Digital Marketing for Restaurants in 2026: The Complete Table-Filling Strategy
Restaurants, cafes, bars, and takeaways across the UK are losing customers to competitors with better online presence and surrendering profits to JustEat and Deliveroo commissions. Our 2026 transformation package gives you everything you need to fill tables, drive direct orders, and become the most talked-about venue in your area.
Why most restaurants are leaving seats empty
Your food is exceptional and your regulars love you. But when potential diners search “restaurant near me” and you are not in the top three results, you are invisible to the very people who would become your next loyal customers. The restaurants thriving in 2026 own their local digital presence completely.
Lost on Google Maps
When someone searches “Italian restaurant near me” or “best brunch [your town]”, the top three Google Maps results capture 76% of all clicks. If your Google Business Profile has poor photos, few reviews, or incorrect hours, you are handing covers to competitors every single day. The restaurant that appears first gets the reservation; the one on position four gets nothing.
Delivery Platform Commission
JustEat charges up to 14% plus a joining fee. Deliveroo takes 25–35%. Uber Eats takes 15–30%. On a £20 order, that is £4–£7 going straight to the platform. For a busy takeaway doing £10,000 per week in delivery orders, that is £2,000–£3,500 per week in commission. Building a direct ordering channel changes the economics of your business entirely.
Unmanaged Reputation
A single unresponded one-star Google review sits at the top of your profile for weeks, deterring potential diners. Meanwhile, dozens of happy customers leave without being asked to share their experience. Restaurants with 200+ reviews and a 4.5+ rating get 35% more clicks than those with fewer than 50 reviews. Your food speaks for itself — but only if customers hear it.
Empty Midweek Tables
Friday and Saturday are full. Tuesday and Wednesday are dead. Without targeted midweek promotions, event marketing, loyalty programmes, and seasonal menu campaigns, you are running at half capacity for most of the week while your fixed costs — rent, staff, ingredients — remain the same. Those empty tables are costing you hundreds of pounds every day.
Dining out has changed. Has your marketing?
The way diners choose where to eat has fundamentally shifted. In 2026, over half of restaurant discovery starts with a voice search or AI assistant query — “find me a Thai restaurant with outdoor seating open tonight”. Google AI Overviews now curate “best restaurants in [area]” recommendations pulling from Google Maps data, menu content, and review sentiment. If your digital presence is not optimised for this new reality, you are invisible to the majority of potential diners.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is reshaping how restaurants are discovered. ChatGPT and Perplexity are now used by diners to find restaurants for specific occasions — “romantic anniversary dinner in Manchester”, “best vegan brunch London”. Restaurants with structured menu content, comprehensive FAQ pages, and strong review profiles get recommended. Those without are filtered out before the diner even considers them.
Instagram remains the most influential platform for restaurant discovery, with 69% of diners saying they have chosen a restaurant based on food photography they saw on social media. TikTok food content drives viral discovery for restaurants that invest in creating shareable moments. The restaurants that combine stunning visual content with strong local SEO and direct reservation systems are the ones filling every table, every night.
AI Recommends Restaurants
Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity now answer “where should I eat tonight in [town]” with curated recommendations. Restaurants with complete menu schema, cuisine-type structured data, and verified high review scores get featured. Everyone else is invisible to this rapidly growing discovery channel.
Social Media Drives Covers
69% of diners choose restaurants based on food photos they see on social media. Instagram Reels showing dishes being plated, behind-the-kitchen content, and seasonal menu launches generate real footfall. But organic reach is at an all-time low — paid amplification of your best content is essential to reach new diners in your area.
Direct Orders Save Margins
Every delivery order that comes through your own website instead of JustEat or Deliveroo saves 15–35% in commission. A restaurant doing £8,000 per week in delivery that shifts 40% to direct ordering saves over £80,000 per year. That is the difference between surviving and thriving.
The Prism Digital Restaurant Transformation Package
A complete, done-for-you digital marketing system designed specifically for restaurants, cafes, bars, and takeaways. Every element works together to fill tables, drive direct orders, build your reputation, and reduce dependency on third-party platforms.
