Best Marketing Strategies for Restaurants in 2025

Introduction 

Running a restaurant in 2025 isn’t just about serving great food—it’s about constantly showing up, standing out, and staying relevant in a fast-moving digital world.

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With customer preferences shifting rapidly and competition at an all-time high, marketing has become the lifeline for restaurants looking to boost visibility, attract loyal diners, and ensure future growth. 

So, the stakes are too high to ignore it.

Marketing is no longer a seasonal effort for restaurants—it’s a constant conversation,” says Donald Burns, also known as The Restaurant Coach™.

But, how can restaurants keep up with targeted and result-driven marketing amongst all the other restaurant duties?

In this blog, we’re diving into the best and most targeted marketing strategies tailored specifically for restaurants in 2025 and how AI can streamline them to generate the results that your business deserves. Let’s get into it.

Also Read: SMS Marketing for Restaurants

What Restaurants Are Missing Out on Without Marketing? 

As a restaurant owner, skipping marketing doesn’t just mean fewer social media posts—it means you’re leaving real money, loyal customers, and growth opportunities on the table. In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven landscape, marketing isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. 

1. Consistent Footfall and Repeat Business:

Word of mouth isn’t enough anymore. Without regular, targeted marketing efforts—like emails, social posts, or Google ads—your restaurant misses the chance of reminding your existing customers to return or inviting new ones to try your place. 

Customers don’t just walk in anymore—they discover, compare, and choose. And that process is happening online.

According to TouchBistro’s 2024 report, over 80% of diners search online before deciding where to eat, and 70% say their choices are influenced by digital content and reviews (TouchBistro).

No marketing = no visibility in those searches = missed revenue.

Also Read: How Livelytics can Help Restaurant Boost Revenue

2. Visibility in a Crowded Market:

There are thousands of restaurants fighting for attention. If you’re not marketing, you’re invisible to people searching for “best lunch near me” or maybe not appearing on social media. 

According to Toast, 81% of restaurant owners are using Facebook, and 78% are active on Instagram to boost visibility and connect with potential customers. If you’re not, you’re falling behind—and fast.

Marketing helps you:

• Build a recognizable voice.
• Showcase your vibe, values, and differentiators.
• Stay memorable in a saturated industry.

If your brand isn’t showing up consistently, you’re easily forgotten.

Also Read: How Does Data Analytics Help Restaurant Grow

3. Brand Identity and Emotional Connection:

Marketing isn’t just promotion—it’s storytelling. People trust brands they see often. Without it, customers don’t get to know your brand, your values, or what makes your place special. Without marketing, you’re not just missing visibility—you’re missing trust. People connect with stories and authenticity. 

Without marketing, you’re just another name on a long list of options. And in 2025, customers care about more than just food. They want connection, consistency, and stories they can relate to. Marketing builds that bridge.

Also Read: AI for Restaurant Marketing for Maximum Conversion

4. Opportunities to Maximize Revenue:

Without strategic marketing, you are missing the opportunities to reach out to your target market. Strategic marketing allows you to run targeted promotions that fill seats during slow hours, launch new menu items, or celebrate events. 

Without marketing, you miss the chance to influence dining behavior and maximize your revenue potential. You’re relying entirely on organic foot traffic or word-of-mouth, both of which are unpredictable and limited in reach.

Also Read: How AI is Improving the Table-Turnover Rate

5. You’re Missing Repeat Business:

A one-time customer is great. But a returning customer? That’s where the real value lies. 

With marketing, you’ll be getting:

• Opportunities to thank, reward, and engage loyal customers.
• Ways to collect feedback and improve the experience.
• Ongoing communication that keeps people coming back.
• Stay connected with past guests through loyalty programs, birthday discounts, event invitations, and updates. 

As per the report from Annex Cloud, it emphasizes the value of customer retention, noting that increasing customer retention by 5% can lead to a profit increase of up to 75%.

Without it, you’re relying on them to remember you, and let’s face it, with all the noise out there, that’s a gamble. A small email or SMS campaign could be the difference between a repeat visit and a forgotten meal.

Also Read: The Importance of Customer Analytics in Retail

6. Valuable Customer Insights:

When you use digital marketing, you collect data—who’s ordering, what they love, and when they visit. Without these insights, you’re just guessing. And, guesswork doesn’t work all the time. You are putting your money and efforts at stake. 

A study by Menu Tiger highlights that over 70% of customers are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers personalized promotions. This underscores the value of collecting data to better understand customers & customize behavior to tailor experiences that resonate.

But, with targeted marketing, you can better understand your audience so you can serve them better, whether that’s optimizing your menu or adjusting your hours.

Also Read: Leveraging AI to Collect Customer Insights

7. Sustained Growth and Future-Proofing:

In the restaurant industry, marketing is not just about attracting customers today—it’s about building momentum for long-term growth. Without consistent marketing efforts, restaurants risk stagnation, and in today’s competitive market, staying stagnant is a dangerous place to be.

