FREE RESOURCE
The Restaurant
Growth Playbook
Check out our comprehensive growth playbook for restaurants.
From getting found on Google to keeping guests coming back, this playbook walks through eight ways to grow your restaurant — with real results from operators putting these strategies to work.
What's inside: Choose your first course
Search & Discovery
First and foremost, be easy to find.
Make Google your biggest promoter.
When people look for a place to eat, they go to Google. If your restaurant shows up on the first page of search results, you're more likely to catch their eye — which is especially critical when dining options abound. Here are a few best practices to get more people to your website and through your door:
Serve up fresh and dynamic content
When it comes to search, Google ranks websites based on volume of relevant content. Because interactive menus treat each dish as a separate page, you have multiple pages for Google to consider. A PDF only gives you one page.
Connect your Google Business Profile
Linking your Google Business Profile to your website ensures that your address, phone number, and hours of operation are always up to date on your Google listing.
Getting a website and appearing on Google has helped a lot, especially when appealing to younger demographics. We've had some folks who have been vacationing in Hilton Head since 1980 just finding us for the first time.
Guest Experience
Be the obvious choice for guests.
Competition for guests is fiercer than ever — make sure you're giving guests everything they're looking for to make their dining decision easy.
Make your menu visual and responsive.
Guests eat with their eyes first. Include photos with every dish. Ensure your menu entices on all devices:80% of guests visit restaurant websites from their phone. Dishes with photos receive2x more orders and4x more reviews.
Burrata & Heirloom Tomato
$14
Seared Scallops
$22
Wagyu Strip Steak
$48
Tiramisu
$11A real Popmenu interactive menu — every dish gets its own page and photo.
Speaking of reviews...let's use your raving fans to drive more revenue.
57% of consumers say that reviews are a top reason they choose a restaurant. The number one reason? Photos! (Ahem...see above.)
- Make reviews easily accessible on YOUR website.
- Promote great reviews on social media and via emails and texts to create buzz.
- Respond to reviews in a timely manner.
PopTip:More reviews on your website and Google Business Profile means higher rankings in search results.
AI & Automation
Answer the phone!
This one may seem obvious...but restaurants lose revenue to unanswered phones all. the. time. Guests want answers to their questions before they make a dining decision — and they're okay if you use AI to do it.
Kapow Noodle Bar in Florida used AI phone answering to field 89,000 calls and, in turn, saved nearly 1,000 hours for staff. The AI tech sent more than 22,000 links for reservations, generating an estimated $1.6 million in revenue.
calls fielded by AI phone answering
staff hours saved
reservation links sent automatically
in estimated revenue generated
Kapow! Noodle BarWelcome to Kapow! Noodle Bar
What happens when three of South Florida's biggest players in the restaurant & nightlife industry come together? Magic! That's what happens. A restaurant was born that combines contemporary Florida vibe to elevate the dining and…
Order Now
Guest Data
Grow your guestbook.
Myth: Guests don't want to share their contact info. The reality? 80% of guests are willing to provide their email to receive info on special offers, events, and updates from their favorite restaurants.
Here are a few ways you can easily capture key info:
- Create automated prompts across your website that promote the benefits of signing up.
- Invite guests to become a VIP on social channels and table tents.
- Entice them to join with a special offer.
PopTip:Automatically ask guests to join your VIP list when they submit reviews or order online, so you can collect their contact info for ongoing marketing.
Lift Bistro
Become a VIP
Enjoy an appetizer or dessert — on us!
- Full Name
- Mobile phone (optional)
- Birthday (optional)
Free Starter or Dessert
- First Name
- Last Name
- Favorite location
- Birthday
- Do you drink craft beer?
Third-Party Platforms
Be smart about how you work with third parties.
Third-party ordering and delivery services are a great way to reach new guests. However, the commissions that these services charge often eat into your profits.
Online Ordering
Keep online orders on your own website (as much as you can).
Own your guest data and 100% of your online ordering revenue.
Two-thirds of consumers order takeout at least twice a week. Let them know they can order directly from your website with promotions on social channels, emails, and texts. Because when guests order directly, you not only get all the profits, you get all the juicy data on their preferences and behavior for ongoing marketing.
When third parties own the data collection process:
- Name
- Phone number
- Delivery address
When restaurants own the data collection process:
- Email address
- Past orders/order history
- Phone number
- Review history
- Delivery address
- Order frequency
- Birthday
- Allergies
PopTip:Want to offer delivery to your guests but don't have the extra staff or infrastructure? Take advantage of DoorDash's network of drivers and offer delivery for a standard flat fee.
