When Mitchell Abes, brand and marketing manager for Dash Hospitality in suburban Atlanta, first thought about sending email campaigns to his restaurant guests, his instinct was to hold back.

"I don't want to bother people with emails," he admitted.

It's a feeling most independent operators know well. And it's completely understandable. You built your restaurant on hospitality — on making people feel welcome, not pestered. The last thing you want is to become noise in someone's inbox.

Here's the thing though: you're already noise. The average person receives dozens of marketing emails every week from brands they voluntarily signed up for. Your restaurant isn't the exception — it's competing in the same inbox as every other brand your guests follow or simply interacted with at some point. The question isn't whether to show up, it’s will you show up at all?

3 marketing obstacles you have to overcome 

Just starting can be difficult because there are many obstacles in the way. These obstacles are often reasonable but they can’t stop you from moving forward. Chances are you’ve found yourself saying one of the following:

"I don't want to be annoying." 

Guests who gave you their email address did so because they want to hear from you. Staying silent isn't being respectful. It's telling them you forgot about them–and giving them permission to forget you exist.

"I don't have time to market my restaurant consistently."

Running a restaurant is an all-consuming job. As Mitchell put it, "Many of you are back there in the kitchen trying to close tickets and don't have time to craft engaging marketing content." When you're juggling food costs, staffing, and a full dining room, writing a marketing email is the first thing to fall off the list. 

"I don't know what to say."

Even operators who want to market more often freeze when it's time to actually create something. What do you write? How do you make it sound right? Is this too salesy? Not salesy enough? The blank page is a real obstacle.

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What inconsistency actually costs you

Here's where we have to get honest about what staying quiet actually does to your business.

Ruby's Jamaican Kitchen started with Popmenu averaging around $720 in monthly marketing-related orders. They leveraged Popmenu’s tools and leaned into consistent, multi-channel marketing — emails, social posts, texts — that number climbed. Gradually, then quickly: $2,000. $10,000. $12,500. $15,000 a month.

Because of a busier-than-normal month, content was not prioritized. Impressions dropped and so did revenue. 

After noticing the drop in sales, they made time to get content back out and marketing revenue back up and impressions came back up

That's not a coincidence. That's a pattern that plays out across thousands of restaurants. There is a direct, trackable correlation between marketing activity and revenue. Silence isn't neutral; it has a price tag.

The good news? You don't need a massive budget or a dedicated marketing team to stay consistent. You just need to start.

How to start marketing to your guests consistently

Mitchell didn't overhaul Dash Hospitality’s entire marketing operation overnight. He manages seven Instagram accounts, seven Facebook pages, two TikToks, six websites, and six Google Business profiles — across five distinct restaurant concepts. But he got there by starting small and letting the tools do the heavy lifting.

Here's how to make multichannel marketing easier and effective:

Start capturing content.

Mitchell picked up a real camera and started documenting the day-to-day magic of his restaurants — food, atmosphere, events. You don't need a professional photographer. Your phone is enough. The rule is simple: when something looks good, shoot it. Build the library over time.

Let AI write the first draft.

This is where most people get their time back.  As Mitchell put it, "AI helps me by taking what I'm trying to say and just cleaning that up for me." Promoting a live music night? Paste in the lineup and ask for an Instagram caption. Launching a new menu item? Ask for three subject line options for an email. The output isn't perfect — but it's a strong shell that you finish in your restaurant’s voice. 

Add menu descriptions

‍Upload your menu to ChatGPT and ask it to write enticing, SEO-friendly descriptions for every item. Copy. Paste. Done. It's a task that used to take hours and now takes minutes.

Turn on automated emails and let them run. 

Welcome emails, birthday messages, "we miss you" nudges for guests who haven't visited in a while — these can all be set up once and run in the background while you're focused on the floor. One automated “We miss you” email at Libby’s – a three location restaurant – drove over $52,500 in ordering revenue. Not from a big campaign push. From a single, well-timed message to the right people.

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The goal of marketing is good, consistent communication

Mitchell closed with something worth sitting with: "[AI] truly is just another tool to be operating faster and operating at a better level so that you can focus back in on the guests. And that's what it's all about."

You're not trying to build a marketing department. You're trying to protect the thing you already built — the food, the experience, the community of regulars who keep coming back. Marketing consistently is just how you make sure new guests find it, and old guests don't forget it.

You're not bothering anyone. You're just showing up.

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