Around the globe, Restaurant Week attracts locals and guests, boosting the native financial system. Collaborating offers eating places and bars an opportunity to show one-time diners into regulars. To make that occur, it’s a must to be seen when persons are researching the place to eat.
In accordance with The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, 41% of Gen Z flip to social media first when on the lookout for data. Sprout’s Q2 2025 Pulse Survey additionally discovered that 35% of all customers use social first to search out native eating places and actions. Displaying up strategically on social media is the way you fill tables and stand out from the competitors throughout Restaurant Week.
This information will train you construct a Restaurant Week advertising technique and what to do on social earlier than, throughout and after the occasion to profit from it.
What’s Restaurant Week?
Restaurant Week is an occasion used to drive visitors to eating places and bars throughout slower durations. Having originated within the US, the occasion is now a worldwide one.
To take part, you register with the native organizer and create fixed-price two or three-course menus for lunch and/or dinner. The organizer markets the occasion, typically spotlighting particular person venues, but it surely’s largely as much as members to advertise themselves.
Restaurant Week attracts locals and guests who might not usually dine at your restaurant, making it an incredible alternative to succeed in new visitors.
Why social media is essential for Restaurant Week
Greater than three-quarters (76%) of Q2 2025 Pulse Survey respondents mentioned social media has impacted their buying choices within the final six months. That affect makes social one of the efficient instruments to spice up gross sales throughout Restaurant Week.
Social media is good for Restaurant Week advertising as a result of you’ll be able to take folks from consciousness to reserving in a single place. Including reserving hyperlinks in your bio and posts turns your profile right into a reserving software. Past comfort, what convinces diners to behave is belief, and social is the place it’s constructed.
In accordance with our Q1 2024 Pulse Survey, 78% of customers say a model’s social media presence has a big influence on whether or not they belief that model, and for Gen Z it’s even increased at 88%. Is sensible—if somebody searches for your corporation and finds little about it, they might look elsewhere.
Whereas presence, tone and consistency construct belief, engagement builds neighborhood. Replying to feedback, reposting person content material and sharing updates earlier than, throughout and after the occasion exhibits you’re as excited as your visitors.
That sort of constant engagement turns Restaurant Week from a one-time occasion into the beginning of lasting loyalty.
Tips on how to create your Restaurant Week advertising plan
Preparation separates an excellent Restaurant Week from a record-setting one. The eating places that see the largest payoff set clear targets, know who they wish to attain and map out content material themes with a posting calendar. If attainable, begin planning your menu and advertising 4 to 6 weeks forward so that you’re not scrambling when the occasion begins.
With an omnichannel technique that prioritizes social media, you’ll be able to attain extra diners, seize consideration and create a smoother expertise for visitors and workers.
Set clear targets and targets
What do you wish to get out of Restaurant Week? Or what made you resolve it was price signing up? The solutions to these questions will form your advertising and social media targets, which can information your technique.
Your targets is likely to be to fill extra tables, enhance consciousness, spark engagement, develop your following or construct neighborhood. It doesn’t matter what it’s, every goal must tie again to one thing measurable so you understand your technique is working. For instance, in case your aim is model consciousness, you’d measure how many individuals noticed your content material by taking a look at put up attain, impressions or profile visits.
Clear targets preserve your marketing campaign targeted and ensure your Restaurant Week efforts translate into actual outcomes.
Determine your target market for Restaurant Week
Restaurant Week typically brings in guests and locals who may not be a part of your regular buyer base. Take time to get to know who’s more likely to attend.
Ask the organizing physique if they’ve any information from previous years they’ll share, like demographic breakdowns or common group sizes. You too can overview your corporation’s social media analytics and browse final 12 months’s Restaurant Week hashtags to get an thought of who participated, the place they’re from and in the event that they appeared motivated by worth or by the expertise.
When you determine patterns, translate them into easy purchaser personas. For instance, meet The Weekend Vacationer: Jordan, 32, who’s on the town for a protracted weekend. They scroll Instagram and TikTok for “must-try” spots and ebook last-minute. Restaurant Week offers them a purpose to strive a brand new place as an alternative of sticking to their regular stops.