Make online ordering easy and integrated. When's the last time you ordered from your own website? If it's a clunky experience, guests may opt to use a third-party site or order from another restaurant. The majority of online orders are placed via mobile devices (PDF menus are hard to read) — make sure the mobile experience is just as good as the desktop. Integrate your POS with your online ordering system to ensure accuracy, and connect online ordering with your marketing tools, so you can invite guests back again and again.
$150,000
Tong Fong Low made in online sales in 3 months
$500,000
Libby's generated in direct online orders, saving $150,000 in third-party fees
We want to give customers as similar an experience online as we can give them in our physical location. I think that really comes down to the eCommerce side of things...it's becoming more and more important to our business and being able to do all that within one platform is incredibly advantageous.
Marketing
Be consistent with marketing.
Hot take: Even the best guests can forget their favorite restaurant. Why? (Great question.) When you aren't consistent with your marketing, you create gaps for other restaurants to fill. Help your guests take the guesswork out of where to eat with regular and relevant information.
Make it personal.
Whether it's saying "thank you" for a review or offering a birthday reward, your guests love a little somethin' special in their inbox. Use what you know about guests (like their favorite dishes and dining preferences) and other data to create marketing materials that hit the spot! Reward regulars for their loyalty with an automatic email that sends whenever they spend a certain amount, and create timely offers tied to preferences to drive orders and reservations.
Inbox
Our Pumpkin Pancakes are back! Stop by today to get first dibs!
Lift Bistro
London
Steam Boys
It Pays To Be Loyal!
Your Offer Code: 25FC17F9
Redeem & Order Now$18,000+ generated in revenue with automated rewards
Automated Emails
Triggered by follower engagement — open rate 36.1% higher than industry average.
delivered
average open rate
Pop ordering revenue
Promote your restaurant across channels.
Use your website and popups to promote specials and events. Post to social media consistently — and don't forget on-premise offers!
Need ideas?:Highlight popular dishes, standout reviews, exclusive offers or upcoming events! There's plenty of content inspiration to take from your menu and website.
Automate whenever and wherever possible.
How do you know what to send? Or when to send it? How do you catch a guest's attention at the right time? Well...automation helps. Automatically send emails and texts based on guest preferences and order history.
In 18 months, GIOIA sent 49 emails (39 sent automatically) to one guest, resulting in101 orders and $5,700+ in revenue.
Inbox
GIOIA
Hey Jules, our Pepperoni pizza has been stealing hearts and taste buds for years — it's the reigning champ of our menu!
Consider AI tools that can instantly create marketing content for you — but beware of generic messaging.
PopTip:Not all AI tools are considered equal. Chat GPT is a great place to start when dabbling in AI-generated content, but if it's not rooted in your data, you're likely to get a generic Taco Tuesday-type message. There are better tools out there that pull info from your website and menu to create truly custom content.
Shameless plug: Popmenu's AI Marketing is one of those tools, producing a monthly calendar of pre-crafted social posts, emails, and texts that are specific to each restaurant.
The Metropolitan American Diner & Bar drove big results with a little help from AI.
increase in monthly marketing impressions and revenue
increase in monthly traffic to the reservation page
increase in overall monthly website traffic
It's a massive time-saver. I wouldn't do [marketing] myself if it weren't for the AI planner.
Analytics
Track it all to determine your next move.
Monitor results in real time.
Now, we know the word "data" can conjure images of mind-numbing spreadsheets. Look for tools that provide easy-to-read, actionable findings that can help you determine 1) whether your marketing efforts are working and 2) what to do next.
Key questions to ask:
- How many people are coming to your website? What actions do they take?
- Is your list of guest contacts growing?
- Which marketing messages and channels are producing the most revenue for you?
- Which days and times are orders spiking or dropping off?
Marketing Overview
Last 6 months
total delivered messages
total marketing revenue
total post impressions
total followers
Libby's Neighborhood Brasserie identified Monday and Tuesday as slow ordering days, so they created a 35% off discount deal for Monday and Tuesday for the summer.
35%
Off deal Libby's ran on their slowest ordering days
$20,000
Libby's Neighborhood Brasserie earned from that discount offer in just one month
The result: they earned nearly $20,000 in revenue from an offer in just one month. Bonus: Monday and Tuesday are now their busiest ordering days.
That’s a wrap
With this playbook, you now have all the tools to boost your restaurant's visibility and profitability. By applying these best practices and drawing inspiration from real-life examples, you're poised to elevate your business and ensure your exceptional food and hospitality delight even more customers.
About Popmenu
As a leader in restaurant technology, Popmenu is on a mission to make profitable growth easy for all restaurants. Digital marketing, online ordering, and on-premise technologies headline a powerful product suite infused with artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and deep data on guest preferences. The company consolidates tools needed to engage guests, serving as a digital control center for more than 10,000 independent restaurants and hospitality groups in the US, UK, and Canada.