Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer · Business Consultant
How Do You Write a Restaurant Marketing Plan? Two Jobs, Two Halves
Most restaurant marketing plans are a list: social media, a website, a grand opening. A lender reads that and learns nothing.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
What Is a Restaurant Marketing Plan?
A restaurant marketing plan is the section of a business plan that defines how the restaurant will attract and retain customers. It includes marketing objectives, target customers, positioning, traditional, internet, and social media tactics, a budget, and the measures used to track results.
“A marketing plan answers two questions. How will strangers find you? And once they have eaten here, why will they come back? Most plans only answer the first one, and answer it with a list.”
Need the answer fast? Read the gold Short Answer boxes and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Hazy Hazel the squirrel, the forest’s most creative event planner, from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest, as her marketing plan turns out to be a single word on a leaf. The story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The example objectives sit in one section, clearly marked.
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Meet Hazel: The One-Word Marketing Plan
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest is his business school told through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face. Today he finds Hazy Hazel the squirrel in her workshop, surrounded by beautiful sketches for events nobody has booked.
HAZEL: (mismatched acorn earrings swinging) I need more bookings, Doctor Owl. I put on the most magical events in the forest. Nobody knows.
DOCTOR OWL: May I see your marketing plan?
Hazel hands him a leaf. On it, in paint, one word: POSTERS.
DOCTOR OWL: Posters where?
HAZEL: Around? I haven’t made them yet. I’ve been busy designing the events.
DOCTOR OWL: And once someone books you, how do you get them to book you again?
HAZEL: They just… would? If they loved it?
DOCTOR OWL: Hazel, you have a beautiful product and a one-word plan. Let’s give the plan as much love as the parties.
An original Fabled Forest moment. Similar stories about Doctor Owl and the forest’s owners are in Marketing for Small Businesses, Book 4 of Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School.
Hazel has a decision to make. Keep reading. You’ll see what she does, and why it works for your restaurant too.
Similar stories in Marketing for Small BusinessesDr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School, Book 4 See the Books →
The Structure
What Goes in a Restaurant Marketing Plan?
Dr. Paul’s How to Write a Restaurant Business Plan in Ten Steps builds the marketing section in four parts. Each one does a specific job.
- 1
Marketing objectives and keys to success
What you want marketing to achieve, in numbers you can track.
- 2
Traditional marketing
Signage, local partnerships, events, the neighborhood, print where it still works.
- 3
Internet marketing
Your website, your Google Business Profile, reviews, and delivery app listings.
- 4
Social media marketing
What you post, where, and how often, tied to an objective.
Hazel’s plan had one tactic and no objective. She could not tell if the posters worked, because she never decided what working meant.
Two Halves
How Do You Split a Restaurant Marketing Plan?
Runs on the place: how to book, where to park, the wait, the room, a signature dish people can name. Job: new customers and referrals.
Runs on the plate and the people: attentive service, food remembered for its taste, and recognizing regulars. Job: return visits.
Dr. Paul’s study of 752 customer reviews found these are different customers driven by different things. A plan that only covers half one keeps paying to replace customers it already had.
Show the Example
What Do Good Restaurant Marketing Objectives Look Like?
Objectives turn a list of tactics into a plan a lender can judge. Here are sample objectives for a new restaurant. Illustration only.
| Objective | How you measure it | Example target |
|---|---|---|
| Get found locally | Google Business Profile views and direction requests | Up month over month for year one |
| Build referral fuel | Reviews that name your signature dish | Mentioned in a growing share of reviews |
| Fill the slow nights | Weeknight covers | Weeknight covers at a set share of weekend covers by month six |
| Bring customers back | Return visits from your regulars list | A set share of covers from repeat guests by month twelve |
If a tactic does not move one of your objectives, cut it. That is how a marketing plan stays affordable.
Write It
How Do You Write the Restaurant Marketing Section Step by Step?
- 1
Start with your customer
Who eats here, at which meal, and how far they travel. Pull from your target market section.
- 2
Write your objectives
Specific, measurable, and split between getting in and coming back.
Hazel’s FixHazel wrote two goals on a fresh leaf: new bookings from neighbors each month, and repeat bookings from past clients.
- 3
Choose tactics for each half
Traditional, internet, and social, each tied to an objective.
- 4
Set a budget
What you will spend, by month, with your opening push separate.
- 5
Say how you will measure
What you will track every month, and what you will cut if it does not work.
From Dr. Paul’s Work as a Business Plan Writer
What a Business Plan Writer Puts in the Marketing Section
When Dr. Paul writes the marketing section of a restaurant plan, the first thing he cuts is the long list of tactics with no purpose. A lender cannot judge “social media.” They can judge a goal and a way to measure it.
The second thing he adds is the half most plans forget: how the restaurant will bring customers back.
A marketing plan is not a list of places to post. It is a plan to get strangers in the door and give them a reason to return.
From Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest
What Hazel Did Next
A season later, Hazel had a booking calendar on her workshop wall. It had ink on it.
HAZEL: (pointing with a paintbrush) New bookings from the neighbors: up every month. Repeat bookings: three families already booked next year’s parties.
DOCTOR OWL: And the posters?
HAZEL: I made them. Put them where my clients’ neighbors walk. And I send every past client a note before their next big date.
DOCTOR OWL: Still a secret?
HAZEL: Not anymore.
The lesson for your restaurant: Write a marketing plan with two halves, one to get customers in and one to bring them back, with every tactic tied to a goal you can measure.
In Your Business Plan
How Does the Marketing Plan Connect to the Rest of Your Business Plan?
The marketing section is not a stand-alone wish list. It connects to the numbers. Related guides: How Should a Restaurant Handle the Wait?, How Do You Write a Restaurant Executive Summary? and Restaurant SWOT Analysis: What Goes in Each Box?.
- 1
It draws on your target market
The customers you described earlier in the plan.
- 2
It drives your revenue projections
Covers by shift should reflect what marketing will deliver.
- 3
It appears in your budget
Marketing spend as a line in your monthly projections.
- 4
It shows up in the executive summary
One sentence on how you will win customers.
This is one piece of the full plan. See How to Write a Restaurant Business Plan for every section, start to finish.
Want a marketing section a lender takes seriously?Dr. Paul writes restaurant business plans with marketing tied to real objectives and real numbers.
Questions
Restaurant Marketing Plan Questions
What should a restaurant marketing plan include?
Marketing objectives, target customers, traditional, internet, and social media tactics, a budget, and how you will measure results, covering both new customers and repeat visits.
How much should a restaurant spend on marketing?
It varies by concept, location, and stage. Set a monthly budget in your projections, separate the opening push, and tie spending to objectives you can measure.
How do I market a new restaurant?
Make it easy to find and book, give people a signature dish to talk about, fill slow nights on purpose, and build a plan to bring first-time guests back.
How to Write a Restaurant Business Plan in Ten Steps
All ten steps of a restaurant business plan, with a full sample plan to model.