Utilizing personas helps you translate viewers insights into content material and messaging that’s extra more likely to resonate with diners.
To automate and dive deeper into your Restaurant Week market analysis, use a software like Sprout Social Listening to trace hashtags and key phrases for historic efficiency and viewers insights.
Create content material themes and calendar
Like making an attempt to constantly recreate a dish with out a recipe, executing a social technique with out a plan could be very tough. Content material pillars clear up this by supplying you with just a few core themes to information what you put up. They preserve your content material constant and strategic whereas nonetheless leaving room for creativity. This issues as a result of, in response to The 2025 Sprout Social Index, content material originality is likely one of the high methods a model can stand out, second solely to the standard of its service.
For Restaurant Week, attainable pillars embrace behind-the-scenes prep, spotlights on particular menu objects, buyer reactions or testimonials, sneak peeks and partnerships. From there, create activations (content material, promotions or campaigns) for every theme.
For instance, Chloe by Vincent shared a video of their chef making two Restaurant Week dishes to get folks and excited.
When you’ve mapped your themes, plot them in a content material calendar and schedule posts forward of time. That manner, whenever you’re busy serving visitors, your advertising continues to be working arduous within the background.
Verify and coordinate your cross-channel advertising efforts
Ideally, social media is the hub of your Restaurant Week advertising, however each channel ought to level again to a central reservation system. Any time you do a coordinated push, be sure the calls to motion are constant and the messages are timed to land shut collectively.
As an example, you would possibly share user-generated images in the course of the week on social, function the identical content material in your publication and highlight it on a digital display screen in your restaurant. The messaging in all places says, “Reserve your spot now.”
When all of your advertising is driving the identical motion, has a cohesive feel and look and is genuine to your model, it builds belief, which ends up in extra bookings.
Pre-Restaurant Week suggestions: The planning and hype part
Along with your advertising plan in hand, it’s time to get your back-of-house and front-of-house organized and begin constructing anticipation with diners.
Right here’s set the stage so your Restaurant Week runs easily and delivers most influence.
Announce and construct anticipation
Knowledge from the 2025 Index exhibits 90% of customers use social media to maintain up with what’s trending. Use this to your benefit by posting a teaser with the occasion dates, saying your participation.
Dobson and Parnell introduced the occasion on Instagram, however they stored the main points easy so they might proceed to construct anticipation with extra content material because the occasion bought nearer.
Be sure you encourage enter and interplay in these posts. Asking questions or inviting folks to tag their eating buddies boosts engagement and turns your replace right into a dialog.
Construct and showcase a particular menu
Create a Restaurant Week menu that helps you meet your targets whereas additionally providing worth and novelty. Worth makes them really feel like they’re getting a deal price leaving dwelling for, whereas the novelty offers them a contemporary expertise they’ll’t get another week. You too can enhance earnings by constructing in upsell alternatives corresponding to cocktail pairings or premium protein choices.
As soon as the menu is about, seize loads of images and movies of your Restaurant Week dishes so you’ll be able to present them off. In Unconventional Diner’s X (previously Twitter) put up under, the dish description attracts you in, however the high-quality picture sells it.
To additional construct anticipation, give e mail subscribers or followers a sneak peek to make them really feel like insiders. You too can create visible tales round every dish to assist Restaurant Week visitors join along with your group and really feel a part of the expertise.
Take a cue from NUE. They shared a mouthwatering behind-the-scenes video displaying how their Crispy Entire Fish is ready, highlighting the care that goes into the dish.
Pairing a powerful menu with promotion ensures your Restaurant Week influence lasts.
Collaborate and accomplice with influencers and companies
Supply free tastings to meals bloggers, influencers, media shops and tourism bureaus to generate early opinions and content material. When manufacturers group up with a trusted influencer, 64% of Sprout Pulse Survey respondents say they’re extra possible to purchase.
Komodo Dallas put this into motion by inviting Future Adams to preview its Restaurant Week menu, which she then shared together with her TikTok followers.
