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Restaurant Marketing Budget: How Much Should You REALLY Be Spending?
Restaurant owners ask Henry Kaminski Jr. one question all the time:
How much should I spend on marketing?
The problem is that starting with the budget can put the entire conversation backward.
In Episode 82 of the Brand To Table Podcast, Henry explains why the better starting point is identifying the specific gap between where the restaurant is today and where ownership wants it to be.
If a restaurant wants an additional $10,000 in monthly sales, for example, the next question becomes where that revenue is realistically going to come from. More dinner guests? Catering? Private events? Another location?
Once the opportunity is clear, ownership and marketing can work backward into the effort, resources, timeline, and budget required to pursue it.
Henry also shares the planning ranges he uses when discussing restaurant marketing budgets. For an established restaurant, he may begin by looking at approximately 3%–5% of net sales for the total ongoing marketing investment, with 5%–8% potentially making sense during a more aggressive growth period — provided the restaurant's margins, cash flow, staffing, and capacity can support the additional business.
But money alone doesn't create results.
Successful restaurant marketing also requires access to information, timely decisions, operational follow-through, people responding to leads, accurate promotion details, content creation, and management involvement.
The episode also explores how restaurants can better measure whether marketing is actually producing business. Rather than stopping at followers, impressions, likes, or email open rates, Henry discusses using tools such as Toast and OpenTable to better understand campaign-attributed sales, reservations, guest visits, party sizes, and spending.
Just as importantly, generating $10,000 in new sales doesn't mean the restaurant made $10,000. Food, labor, transaction fees, discounts, additional staffing, and marketing expenses all need to be considered when determining whether the additional business made financial sense.
And sometimes the best answer isn't spending more.
Henry shares why he'll sometimes advise an owner to use existing resources more effectively before adding another agency or another monthly expense.
The episode ends with one practical challenge: sit down with your manager or marketing person and establish one measurable goal for the next 90 days. Define where you are today, where you want to be, what you're prepared to invest, and exactly what result you'll evaluate.
That creates a much better marketing conversation than simply asking whether an agency fee “feels expensive.”
CONTACT & RESOURCES:
Email: hk@brandtotable.com
Website: www.brandtotable.com
FOLLOW HENRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: instagram.com/h.kaminskijr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandToTable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryKaminskiJr/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaminski-jr/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@henrykaminskijr
📢 If you got value from this episode, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment or review, and share it with someone in hospitality who needs a smarter way to grow. 💥
Before You Spend More on Restaurant Marketing, Fix This First
Every restaurant owner has heard the pitch.
You need more social media. You need Google Ads. You need influencers. You need email marketing. You need loyalty. You need AI.
The problem is that any of those tactics could work, but only if they’re solving the right problem.
In Episode 81 of the Brand To Table podcast, Henry Kaminski Jr. explains a different way to think about restaurant marketing.
Instead of immediately asking which marketing tactic to use next, start by figuring out where customers are falling out of the journey.
Henry breaks those problems into four categories:
Discovery
Can people actively searching for a restaurant like yours easily find you?
This is where Google visibility, your website, reviews, restaurant information, photography, and your Google Business Profile become important.
Decision
People know your restaurant exists, but are they choosing you?
If your content looks exactly like every restaurant around you, producing more of the same content probably won’t solve the problem. Your marketing needs to communicate what makes the experience worth choosing.
Conversion
Someone is interested, but how difficult are you making the next step?
Whether they want to make a reservation, buy event tickets, order online, or inquire about catering, unnecessary friction creates opportunities for customers to get distracted and disappear.
Retention
Your restaurant gets customers through the door, but what happens after they leave?
Email, SMS, loyalty programs, and your customer database give restaurants an opportunity to continue the relationship with people who already know and have experienced the business.
Henry also discusses why restaurant groups shouldn’t automatically run identical marketing strategies across every location. Different markets, competitors, customer behaviors, and traffic patterns can create completely different problems from one restaurant to another.
The episode finishes with a simple exercise.
Choose one restaurant location and rate its discovery, decision, conversion, and retention from one to five.
Start investigating whichever category receives the lowest score.
Because the question isn’t simply:
“What restaurant marketing works?”
The better question is:
“What problem am I actually trying to solve?”
CONTACT & RESOURCES:
Email: hk@brandtotable.com
Website: www.brandtotable.com
FOLLOW HENRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: instagram.com/h.kaminskijr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandToTable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryKaminskiJr/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaminski-jr/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@henrykaminskijr
📢 If you got value from this episode, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment or review, and share it with someone in hospitality who needs a smarter way to grow. 💥
How to Get More Restaurant Customers Without Discounts
What if the reason your restaurant isn't getting more customers has nothing to do with your food, your service, or your prices?
Many restaurant owners respond to slower business by launching another promotion, offering a discount, or spending more money on advertising.
But sometimes the real problem is much simpler: customers are interested in your restaurant, but something is preventing them from taking the next step.
In this episode of the Brand To Table Podcast, Henry Kaminski Jr. explores the often overlooked obstacles that prevent potential guests from becoming paying customers.
From outdated Google listings and confusing social media profiles to unanswered customer questions and complicated reservation processes, Henry explains how restaurants can unintentionally create friction throughout the customer journey.
