamas

Or it’s Friday, you are tired. You open the refrigerator door and there is a vegetable dying a slow death in there. You open the Doordash app and get your favorite food delivered.

Apps are making it easier for people to get their favorite food delivered home to them. Think of it as marketing. It’s keeping your place top of mind for people.

3. Engage Through Social Media:

I am NOT a fan of food pictures on social media. Nobody thinks your food looks delicious! Alas, people post pictures of their food on their profiles and tag the location they are at. So in the end it doesn’t matter what I think, I know that people will be posting about their experiences and it’s important to capture this.

Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have become essential tools for restaurant marketing. They offer a visual medium to showcase your dishes, ambiance, and behind-the-scenes action.

Yelp

I hate Yelp but have to admit it’s brilliant. It gives a voice to the consumer to talk to other consumers about their experience. It’s hard to get glowing reviews on Yelp but when you do, it’s probably because you tamed the beast. I’ll never understand why someone would want to spend an hour eviscerating another human being’s restaurant because their food was cold. It’s such a bad look for us all… but I digress.

Personally, with my own business, we spent a LOT of time on Yelp in the beginning. Our experience was that we couldn’t make everyone happy (which is always true) but was drove us crazy was that same pain-in-the-ass customer would go on Yelp and tell everyone half-truths.

 Yelp is a great place to see your business for how it is, treat it carefully. 

Actionable Step: Regularly post high-quality photos and videos of your dishes, specials, and events. Engage with followers through polls, stories, and user-generated content.

Google My Business

Make this profile perfect. Here is a list of things to make sure are up to date always:

1. Menu
2. Location & hours
3. Pictures
4. Reviews

Find a review website like TrustPilot to drive reviews. I am sure guilty of choosing a restaurant over another when the one I picked has hundreds of reviews that are 5-star. It’s a better look. 

Spend a lot of time on this and you will be rewarded. You will also be rewarded with bad reviews here if your service and food aren’t up to par. The thing with Google reviews is that most people in my experience are asked for a review whereas Yelp reviews are user-generated at their own pace. Use Google reviews to bolster your business. 

I remember there was one time when we decided to bolster our Yelp reviews with a campaign to get people to review us. That was the worst thing we could have done. Out of the 2 dozen reviews that were posted, most were “hidden” from view. It’s laughable because Yelp’s system filters reviews that are sought out and gives more weight to users who put something up there of their own volition.

4. Collaborate and Partner Up:

Building local partnerships can give your restaurant added visibility. Collaborate with local businesses, events, or influencers for mutual benefits.

Actionable Step: Host events with local musicians or artists. Collaborate with local influencers for special menu nights or promotions.

5. Loyalty Programs and Special Offers:

Encourage repeat business by rewarding loyal customers. Implement a loyalty program or offer occasional discounts.

Actionable Step: Introduce a loyalty card that offers a free meal or discount after a certain number of visits. Send personalized offers to repeat customers.

6. Gather and Respond to Feedback:

In a restaurant, service and food go hand in hand.

If you have great food, but it takes 2 hours to get a customer the food, then you will suffer. 

If you have great service, but the food is not great, well you will suffer.

Any restaurant worth its weight needs to develop a staff that is all about service. The bartender needs to make sure that every single customer isn’t waiting at the bar too long for another round, The wait staff needs to make sure that their tables are constantly being serviced for every need, ask, and request. The bussing servers need to make sure that everything is cleaned at the right time and the right way. The food needs to be fresh and to be cooked well to the customer’s taste and liking. The menu needs to attract the right people. The environment needs to be inviting, and clean, and want people to come back. The host needs to seat people promptly. 

And if that isn't enough, you, as the server/ host/ bartender/ busboy/ cook, need to smile and eat a lot of shit.

Can you comprehend how hard it is for all of this to go right every day?

Customer feedback, both positive and negative, is gold for a startup restaurant. Use it to refine your services and address concerns.

Actionable Step: Set up a feedback system in place, either through comment cards, online reviews, or direct discussions. Always respond professionally and thank customers for their input.

7. Optimize for Local SEO:

Most customers search for local dining options. Ensure that when they Google "restaurants near me," yours stands out.

Actionable Step: Claim your Google My Business listing, encourage reviews, and optimize your website with relevant keywords.

8. Engage in Community Events:

Being part of community events or fundraisers can enhance your restaurant's local reputation.

Actionable Step: Sponsor local sports teams, participate in community fairs, or host charity events at your venue.

9. Offer Unique Dining Experiences:

Differentiate yourself by offering experiences, not just meals. Think themed nights, cooking classes, or guest chef appearances.

Actionable Step: Organize a monthly theme night (like "Mexican Fiesta" or "Jazz and Dine") to attract a diverse crowd.

10. Monitor and Adapt:

The food and dining industry is evolving rapidly. Regularly monitor trends, customer preferences, and your own performance metrics to adapt.

Actionable Step: Use tools like Google Analytics for your website and insights from social media platforms to gauge your marketing efforts' effectiveness.

In conclusion, a startup restaurant's journey is challenging yet rewarding. With the right marketing strategy, your establishment won't just serve meals but memorable experiences, ensuring customers keep coming back for more. By understanding your audience, leveraging digital platforms, and staying engaged with the community, your restaurant can carve out its own niche in the culinary world.

Author: Daniel Powers Jr, the founder of Real Brave™, serves as the chief inspiration to thousands of students in the Real Brave music instruction program. He's also the visionary behind PracticePad™, an online platform for live one-on-one online music lessons, lesson tracking, and scheduling. Beyond his entrepreneurial pursuits, Daniel leads a non-profit organization that provides formerly homeless children with access to music education, making a profound impact on their lives. His unwavering dedication to music, innovation, and education continues to inspire individuals to reach their fullest potential while creating positive change in communities.