Restaurants that invest in marketing have a better chance of adapting to changes in customer preferences and market trends. According to the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant industry’s projected sales for 2025 are expected to exceed $1.5 trillion, highlighting the growing competition and need for visibility. 

A strong marketing strategy helps restaurants remain relevant by keeping their brand top-of-mind. 69% of customers have tried a new restaurant after receiving targeted marketing materials.

Also Read: How Small Business Get Most Out of Data Analytics

10+ Best Marketing Strategies for Restaurants in 2025[+ AI Advantage]

According to the National Restaurant Association, the U.S. restaurant industry is projected to reach $1.1 trillion in sales by the end of 2025—up from $997 billion in 2023. That means more customers, more opportunities—but also more competition.

Let’s understand how the 10+ best marketing strategies can keep you ahead and achieve a competitive edge. 

1. Turn Occasional Diners into Regulars with Personalized Experiences:

Let’s face it—customers today expect more than just good food. They want to feel seen, remembered, and valued. If your marketing still sends one-size-fits-all messages, you’re likely leaving money on the table. Among the chaos and so many options available, it becomes difficult to encourage customers to keep coming back for more. 

But your regulars are your backbone. And personalization is how you keep them coming back. 

People don’t want more ads. They want more meaning. That’s where personalization comes in.” — Ann Handley, MarketingProfs

Here’s what you can do:

• Segment your audience: first-timers, loyal regulars, big spenders, etc.
• Send personalized offers based on order history or visit patterns.
• Trigger reminders when someone hasn’t visited in a while (e.g., “We miss you!”).
  

How can AI help? Manually handling your restaurant’s marketing—like collecting customer data, figuring out who likes what, and sending updates—takes a lot of time and effort. It’s easy to miss things or send messages too late. With AI, this process becomes much easier. It automatically tracks what your customers like, predicts when they’re likely to order again, and sends the right message at the right time. Less effort, better results. 

Also Read: Key Metrics Every Restaurant Owner Should Be Tracking

2. Building a Strong Local SEO Presence:

Most people are searching for food nearby and are ready to eat fast. If your restaurant doesn’t show up on Google or in local listings when someone types “best burgers near me,” you’re invisible to a hungry customer who’s just around the corner. 

That’s why local SEO is one of the most essential strategies for restaurants. It boosts your visibility, drives foot traffic, and puts your name in front of people when they’re ready to decide.

Best Tips to Do It Right:

• Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).
• Add high-quality photos of your dishes and interiors. 
• Keep your hours updated. 
• Encourage happy customers to leave reviews. 
• Use location-based keywords on your website, menus, and blog posts.

88% of consumers who search for a local business on their smartphone visit or call within 24 hours. 

How AI Helps: AI tools can monitor your online listings for accuracy, track reviews across platforms, and even suggest keyword updates based on trending searches in your area. The result? A consistent, optimized local presence that runs smoothly with minimal manual work.

Also Read: The Role Of Data Analytics in Reducing the Restaurant Waste

3. Turning Social Media into a Customer Magnet:

In today’s digital-first world, if your restaurant isn’t active on social media, you are missing where people discover food before they even taste it. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and now TikTok are the modern word-of-mouth. Almost all the restaurants are on social media. And, if you are not, you are losing to your competitors. 

From delicious food shots to behind-the-scenes videos and customer shoutouts, social media builds connection, drives traffic, and sparks loyalty, especially among millennials and Gen Z.

Best Tips to Do It Right:

• Post consistently, not just when you have a promotion. 
• Share photos of your top dishes, team stories, and real customer experiences. 
• Use geotags and trending hashtags to increase your reach. 
• Encourage customers to tag you and reshare their content—it’s free marketing! 
• Stories, Reels, and live sessions perform particularly well for engagement.
• Invite food bloggers & try your hand at influencer marketing as well

How AI Helps: AI-powered tools can schedule posts, analyze which content performs best, and even leverage predictive analytics to recommend the best times to post. This helps restaurant owners stay present on social, even when they’re busy running the kitchen.

Also Read: How AI is improving the Table Turnover Rate

4. Seasonal & Event-Based Campaigns to Maximize Timely Opportunities:

Every season brings new cravings. Think about it—comfort food in winter, fresh salads and smoothies in summer, or themed specials around Valentine’s Day. Restaurants that build campaigns around seasons or events often see a sharp increase in traffic and engagement. It’s because people are already in the mood, and you are not showing up with the perfect offering at the right time.

Over 64% of diners are influenced by promotions and limited-time deals when deciding where to eat.