The aim right here is to increase your attain by enlisting trusted companions to assist drive new diners your manner.
Open reservations early
Reservations are key throughout Restaurant Week as a result of they permit you to fill extra tables in fewer sittings. Take into account opening your books sooner than regular to encourage bigger events to ebook early.
With two-thirds of restaurant reservations being made on-line, digital reserving is your finest wager to safe tables upfront. When bookings go stay, manage a coordinated advertising push, like The eleventh Ground did within the Fb put up under, to unfold the phrase.
Practice your group
Your workers is the face of your Restaurant Week expertise, so that you wish to put together them effectively.
Use a fast coaching session to cowl key particulars like:
Particular menu objects and upsell alternatives
Tips on how to serve Restaurant Week diners and what to anticipate
Any operational adjustments, like adjusted hours or restricted seating occasions
Clear communication round procedures and repair expectations helps your group ship constantly nice experiences throughout a busy week.
Throughout Restaurant Week suggestions: Actual-time engagement part
In accordance with the 2025 Index, advertising leaders rank general engagement as the highest metric for social media success, proving how essential it’s to profit from the surge in consideration. To do that, you’ll have to be energetic on-line, have interaction with visitors in actual time and reply shortly to suggestions. Let’s stroll via do it.
Have interaction immediately along with your viewers
Social media offers a chance to apply hospitality past your 4 partitions. Responding to visitors’ feedback and questions builds belief and relationships that last more than Restaurant Week.
Sprout’s 2025 Journey & Hospitality Content material Benchmarks Report reported that journey and hospitality manufacturers reply to solely 6% of every day messages and feedback. It is a missed alternative, particularly since 73% of social customers say they’ll purchase from a competitor if a model doesn’t reply, in response to the 2025 Index.
Designate somebody to watch and reply to feedback, and intention to reply the identical day if attainable—like they do at Kafeneon Restaurant (as you’ll be able to see from the instance under).
In case you discover it tough to maintain up with questions and feedback throughout a number of networks, an answer like Social Buyer Care by Sprout Social will help you pace up first response occasions and handle all of your conversations in a single place.
Leverage user-generated content material (UGC)
Consumer-generated content material is an genuine method to attain extra folks throughout Restaurant Week.
Desk indicators or delicate prompts out of your workers encourage visitors to share their expertise and tag your account, like this Summerlicious (Toronto’s summer season Restaurant Week) diner did at Minami Toronto.
Recommend in addition they use your metropolis’s Restaurant Week hashtag; it’s an effective way for diners to search out you and so that you can spot posts you would possibly in any other case miss. A restaurant-specific hashtag can work effectively too, when you have a well known or multi-location restaurant that persons are already trying to find.
Resharing visitor posts with credit score provides authenticity and exhibits that diners are having fun with your restaurant in actual time.
Monitor conversations and sentiment
What are folks saying about your restaurant or bar throughout Restaurant Week? How are they feeling about their eating expertise? Social listening offers you these solutions.
Monitoring seems to be at particular person mentions or feedback, whereas listening analyzes all these conversations to search out patterns in how folks focus on your corporation, menu and opponents.
Instruments like Sprout Listening assist you to determine traits in diner suggestions, monitor sentiment in near-real-time and allow you to check efficiency towards opponents. Social listening lets you catch patterns early, giving you a chance to leap on optimistic momentum or modify shortly earlier than small points turn out to be larger issues.
When visitors message you immediately, Sprout’s Sensible Inbox brings all of your social messages collectively in a single place. This implies you’ll be able to reply shortly to visitors who’re actively partaking with you.
Put up-Restaurant Week suggestions: The follow-up part
After Restaurant Week is over, you will have a chance to maintain the joy going, flip new visitors into regulars and gather insights to make your social media advertising even stronger.
Listed below are 3 ways to make that occur.
Thank diners and observe up
Expressing gratitude and asking for suggestions on social is like placing a cherry on high of the Restaurant Week expertise.
A thank-you put up recognizing visitors and workers reinforces goodwill, whereas additionally displaying potential new diners that you simply worth your neighborhood.
