It’s simple math: reach more guests, more often, and orders grow. The most important aspect of restaurant marketing is making sure hungry guests see your dishes, reviews, events, and other highlights on a regular basis. The good news is much of that can be automated.  

Whether you are a single-location restaurant owner or a larger hospitality group, here are four habits that can boost sales and sustain growth over time:

1. Make your restaurant easy to find.

According to SOCi’s Consumer Behavior Index, 8 in 10 consumers search for local businesses online weekly, with restaurants being among the most popular. If someone types in “best tacos near me” or “sushi near me,” you want to be sure your restaurant website rises to the top of the list.

By optimizing your website for search engines, you’ll rank higher in search results, therefore widening your pool of potential guests. To start, you’ll need to ditch static menus and opt instead for an interactive, content-rich menu. 

Take it from Steam Boys, a fast-casual Asian concept. They created individual web pages for every dish they serve, so when someone searches for “best dumplings in Nashville,” Google sees multiple pages of robust, relevant content—and ranks them at the top of results. Each time Steam Boys updates menu items or adds photos or guest reviews, they are signaling to Google that they have fresh content to consider—and Google rewards them in return.

If you’re still using a PDF menu, you’re giving Google just one page to index, which will hinder your chances of appearing in search results.  

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2. Know your guests and personalize messages.

Want more guests, more orders, more reservations, more reviews? Just ask. Popmenu’s survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers found that 80% are willing to provide their email to receive info on offers, events, and other news from restaurants. What’s more, two-thirds of consumers want to hear from their favorite restaurants at least once a week.  

Ocean State Sandwich Company is a great example of how a restaurant can quickly collect guests’ contact information and preferences. As a single-location restaurant, they have already amassed more than 8,000 guest profiles, with the help of several different prompts on their online menu. 

They encourage guests to leave a review with an incentive to win a $500 gift card, join their VIP list, “like” dishes on their menu, and place direct orders. All of these features allow Ocean State to glean valuable information so they can personalize future outreach. They’ve earned nearly $60,000 in revenue through automated emails that do everything from welcoming guests to the VIP list, to wishing them a happy birthday or sending a “we miss you” offer. 

3. Prioritize consistency with a little help from AI.

One of the biggest mistakes restaurant marketers make is delaying communications because they want to get their message just right. By doing so, they miss key opportunities to get in front of guests. To avoid falling into that trap, worry less about the perfect message or moment, and focus instead on consistency.

Ruby’s Jamaican Kitchen increased their marketing-driven revenue from $2,000 to $12,000 in just two months by using AI Marketing. The tool automatically generates pre-crafted emails, texts, and social posts that are specific to the restaurant and location. When they were too busy to approve the content generated by the tool one month, their audience impressions dropped, but their marketing-revenue didn’t take as much of a hit because they were consistently marketing in previous months.  

The power of AI isn’t just limited to written engagement. Restaurants can also use AI to answer calls and promote specials and events with custom greetings and responses. A prime example of the potency of AI is from Alfred’s Restaurant, which used AI to field over 13,000 calls, save 157 hours and generate an estimated $332,000 in revenue.

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4. Track results in real time.

Marketing without measurement is like serving dishes without first tasting them.

To know what’s working, you need to measure everything—from website traffic to order conversions and campaign revenue. And no matter which system you use, you want one that offers centralized dashboards that make it easy to spot trends and optimize future campaigns.

Tracking metrics allows you to determine which channels drive the most orders, which offers stand out, and what messaging encourages repeat visits. Real-time data gives you the power to adjust quickly, dial up messages that resonate, and pivot when something isn’t making an impact. Each of the restaurants mentioned in this article closely monitors which marketing activities are working for them to guide next steps.  

With consumer attention spans growing shorter by the minute, restaurants need more than just great food and service to stand out. By making it easy for customers to find you online, listening and responding to guest preferences, and relying on automation for quality and consistency, you’ll not only reach guests more efficiently and effectively, but you’ll free up time for other operational priorities.