Best way to do it:

• Start by marking key holidays, school breaks, and city events on your calendar.
• Plan your menu specials, social posts, and emails around those. 
• Create limited-time offers that last just a few days—urgency encourages action. 
• Promote the promotions across your channels, not just inside the restaurant.

And where AI fits in: AI tools can help by analyzing past sales trends to show what sold best during certain months. It can also suggest what promotions worked before and help schedule your campaigns ahead of time, so you are not doing everything last-minute.

Also Read: How Predictive Intelligence Transform Retail

5. Customer Loyalty Programs to Build a Long-Term Relationship with Your Diners:

Loyal customers are the lifeblood of any restaurant. It’s not just about getting them in once—it’s about creating a reason for them to come back again and again. A well-crafted loyalty program can help restaurant businesses increase repeat visits, boost customer retention, and even encourage word-of-mouth marketing.

Acquiring a new customer is significantly more expensive than keeping an existing one (5x more, to be exact!). Plus, loyal customers are more likely to spread the word to their friends and family. 

Best Tips to Do It Right:

• Go digital: make loyalty seamless via your app, POS, or website.
• Offer meaningful perks—think birthday meals, surprise upgrades, or VIP early tastings.
• Use visit and spend data to tailor rewards (like 2-for-1 on a regular’s favorite drink).
  

How AI Helps: AI can make managing loyalty programs much easier. It can track customer behaviors automatically and predict when a customer is likely to return or when they’re at risk of churning. This allows you to send personalized offers or reminders that keep them engaged, rather than sending generic promotions that don’t resonate.

Also Read: Business Intelligence for Restaurants

6. Influencer Marketing: Leverage Local Influencers to Spread the Word:

Influencer Marketing & UGC content is something that is working well for businesses today, and restaurants should adapt to that as well. Partnering with local food bloggers, micro-influencers, or social media personalities can introduce your restaurant to a broader audience, build trust, and drive more foot traffic. It taps into the trust and rapport influencers have built with their audience. 

Quick-Tip: Partnering with the right influencers in your area who are targeting your audience is the key to ensuring the maximum impact. 

86% of consumers say that user-generated content (such as influencer posts) is a good indicator of a brand’s quality. 

Best Tips to Do It Right:

• Focus on micro-influencers (those with smaller but highly engaged audiences). They’re affordable, and their followers trust their recommendations more.
• Be authentic: choose influencers whose values align with your restaurant’s brand.
• Track performance: Make sure you’re measuring engagement and conversions (e.g., how many people mention the influencer’s post when they visit).
  

How AI Helps: AI tools can help identify the best local influencers by analyzing engagement rates, audience demographics, and past campaign performance. Additionally, AI can help track the effectiveness of influencer campaigns by measuring key metrics like website visits, reservations, and social media mentions. This allows you to refine future partnerships and ensure your marketing dollars are spent wisely.

Also Read: Social Media Marketing for Restaurants

7. Leverage Email & SMS Marketing

When done right, email and SMS marketing can be one of the most cost-effective ways to stay top-of-mind with your diners. Unlike social media, where your message might get buried in an algorithm, emails and texts go directly to your customers. It’s personal, immediate, and measurable.

In fact, SMS open rates are as high as 98%, and email marketing delivers an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. It means driving repeat visits, promoting daily specials, and filling last-minute tables without spending heavily on ads.

Best Tips to Make It Work:

• Segment your list by customer behavior—regulars, birthday diners, families, etc.
• Keep it short, timely, and relevant. Don’t overload people with messages.
• Use it to promote time-sensitive offers (like “2-for-1 Tacos Tonight” or “Reserve Now for Valentine’s Day”).
• Always include a clear call to action—book a table, claim an offer, or reply to RSVP.
  

How AI Helps: AI can analyze customer behavior to send the right message at the right time. It helps you personalize content based on past visits, order history, and preferences. AI-driven tools also optimize and automate send times, subject lines, and offer recommendations, making your campaigns smarter, easier, and effective without constant manual effort.

Also Read: SMS Marketing for Restaurants

8. Run Paid Targeted Ads (The Smart Way)

Along with organic marketing, you can try your hand on paid marketing as well. It helps you achieve the results faster. But if you are doing paid ads(you need to do it the smart way). You don’t want to drain your crucial business resources. 

Another big advantage of paid ads are: paid ads allow you to target exactly who you want—by location, interests, dining habits, and more. You can launch a campaign for your new brunch menu and get bookings within hours. 

Best Tips to Make It Work:

• Start with geo-targeting—run ads only in your city or within a 5-10 mile radius.
• Use high-quality visuals or videos of your dishes—they stop the scroll.
• Retarget website visitors who didn’t book the first time.
• Track and test different ad creatives and offers to see what works best.
  