Social media additionally makes it simple to present and obtain suggestions. As a substitute of counting on Google opinions or surveys, put up a ballot or query field in your Instagram or Fb story asking visitors about their favourite dish or general expertise. These touchpoints strengthen relationships and provide you with insights to enhance your subsequent Restaurant Week.
Maintain the momentum going
Service typically slows proper after Restaurant Week, because the occasion sometimes falls throughout a quieter season. To maintain momentum, give diners a purpose to return.
One possibility is to maneuver a well-liked Restaurant Week dish onto your common menu and announce it on social, like Downtown by Chef Jay Pisculli did. You have already got images and movies of those dishes, making it a simple method to repromote your restaurant on social.
You too can ship visitors dwelling with a coupon for a reduction or a small perk (like a free dessert) in the event that they return inside a set timeframe.
With the precise follow-up after Restaurant Week, you’ll flip buzz into repeat enterprise.
Analyze and study
As soon as Restaurant Week is finished, reviewing the outcomes of your advertising provides you with perception into what labored and what didn’t so you’ll be able to enhance your technique subsequent 12 months.
Listed below are some key social metrics to trace throughout Restaurant Week:
Engagement charges
Attain
Follower development
Reservations
Clicks on reservation hyperlinks
Quantity of user-generated content material (UGC)
Take a look at which posts or promotions earned essentially the most engagement, clicks or bookings and examine them with those who didn’t carry out as effectively, so you understand what content material to repeat and what to rethink.
With Sprout’s Tag Efficiency Report, you’ll be able to simply analyze your Restaurant Week social technique by tagging the posts and pulling a report that exhibits what’s driving outcomes. For instance, you’ll be able to see your top-performing posts and monitor metrics corresponding to engagements, clicks and video views.
By analyzing your advertising efforts, you’ll see which posts drove essentially the most bookings, which gives bought visitors within the door and the place there is likely to be room to enhance subsequent 12 months.
Elevate your Restaurant Week with social media
Restaurant Week is an effective way to extend gross sales and attain new prospects. However the true worth comes from utilizing social media to advertise your participation. With the precise technique, you’ll be able to inform your restaurant’s story and create a loyal neighborhood that retains coming again.
Take a look at Sprout’s 2025 Journey & Hospitality Content material Benchmarks Report back to see what’s working throughout the business and take the guesswork out of your subsequent social media marketing campaign.
Steadily requested questions on Restaurant Week advertising
What are the best methods for eating places to advertise their enterprise throughout Restaurant Week to spice up buyer bookings?
Listed below are just a few tried-and-tested methods to extend advance reservations throughout Restaurant Week:
Be sure your Google Enterprise profile and web site are correct and up-to-date.
Create a particular menu that delivers worth for the diner.
Construct pleasure early via multi-channel advertising, and be sure you have constant calls to motion.
Spotlight your Restaurant Week menu and expertise on social media.
How do high eating places use social media advertising throughout Restaurant Week to face out and drive extra enterprise?
Eating places that efficiently use social media throughout Restaurant Week showcase particular dishes and workers via storytelling, reply to feedback and messages, and reshare user-generated content material. By partaking promptly and mixing sturdy visuals with genuine voices on social, they fill tables and construct belief.
Which digital advertising instruments work finest for Restaurant Week promotions to extend desk reservations?
On-line reserving platforms make it simple for visitors to order a desk, and social instruments assist get them there.
With Sprout Social, you’ll be able to schedule posts that spotlight your menu, monitor engagement to see what drives clicks to your reservation hyperlink and reply shortly to reserving inquiries. Pair this with a reservation system and an up to date Google Enterprise Profile to seize diners from curiosity to desk.
What are confirmed methods to create partaking Restaurant Week menus and advertising supplies to extend participation and gross sales?
Create a particular menu for Restaurant Week that mixes favorites with unique dishes, and seize high-quality images and movies to indicate it off. Additionally invite native influencers to style the menu early to assist generate buzz and early opinions. Polished and constant advertising builds belief with diners and makes them extra possible to decide on your restaurant over others.