He also explores why clarity, trust, and convenience play such important roles in helping customers choose where to dine.
The Three-Minute Restaurant Marketing Audit
One of the most actionable takeaways from this episode is a simple audit that restaurant owners can perform themselves.
Using a private browser, search for your restaurant as if you're a first-time customer and answer five questions:
- Can I easily find the correct restaurant and location?
- Can I understand the concept and dining experience within 10 seconds?
- Can I find the current menu, operating hours, and pricing?
- Do the reviews, photos, and online interactions make me trust this restaurant?
- Can I make a reservation, call, get directions, or order without unnecessary frustration?
Then ask yourself one final question:
Where did I hesitate?
That hesitation may reveal the exact obstacle preventing someone from becoming your next customer.
If you're a restaurant owner, operator, chef, or hospitality marketer looking to improve customer acquisition without constantly cutting into your margins, this episode offers a practical approach to strengthening your restaurant marketing strategy.
The takeaway: Before investing in another campaign or offering another discount, make it easier for people who already want to visit your restaurant to become paying customers.
CONTACT & RESOURCES:
Email: hk@brandtotable.com
Website: www.brandtotable.com
FOLLOW HENRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: instagram.com/h.kaminskijr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandToTable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryKaminskiJr/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaminski-jr/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@henrykaminskijr
📢 If you got value from this episode, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment or review, and share it with someone in hospitality who needs a smarter way to grow. 💥
How To Get Your Restaurant Recommended by ChatGPT
How are people going to discover restaurants as AI search becomes a bigger part of everyday life?
That is the question restaurant owners need to start paying attention to.
In Episode 79 of the Brand To Table Podcast, Henry Kaminski Jr. explores how platforms like ChatGPT are changing restaurant discovery and what operators can do to make their restaurants easier to understand and recommend.
The answer is not stuffing keywords onto a website or chasing the latest AI marketing hack.
It starts with clarity.
What kind of restaurant are you?
Where are you located?
What food are you known for?
What kind of experience do you provide?
Are you good for date nights, birthday dinners, outdoor dining, Sunday football, brunch, private groups, cocktails, or another specific occasion?
And is that information consistently reinforced across your website, social media, Google presence, emails, reviews, menus, and reservation platforms?
Henry breaks down Answer Engine Optimization for restaurants in simple terms and explains why useful content built around real customer questions can become increasingly valuable.
He also discusses the importance of detailed reviews, accurate restaurant information, clear website content, and why restaurant discovery through AI could eventually move customers closer to making an actual reservation.
The big takeaway is simple.
Do not ask how to trick ChatGPT into recommending your restaurant.
Ask whether there is enough clear, consistent information online for ChatGPT to confidently understand exactly what your restaurant does best.
CONTACT & RESOURCES:
Email: hk@brandtotable.com
Website: www.brandtotable.com
FOLLOW HENRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: instagram.com/h.kaminskijr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandToTable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryKaminskiJr/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaminski-jr/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@henrykaminskijr
📢 If you got value from this episode, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment or review, and share it with someone in hospitality who needs a smarter way to grow. 💥
The Restaurant Social Media Strategy That Gets People In The Door
Restaurant social media has never been more crowded.
Scroll through Instagram and you’ll see burgers, steaks, cocktails, pizza, sushi, cheese pulls, and professionally shot food everywhere.
The problem is that eventually it all starts looking the same.
In Episode 78 of the Brand To Table Podcast, Henry Kaminski Jr. explains why restaurant storytelling can be one of the strongest ways to differentiate your restaurant and make your marketing more meaningful.
Storytelling doesn’t require expensive cinematic productions or complicated scripts. It simply means giving people a reason to care about what they’re seeing.
Instead of only showing a cocktail, show the friends laughing around the table. Instead of simply posting Tuesday night specials, explain why somebody should leave their couch and come experience Tuesday night at your restaurant.
Henry discusses why restaurant content strategy should begin with business objectives. Restaurants should first identify what they need to accomplish, whether that means increasing traffic on slower nights, promoting brunch, driving private parties, attracting football crowds, building an email list, or creating awareness around a location.
The episode also explores one of the biggest missed opportunities in restaurant marketing: people.
Your chef, bartender, servers, owners, regular customers, community, and restaurant history are things larger competitors cannot simply copy. Showing those people consistently creates familiarity and helps potential customers connect with the restaurant before ever walking through the door.
For New Jersey restaurants especially, competition extends far beyond restaurants serving the same cuisine. Customers are choosing between Italian, sushi, steakhouses, sports bars, delivery, or staying home altogether.
That makes the real marketing question:
Why your restaurant? Why tonight? Why this experience?
Henry also explains why huge social media view counts can become vanity metrics when the audience isn’t relevant to your local market. A smaller piece of content being shared by people who actually live near your restaurant and are asking about reservations may have far greater business value.
You may need better stories, stronger angles, and more intention behind the content you’re already creating.
CONTACT & RESOURCES:
Email: hk@brandtotable.com
Website: www.brandtotable.com
FOLLOW HENRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: instagram.com/h.kaminskijr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandToTable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryKaminskiJr/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaminski-jr/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@henrykaminskijr
📢 If you got value from this episode, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment or review, and share it with someone in hospitality who needs a smarter way to grow. 💥