Industry

Marketing for restaurants

A restaurant does not have a follower problem. It has empty tables on certain days and times, and guests who came once and never returned. That is where we start.

North team · Updated October 7, 2026 · 4 min read

Where to start

A complete Google listingpeople looking for a place to eat nearby decide based on what they see in Maps: categories, menu, real photos and answered reviews. Google Maps
Instant bookingsan agent that replies and books on WhatsApp and Instagram, even at midnight. WhatsApp agent
An offer for slow daysspecific, only for the empty slot, sent to people who have already been in
Bring them backa stamp card on their phone and a reminder to anyone who has not come in for a while. Stamp card

Front 1 · Strategy and operations

What gets done	How it gets done	Details
Fill empty slots	Read covers by day and time slot, and build an offer only for the slow slot: a lunch menu, a Wednesday wine pairing	Strategy
Guest base	Bookings, WiFi, delivery and stamp card in one CRM, with phone numbers in +52 format and consent per channel	CRM
Bring guests back	Stamps in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and a reminder when a guest goes past their usual interval without coming in	Loyalty
Email and WhatsApp to the base	Birthdays, a new menu, a special dinner; every campaign with a control group	Email marketing
Partnerships	Dinner included in a stay at a nearby hotel, with its own code to measure what comes in	Restaurants and hotels

Front 2 · Autonomous agents

What gets done	How it gets done	Details
Booking agent	Answers about the menu, hours, allergies and parking using your information; checks tables and books	WhatsApp agent
Deposits for groups and busy dates	A payment link for large tables or special nights, with the menu chosen in advance if needed	Bookings and appointments
Day-before confirmation	A WhatsApp template with buttons to confirm or release the table	Automation
Instagram	Anyone who writes "book" in a message or comments on a post gets the link privately	Instagram agent

Front 3 · Digital positioning

What gets done	How it gets done	Details
Google Maps	The right primary category, menu uploaded, real photos, posts with news and reviews answered in under 48 hours	Google Maps
Content	Vertical videos of dishes leaving the kitchen, the team and a full dining room, with a call to book in every piece	Content for restaurants
Local ads	A radius of a few kilometers, sent to WhatsApp, measured in bookings and not in clicks	Local Meta Ads
AI assistants	Pages that answer searches like "where to have dinner with a terrace in your area", to show up in ChatGPT or Gemini	Showing up in ChatGPT

Methods with examples

Illustrative examples with Casa Aurora, a hotel with a restaurant.

Occupancy by time slot: where the unsold capacity is

Covers for each service are compared with the dining room's capacity. The result shows which slot needs an offer and which one sells itself.

Covers by time slot, one weektable

slot          Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri  Sat  Sun
lunch          22   25   27   30   41   52   55
dinner         18   20   24   38   58   60   47
capacity: 60 covers per service

dinner Mon to Wed   (18 + 20 + 24) ÷ 180 = 34%
dinner Fri and Sat  (58 + 60) ÷ 120      = 98%

Recommendation. The offer goes to dinner Monday through Wednesday. Lowering the Saturday price would give away margin that already sells.

A reminder to people who stopped coming, based on their own rhythm

Each guest has a usual interval between visits. The reminder goes out when they exceed it by a wide margin, not on a fixed schedule that is the same for everyone.

Reactivation rulerule

rule: days without visiting > 2 × their usual interval

cus_41a   visits every 14 days   last visit 33 days ago   → send
cus_9b2   visits every 60 days   last visit 70 days ago   → wait

channel: approved WhatsApp template or email, with a specific reason
(new menu, table for two on Thursday)

Recommendation. Someone who comes every week and someone who comes every two months are not lost at the same time. Without enough history, use 45 days as a starting point.

A group booking, step by step

What the agent does when a group writes in with a dietary restriction. Illustrative example.

Execution log · Casa Aurora · restaurantlog

20:12:04.310  input     Instagram · "Do you have a table on Saturday for 8? One of us is celiac."
20:12:04.902  rag       2 chunks: gluten-free menu, group policy
20:12:05.441  function  consultar_mesas(Saturday, 8 people) → 9:00 pm free
20:12:06.120  output    "Yes, at 9:00 pm. The menu marks the gluten-free dishes. For groups of 8 we ask for a deposit."
20:13:40.008  input     "Great, book it."
20:13:40.775  function  crear_reserva(Saturday 21:00, 8) → RES-2291 pending
20:13:41.300  function  generar_enlace_pago(RES-2291, deposit) → sent
20:19:12.554  event     pago_confirmado RES-2291 → note on the booking: 1 celiac
Friday 12:00  template  reminder with Confirm and Change buttons

What we recommend in each case

If this is happening	We recommend	Why
Full on weekends, empty midweek	An offer only for the slow slot, sent to the base with a control group	You sell idle capacity without touching the Saturday price
Bookings that do not show up	Day-before confirmation and deposits for groups	A table released in time can be sold again
You get lots of messages and are slow to reply	A booking agent on WhatsApp and Instagram	People asking about a table are usually deciding right then
Good reviews and few visits from Maps	Categories, menu, photos and posts on the Business Profile	Google ranks local results by relevance, distance and prominence; a complete listing adds relevance
One-visit guests	Stamp card and a reminder based on each guest's interval	Frequency is the cheapest lever to raise what each guest brings in
Low average check	Wine pairing, tasting menu or a package with a partner hotel	It raises the check without cutting prices

Real restaurant and café case studies

Analysis of cases published by the brands or the platforms, with their sources. North did not take part in them.

+116%in year-over-year revenueAl Aseel · Automate bookings and appointments +131%restaurant visits from Google searches, year over yearVips · Google and AI 1.4Musers in the first monthDutch Bros · Loyalty +675%in email revenue from the first to the second quarter of 2020Grind · Email marketing

What we measure

Covers per time slot, bookings per channel, no-shows, returning guests and average check. Every month you see what moved the number.

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