We have come a long way since the first Restaurant was established in France some 300 years ago. There are now more than 15,000,000 restaurants in operation and restaurant advertising is more challenging than ever!

In such a highly saturated and even more competitive market, a great restaurant marketing strategy is essential!

Restaurant Marketing strategies are used to increase awareness of a restaurant’s presence and personality, pull in new customers, boost sales, and retain the existing customer base. There is a lot to do, and the stakes are high in such a competitive space.

If you’re not an expert marketer or you’re too busy running your restaurant, hiring a dedicated Restaurant Marketing agency is the key to success.

So, what exactly is a restaurant marketing agency? What services can you expect from your agency? And most importantly, how do you find the right one for your brand?

Have no fear; we’ve got your back!

In this review, we’ll answer all your questions and give you a breakdown of the best restaurant marketing companies to choose from, along with our detailed review of each option.

Ready to get started?

Let’s dive right in!

What Services Do Restaurant Marketing Agencies Provide?

A restaurant marketing agency is an agency that specializes in the hospitality/restaurant space. Like any other agency, they usually offer a full-suite of marketing services, from overall strategy to individual campaign development and execution, across a variety of channels.

What sets them apart from other marketing agencies is that they’re experts at adapting their marketing strategies to successfully market restaurants, specifically.

They know the ins and outs of the space, the best ways to reach the right audience, and they have the experience needed to really make the most of your budget by using the right methods from the start.

That said, there are some marketing strategies that are particularly important for restaurant marketing, so let’s take a look at the restaurant-specific services you should look out for:

PPC Advertising 

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a highly efficient method of promotion that aims to maximize ROI for businesses for the least amount of money.

In concept, it’s as simple as it sounds; you pay for the number of people that click on an advertisement. Those people are then taken to your website or landing page, where they are far more likely to make a purchase. As such, you’ll make back the money you’ve spent on the click.

However, when it comes to PPC, it’s far more challenging to get right than it seems and should be taken care of by professionals, especially when it comes to restaurant marketing.

Localized SEO

Even though Google can figure out where a searcher is based on their IP address and where your business is based on the information you put online, this doesn’t mean that you will always show up in local search results. A restaurant marketing agency will work on your localized SEO to help you show up in all restaurant-related searches for your area.

They will do this by:

• Adding your restaurant to the best local listing websites.
• Including a Google Map with your location on the Contact Us page of your website.
• Posting regionally relevant content on a regular basis.
• Gathering online reviews, as they are one of the most critical ranking factors for local SEO.
• Making sure that your information is as consistent as possible across all of your online resources because Google hates inconsistencies.

Blog Management & Content Marketing

A restaurant marketing agency can develop a strong content marketing strategy for your restaurant, and your own restaurant blog.

A restaurant’s blog is a fantastic way to reach out to potential customers, gain new followers, and experiment with new writing voices and styles. It’s a place to tell your customers about your successes, as well as funny stories, tasty recipes, and other interesting tidbits.

But running a blog is a lot of effort, and it needs to be done well in order to be successful; that’s why the marketing company you choose will handle it for you.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is the place where most of the world’s population spends at least some of their time each day. And why should your restaurant’s brand be any different?

Whether it’s managing your Instagram and Facebook channels, or responding to questions on Reddit about your brand or creating a Discord server for your most die-hard fans, the marketing agency will be boosting brand awareness and increasing customer engagement, and that’s never a bad thing.

Check out this video by Lyfe Marketing for more on using social media to promote your restaurant:

Website Design & Development

A website will help you rank higher in search engine results and will handle a lot of your promotion for you. It’s also a place where you can direct people from other platforms, like social media, making it more likely that they will convert.

Therefore, a website is a “must-have” in today’s digitally focused society; that isn’t negotiable! But since the restaurant marketing firm will take care of it for you, you don’t need to worry about developing or making one.

The marketing agency will ensure that your website:

• Has a modern and sleek appearance
• Loads quickly
• Is intuitive to navigate
• Runs smoothly in each browser
• Is mobile-friendly
• Contains all relevant information about your restaurant and services

16 Best Restaurant Marketing Agencies [US & Europe]

1. Gourmet Marketing

Gourmet Marketing is a restaurant-specific digital marketing agency, and this company has a proven track record of success when dealing with various restaurant chains.

