Planning
The Restaurant Marketing Calendar: A 12-Month Plan for Australian Venues
What to run and when, month by month, from Australia Day to Christmas, so nothing gets missed and nothing gets rushed together two weeks out.
Guides & resources
Restaurant marketing guides for independent Australian venues.
Operator-grade, AU-specific guides with real numbers and no fluff: delivery-app margins, local search, filling quiet services, and taking orders direct. Everything we'd tell a mate who owns a venue.
All
Delivery & direct
Local SEO
Bookings
Growth
Paid ads
Social
Email & SMS
Profit
Budget
Retention
Opening
Planning
Research
Advertising
QSR
Reputation
How to Handle a Bad Review: Restaurant Reputation Management
A calm, practical guide to responding to negative reviews, reporting fake ones, and recovering from a bad run, without making it worse.
Delivery & direct
The Real Cost of UberEats & DoorDash in Australia (2026)
Exactly what the delivery apps take from every order, and the margin maths on taking orders direct instead.
Bookings
How to Fill Your Restaurant on Slow Nights (Without Killing Your Margins)
Seven offers that pack out a dead Tuesday without training diners to wait for a discount.
Growth
How to Get More Customers to Your Café in Australia: A 30-Day Plan
A week-by-week plan to bring more locals through the door, no big budget required.
Local SEO
Google Business Profile for Restaurants: The Setup That Ranks You in the Map Pack
The exact Google Business Profile fixes that put your venue in front of hungry locals searching nearby.
Delivery & direct
Stop Renting Your Customers: How to Take Commission-Free Orders & Bookings Direct
How to move diners off the apps and onto ordering channels you own, and keep the customer data.
Paid ads
Facebook & Instagram Ads for Restaurants: A No-Waste Guide
The Meta ads setup that brings in bookings and orders, not just likes, on a small local budget.
Social media
Instagram & Reels for Restaurants: Content That Drives Bookings
The formats that work for food, how to batch a fortnight of content in two hours, and how followers become covers.
Email & SMS
Restaurant Email & SMS Marketing: Build a List That Fills Tables
Build the one audience you actually own, stay legal under the Spam Act, and fill quiet nights on demand.
Local SEO
How to Get More Google Reviews for Your Restaurant
A policy-safe system to get more, fresher reviews, why they rank you, and how to reply to every one.
Growth
27 Restaurant Marketing Ideas That Actually Work (2026)
27 practical, tested ideas for independent Australian venues, grouped so you can find the ones that fit.
Bookings
How to Get More Function & Christmas Bookings
Win the highest-value covers a venue takes: the offer, the enquiry path, and a festive-season plan.
Retention
Restaurant Loyalty Programs That Actually Work
Lift repeat visits without gutting margin, and capture the data that makes loyalty pay.
Social media
TikTok for Restaurants: A Starter Guide
Get discovered by nearby diners, with no following needed, and turn views into booked covers.
Profit
Menu Pricing & Engineering: Price for Profit
Design a menu that sells your profitable dishes: food cost, psychology, layout and the matrix.
Budget
Restaurant Marketing Budget: How Much Should You Actually Spend?
A revenue-based way to set your number, a worked example in dollars, and where the budget should actually go.
Opening
How to Market a New Restaurant: The First 90 Days
A week-by-week plan from before you open to a real base of regulars at day 90.
Planning
How to Write a Restaurant Marketing Plan (Free Template)
Five steps to a one-page plan: goals, audience, calendar, budget and a review habit.
Research
Restaurant Market Research: What Customers Actually Want
A practical, low-cost way to research your actual customers, competitors and local demand.
Advertising
Restaurant Advertising in Australia: Every Channel Compared
Meta ads, Google, local print, delivery app placement and sponsorships, compared honestly.
QSR
QSR & Fast Food Marketing: What Actually Moves the Needle
Speed, value, app loyalty and local store marketing for quick-service and fast-casual venues.
Tools
AI Tools for Restaurant Marketing: What Actually Helps
A no-hype guide to using AI for content, reviews and admin, and where it can quietly cost you trust.
Buyer's guide
How Much Does a Restaurant Marketing Agency Cost?
Retainer ranges, what's included, red flags to watch, and how to judge whether a quote is fair value.
Buyer's guide
Restaurant Marketing Agency vs DIY
An honest decision framework: time, budget and control — and which path actually fits your venue.
Brand
Restaurant Branding: Build a Brand Customers Remember
Naming, identity, story and the “famous for one thing” positioning exercise, on any budget.
Compliance
Legal & Compliance for Restaurant Marketing
The Spam Act, misleading-claim risk under the ACL, and the giveaway permits most venues miss.
Website
Restaurant Website Design That Books Tables
Menu, photos, mobile speed, booking placement and trust signals — with a self-audit checklist.
Launch
How to Market a Restaurant Reopening or Relaunch
Beat the “did they close?” problem, re-activate a cold list, and run a proper “we're back” campaign.
Events
Weddings & Private Events Marketing for Venues
Win high-value function and wedding bookings: a findable events page, fast replies, clear packages.
Revenue
Gift Cards & Vouchers: A Cash-Flow Play
Sell gift cards as a genuine cash-flow tool for slow periods, plus the 3-year expiry rule you must follow.
Revenue
Catering & Off-Premise Revenue for Restaurants
Add catering without becoming a caterer: corporate lunch, packaged meals, and how to market it.
Seasonal
Valentine's & Mother's Day Restaurant Marketing
Book out the two biggest single-day trades of the year with deposits, set menus and early promotion.
PR
PR for Restaurants: Getting Food Media Coverage
Get covered by local food media and “best of” lists without a PR budget — what's actually newsworthy.
Data
Restaurant Marketing Benchmarks Australia 2026
A single organised reference of the AU marketing and economics benchmarks that actually matter.
Data
Australian Case Studies & Stats
Real Australian venue results referenced throughout this blog, in one place.
Data
AU Benchmark Data Sheet
The Australian marketing benchmark figures behind the numbers in this blog.
Want all of this as a step-by-step system?
The guides cover the what and the why. The Playbook gives you the templates, scripts and order to run it yourself, or we'll run the whole thing for you.