How AI Helps: AI can make your ad strategy more efficient by automatically optimizing campaigns in real time. It analyzes which creatives perform best, what time your audience engages most, and which platforms are bringing in actual reservations. It takes out the guesswork so you don’t waste money showing ads to the wrong crowd. AI also supports predictive targeting—finding customers who are most likely to convert, based on data, not hunches.

Also Read: How Restaurants Can Predict Trends With Analytics

9. Curate Your Profile on Third-Party Delivery Apps & Market It Well:

Third-party delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub are more than just delivery services—they’re major marketing platforms. A well-optimized profile with mouth-watering images, accurate descriptions, and strong customer ratings can significantly increase your visibility, enhance customer trust, and drive more orders.

Best Practices to Win on Delivery Platforms:

• Use high-quality, professionally shot food images.
• Keep your menu updated and clearly priced.
• Feature your bestsellers or signature items at the top.
• Add a compelling “About” section to tell your brand’s story.
• Ask happy customers for reviews—it builds trust quickly.
• Run app-exclusive deals to attract new and returning customers.
  

Quick Tip: Use consistent branding—logo, tagline, food styling—across all platforms so customers recognize and remember you.

How AI Helps: AI-powered tools can automatically track which dishes perform best, recommend promotional windows based on order history, and even suggest pricing adjustments based on real-time demand. It can also help automate customer follow-ups or review requests, saving your staff hours while keeping your reputation strong.

Also Read: How to Start a Dessert Business

10. Opt for the Right Promotions at the Right Time: 

In the restaurant industry, timing isn’t just everything—it’s the difference between packed tables and empty seats. Promotions that aren’t aligned with market demand, customer behavior, or seasonal trends often fall flat. 

How does it help? 

• Reduce Food Waste: Align promotions with excess inventory (e.g., promote perishable items before expiry).
• Boost Sales During Slow Hours: Offer limited-time deals during off-peak times to drive traffic.
• Stay Ahead of Competitors: React faster to competitor discounts or trending menu items.
• Tap into Seasonal Demand: Launch relevant promotions for holidays, festivals, or local events.
• Maximize ROI: Focus marketing efforts where they’re most likely to convert based on real-time data.
• Enhance Customer Experience: Deliver offers that feel timely, personal, and relevant to each customer.

Let’s say you have an excess of seafood inventory just as Lent approaches—this is your golden window to offer seafood-centric deals. Or, think about launching a cozy soup-and-salad combo right as the first cold wave hits. The goal is to match your promotion with what customers are most likely to want right now.

How AI Helps: AI tools can analyze sales patterns, customer preferences, and even weather forecasts to suggest when and what to promote. It takes the guesswork out of planning and helps you send automated, personalized deals to the right customers at the right time—maximizing revenue and reducing waste.

Also Read: 9-Step Process Question Mining

11. Organize Events & Nurture the Right Partnerships: 

Hosting events and building strategic partnerships can bring a powerful sense of community around your restaurant. 

Whether

• It’s a local tasting night, 
• a chef’s table experience, 
• a live music event, 
• or even a pop-up with a neighboring brand. 

Events create buzz, boost foot traffic, and help your restaurant stand out. These in-person experiences are hard to replicate online, and they give people a reason to not just visit, but to talk about you and bring others along.

People are craving connection and unique dining experiences. A study by Eventbrite found that 78% of millennials prefer spending money on experiences over things. Combine that with a great meal, and you’re not just serving food—you’re delivering memories.

Quick Tip: Partner with local businesses, breweries, influencers, or non-profits for co-branded events. You’ll double your audience without doubling your marketing spend.

AI Add-on: AI tools can help you understand peak customer interest periods, recommend trending event themes based on search behavior, and even automate personalized event invitations to your customer segments, saving you hours of planning while ensuring higher engagement.

Try Livelytics – An AI-Powered Platform for Restaurant Businesses to Level Up Your Marketing Game! 

If you’re looking for an AI platform that can streamline your restaurant operations, automate tasks, and take your marketing to the next level, then Livelytics is the solution you need.

With all the right features and capabilities, Livelytics helps restaurant businesses collect data, analyze it, and generate real-time reports with automated insights on what to do next. It helps you automate processes, optimize your marketing, save resources, and boost ROI, sales, revenue, and growth. 

If you are looking to find out how Livelytics can help you with restaurant marketing and other things, how it blends with the processes, and how it helps you grow your business, then book a free Livelytics demo right away. 

To Wrap It All Up! 

Marketing isn’t just about getting more people through the door—it’s about building real connections, staying visible, and growing steadily. When you use the right strategies at the right time, you can attract new customers and keep regulars coming back.

So, choose the right marketing strategies for your restaurant business and focus on getting the execution right.

And if you’re looking for a smart way to simplify your efforts and make better decisions, Livelytics can help. It’s designed to support restaurant businesses like yours with insights, automation, and smarter planning.

To know more about how it works & helps – book a free demo right away.