In addition, their firm can assist you in developing a distinct identity for your restaurant, working on branding with you. As a result, it runs targeted advertising campaigns that are extremely effective at attracting new customers.

Gourmet Marketing Agency also assists with the creation of your restaurant’s food and beverage menus, as well as food prices, all of which are critical for attracting repeat customers.

2.  Top Agency

Top Agency, also known as Top Affiliate Marketing Agency, was established in 2018 with a data-driven approach.

They are adamant about achieving measurable results across six business divisions and 36 marketing disciplines, including earned media channels like public relations and influencer marketing, with a focus on restaurant and digital marketing.

Whether they are positioning a new brand, developing an e-commerce platform, arranging a digital media buy, or developing a hospitality website, this restaurant marketing agency works as a single, cohesive team across time zones.

3.  CJ Digital

CJ Digital is a hospitality marketing company that works with bars, cafes, restaurants, and nightclubs. Bloc named them the top restaurant marketing agency in 2022, and they have delivered outstanding results for their clients.

Their most effective strategy is increasing website traffic through organic social media and SEO channels. Furthermore, they are conversion-focused, which means they help clients convert the traffic they receive.

In addition, they are entirely transparent with their clients about everything they do and the results they achieve.

4.  Nice Branding Agency

Nice Branding Agency’s mission is to go deep to create brands by finding connections that benefit both the individual and the global community.

Their branding agency, with headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, and more than a decade of experience, offers businesses across the country various branding and marketing services tailored specifically to the restaurant industry.

Moreover, because of their focused dedication to restaurant marketing, they can push the boundaries of creativity and content for established and growing businesses.

Nice Branding Agency works on every project with in-depth research and analysis to help you achieve your overall goals and, ultimately, to provide their audience with a unique, modern user experience to engage with their brand.

5.  The Digital Restaurant

The Digital Restaurant is a digital marketing company that uses technology inside and outside restaurants to help those businesses grow. Their team of skilled experts works hard to provide their clients with a higher level of service and assistance they will not find anywhere else.

So that their clients can get a higher return on their investment, they can customize their services to give as much help as their client’s restaurant businesses need to keep doing well.

They want to help brand owners find the best digital ways to reach their goals because they think that a restaurant’s digital strategy is an important part of its overall sales and marketing plans.

6. Foodie Restaurant Agency

The Foodie Agency is a full-service marketing firm that helps restaurants with all their specialized marketing needs, from end to end.

Having been in the business for over 20 years, and they were the first full-service marketing agency in the US to specialize in the restaurant industry.

They have worked with clients of all sizes, from small local restaurants to global food/beverage brands, and they have an exceptionally robust portfolio of successes.

7. Side Dish Media

Side Dish Media restaurant marketing has amassed a sizable clientele of eateries who rely on them to manage their digital ad budget since its founding in October 2015.

They focus primarily on online marketing for smaller restaurants in the London area but have previously taken on more prominent clients. When they first started out, they quickly discovered that Google and Facebook ads were the most effective way to generate customers for their clients, so Side Dish Media shifted focus to those avenues.

The team at Side Dish Media restaurant marketing now consists of seven motivated professionals that collaborate from their offices in London’s Soho Square to leave a significant digital imprint for catering companies all over the nation.

8. Captivate Hospitality

The youthful and energetic company Captivate Hospitality is comprised of hospitality experts with extensive experience. Due to their passion for the industry, they are in a unique position to offer sage advice and implement sales-boosting strategies for their clients.

As such, they act as an outsourced marketing department for hospitality firms, combining numerous disciplines of expertise to help their clients realize their vision of running a prosperous business. Moreover, they work diligently to generate new leads and establish their brand in a competitive market.

They want their clients to be proud of their organization by combining new campaigns, branded graphic design, digital marketing, website design, and a great deal of effort.

9.  Restaurant Genie

Restaurant Genie is a dedicated restaurant marketing agency that specializes in social media marketing and paid social media advertising, for restaurants across the UK.

They offer a comprehensive set of marketing services, which include creative services like photography and video content production.

Restaurant Genie is a full-service agency, with a special focus on marketing strategy, content production (video production and photography), website design and SEO for restaurants.

They have a deep passion for food and everything it represents, which shows in their work and the results they have achieved over the last 20 years.

10. Golden Restaurant Marketing