Restaurant Website & Ordering
A visually stunning, mobile-first website with integrated reservation system and direct online ordering. We build your digital menu with restaurant schema markup so Google understands your cuisine, price range, and specialities. Dedicated pages for your main menu, seasonal specials, private dining, events, and takeaway create multiple entry points from search.
Your site features professional food photography galleries, an embedded reservation widget (OpenTable, ResDiary, DesignMyNight, or your preferred platform), a direct ordering system for takeaway and delivery, gift voucher purchasing, and live Google review feeds. An events page promotes special evenings, seasonal menus, and private dining. Sub-2-second load times guaranteed.
Google Maps Domination
We get your restaurant to the top of Google Maps for every relevant cuisine and location search. Full Google Business Profile optimisation with professional food photos, complete menu, correct categories, opening hours, and weekly posts about specials. NAP consistency across 40+ food and dining directories (TripAdvisor, OpenTable, TheFork, SquareMeal, Harden's, TimeOut).
Our GEO strategy ensures AI engines recommend your restaurant. We structure menu and FAQ content, build topical authority through food and area content, and maintain the citation profile that ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews use to suggest where to eat. Explore our Local SEO service page.
Instagram & TikTok Content
We create and manage a content strategy that makes your social channels the most appetising feed in town. Monthly content calendars with Reels-first approach: dish preparation videos, behind-the-kitchen stories, seasonal menu reveals, chef spotlights, and customer experience content. Every post drives engagement and reservations.
Paid amplification puts your best food content in front of potential diners within a 5-mile radius. Event promotion campaigns fill special evenings and seasonal menus. TikTok strategy for viral food moments. See our social media service page.
Email & Loyalty Automation
Build a diner database and keep them coming back. Post-visit emails thank guests and invite reviews. Seasonal menu launch campaigns create anticipation and early bookings. Birthday and anniversary automations drive celebration dining. Loyalty programme integration rewards frequent diners. Midweek offer emails fill quiet periods. Visit our CRM automation page.
Reputation Management
Automated post-dining review requests via SMS and email drive a consistent stream of Google and TripAdvisor reviews. Multi-platform monitoring alerts you to new reviews in real time. AI-assisted response drafting ensures every review gets a professional reply within hours. Negative review service recovery protocols turn unhappy diners into advocates. Explore our reputation management service.
Google & Meta Ads
Targeted Google Ads for high-intent searches like “restaurant near me open now” and “book table [cuisine] [town]”. Meta campaigns with mouth-watering food photography targeting local audiences. Event and seasonal promotion campaigns for Valentine's, Mother's Day, Christmas bookings, and New Year's Eve. See our Paid Advertising page.
What our restaurant clients achieve
These are the outcomes our restaurant, cafe, and bar clients have seen within the first 90 days of working with Prism Digital.
Based on aggregated client data. Individual results vary. View case studies.
How it works: your 90-day transformation
From the moment you say “go” to a fully-optimised, table-filling digital presence in three months. Here is exactly what happens and when. Explore our full delivery process.
Audit & Strategy
We audit your current digital presence, analyse competitor restaurants in your area, review your booking and ordering data to identify quiet periods, and assess your Google Maps positioning. We evaluate your TripAdvisor and Google review profiles, analyse your menu content for SEO opportunities, and deliver a detailed strategy document covering local SEO, social content, paid ads, and seasonal campaign planning.
Build & Launch
Your new restaurant website goes live with menu pages, reservation integration, direct online ordering, and events calendar. Google Ads campaigns launch targeting high-intent dining searches. Instagram and TikTok content calendars begin with professional food photography. CRM automation is configured with post-dining review requests, birthday offers, and seasonal menu launch emails. Google Business Profile is fully optimised with food photos and weekly special posts.
Optimise & Grow
With booking and ordering data flowing in, we refine every channel. Social content that drives the most engagement and bookings gets amplified. Ad targeting is refined based on which campaigns fill the most covers. Midweek promotion campaigns launch to fill quiet periods. Review automation starts building your Google and TripAdvisor ratings rapidly. Weekly reporting shows reservation sources, direct order volume, and social engagement metrics.
Results & Seasonal Plan
By month three, your covers are up, your direct orders are growing, and your review profile is stronger. We review the full picture: covers per week, direct vs platform order split, review growth, and midweek occupancy improvement. We present a clear performance report and plan the seasonal strategy for the next quarter, including campaigns for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, summer terraces, and Christmas bookings.
