A restaurant marketing agency for every stage, from soft launch to third location
A restaurant six weeks from opening needs different marketing from one that has been on the same corner for ten years, and a three-location group needs something different again. GM Digital plans restaurant marketing around the stage you are at and the calendar you trade on, so the money goes where it will put guests in seats this month.
What owners ask us first
- We open in two months. What has to be ready before the doors do?
- Weekends are full. How do we fill Monday to Wednesday?
- Is it worth paying creators to post about us?
- How do we get guests to order from us instead of an app?
- We are adding a second location. Do we need a second everything?
Three stages, three different plans
Opening
Name, handles and domain secured early. A Google Business Profile claimed and verified before launch, a one-page site with menu and booking, a waitlist, a soft-launch guest list, local press and creator invitations, and opening-week ads aimed at the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Established
The goal shifts from awareness to frequency. We work on slow days, lunch trade, private dining and catering enquiries, review volume, a guest list you actually email, and keeping the menu and hours accurate everywhere they appear.
Multi-location and franchise
One brand, several local markets. Each location gets its own profile, page, review programme and ad radius, while brand, photography and offers stay consistent. Reporting shows each site side by side so weak locations are visible.
Where restaurant guests actually come from
Most first visits start in one of four places: a map search, a social feed, a friend’s recommendation or a delivery app. A restaurant marketing agency earns its fee by improving the first three and reducing your dependence on the fourth.
Map search is covered by Google Business Profile management and local SEO. Social is short video and photography of the food, the room and the people, posted consistently through our social media team. Recommendations are driven by reviews and by the experience itself, which is why we set up a simple review process for your staff.
Reservation platforms and delivery marketplaces are useful for discovery, but the guest belongs to the platform. We make sure your own site takes bookings and orders cleanly and that every profile you control points there first.
A marketing calendar built around how restaurants trade
The slow months
January to March: prix-fixe events such as Winterlicious in Toronto, Valentine’s Day, loyalty offers and email to past guests.
Patio and Mother’s Day
Patio photography ready before the first warm weekend, brunch campaigns and graduation and group bookings.
Summer and tourists
Visitors searching on their phones, festival tie-ins, Summerlicious, and late-summer catering enquiries.
Holiday parties
Corporate and private dining pages live by early autumn, gift cards, and New Year’s Eve ticketing.
Restaurant work, and what sits around it
The Leela Indian Food Bar case study shows our SEO approach for an independent Toronto restaurant. Hotels, banquet halls, caterers and tourism operators have a longer booking cycle and are covered on our hospitality marketing agency page. For the services and typical budgets, see the main restaurant and hospitality marketing page.
Restaurant marketing agency questions
How do you market a new restaurant opening?
We start six to eight weeks out: verified Google Business Profile, a simple site with menu and booking, social accounts with a content bank, a waitlist, invitations to local press and creators for a soft launch, and paid social in the surrounding neighbourhoods during opening week.
Should a restaurant work with food influencers?
It can work when the creator’s audience is local and the visit is disclosed properly. We shortlist creators by where their followers live, agree deliverables in writing and judge the result on bookings and profile visits, not likes.
Do we need our own online ordering?
If takeout or delivery is a meaningful share of sales, yes. Your own ordering keeps the margin and the guest’s contact details. Marketplaces can stay switched on for discovery while your site, profile and packaging point regulars to ordering direct.
How do you measure restaurant marketing?
By actions that lead to covers: reservations, calls, direction requests, online orders and private dining enquiries, tracked by source. Reach and followers are reported, but they are not the goal.
Do you work with franchises and multi-location groups?
Yes. Each location gets its own Google Business Profile, landing page and local campaign radius, with shared brand assets and a single report comparing locations.
What do you need from us to start?
Access to your Google Business Profile, website and social accounts, your current menu and hours, any photography you have, and an hour with the owner or general manager to agree priorities.
Tell us what stage you are at
A free audit of how guests find you today, with a plan matched to whether you are opening, growing or adding locations.