Frequently asked questions
Everything restaurant and hospitality owners ask us before getting started.
How much does digital marketing for restaurants cost in 2026?
Our restaurant transformation packages start from around £999 per month, which includes your website with reservation and ordering integration, Google Maps optimisation, social media management, paid ads, CRM automation, and reputation management. The exact price depends on your venue size, whether you need delivery ordering, and the channels required. Visit our pricing page for details.
How quickly will I see more covers?
Google Ads campaigns targeting 'restaurant near me' and similar searches typically start generating reservations within the first week. Google Maps optimisation improvements show within two to four weeks. Social media content builds engagement and brand awareness over the first month. Most restaurant clients see a meaningful increase in covers by the end of month one, with the full system delivering clear results by month three.
Can you help reduce our JustEat and Deliveroo dependency?
Yes, that is one of our primary goals. We build a direct ordering system on your website and run targeted campaigns to encourage customers to order directly. Incentives like loyalty points, free extras on direct orders, or lower delivery fees make your direct channel more attractive than third-party platforms. Restaurants we work with typically shift 30 to 50 percent of delivery orders to direct within six months.
What is GEO and why does it matter for restaurants?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. It is the practice of structuring your website content so that AI engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity recommend your restaurant when diners ask 'where should I eat in [area]'. In 2026, a growing share of dining decisions flow through AI recommendations. GEO ensures your restaurant appears in these suggestions.
Can you integrate with our reservation system?
Yes. We integrate with all major reservation platforms including OpenTable, ResDiary, DesignMyNight, TheFork, and Resy. Reservations from your website flow directly into your existing system. For direct ordering, we integrate with platforms like Flipdish, Orderbee, and Slerp, or we can build a custom ordering page.
How do you help fill midweek tables?
We build targeted midweek campaigns: Tuesday date night offers, Wednesday lunch specials for local offices, Thursday pre-theatre menus. These are promoted through Google Ads targeting midweek dining searches, email campaigns to your diner database, and social media content. Combined with loyalty programme incentives for midweek visits, most clients see a 20 to 35 percent increase in midweek covers.
Do you handle food photography and content creation?
We provide content strategy, captions, hashtags, and posting schedules. For food photography, we can coordinate professional shoots and also train your team on smartphone food photography techniques for day-to-day content. Many of our best-performing posts come from quick behind-the-scenes clips filmed by kitchen staff, which we edit and publish as Reels and TikToks.
How do you improve our Google and TripAdvisor reviews?
We implement automated post-dining review requests via SMS or email, timed to reach guests shortly after their visit when the experience is fresh. Happy diners are directed to Google and TripAdvisor. We monitor all platforms in real time and draft professional responses to every review. This consistent approach typically triples review volume within six months while maintaining a high average rating.
Do you lock us into a long-term contract?
No. All our packages are month-to-month. We believe in earning your business through more covers and more revenue, not trapping you in a contract. You can cancel with 30 days notice at any time. Our restaurant clients rarely cancel because the increase in covers and reduction in platform commission easily justify the investment.
What happens if we do not see results in 90 days?
We offer a 90-day results guarantee. If we do not deliver measurable improvement in your covers, online visibility, or direct order volume within 90 days, we restructure your strategy at no additional cost. We have offered this guarantee since we started and have never had to invoke it for a restaurant client. Read more on our process page.
“We were paying Deliveroo £3,000 a month in commission and our Google reviews were stuck at 89 with a 4.1 rating. Three months with Prism and we have shifted 40% of delivery orders to our own site, our Google reviews are at 340 with a 4.7 rating, and our Tuesday and Wednesday covers have doubled. The Instagram content alone has brought in dozens of new regulars who found us through Reels.”
Marco Bianchi
Owner, Osteria Bianchi — Leeds
2026 is the year to fill every table, every night
The restaurants investing in digital marketing now are dominating local search, building direct ordering channels, and turning first-time diners into loyal regulars. Every month you wait, your competitors strengthen their position and attract the customers who should be eating at your tables.
No commitment. No hard sell. Just a clear plan for your restaurant business.