Anyone who runs a restaurant knows that it involves a lot more than just preparing great meals. It's also about getting people in the door and coming back for more — and that's where the best restaurant marketing tools can help. From designing your website, curating your social presence, and making sense of the data you gather, there are many ways to make it easier to stay visible, talk to customers, and measure what's working.
Does your kitchen wizardry exceed your technological know-how? Not to fear: with diners now discovering their next favorite food spot online, there are simple ways to use tools like AI, restaurant marketing automation, and restaurant loyalty software to help your business stand out and grow sales. The proof is in the pudding:
77% of diners visit a restaurant's website before dining in or ordering, and 68% say a poor or outdated site discourages them from visiting.
85% of consumers trust local business reviews, and over 99% consult them before choosing a business.
Whether you're opening your first location or scaling a multi-unit brand, here are the best restaurant marketing tools to boost sales and drive repeat orders.
What are the essential marketing tools every restaurant should have?
Fancy AI-driven tools are all over the news, but don't skip the basics: a solid online presence, a healthy email list, and happy repeat customers.
Because although your steady audience of regulars is irreplaceable, there are always other diners who have never stepped foot in your establishment. The biggest challenge? Getting those future fans to try your restaurant — and then getting them to come back for more.
Here are the core restaurant marketing tools that drive discovery and repeat business, along with advice on how to streamline them with the DoorDash Commerce Platform.
Restaurant websites and online ordering tools that convert
As the saying goes, "there's never a second chance to make a first impression." So you'll want to ensure your website provides an engaging introduction to the dining experience you can provide — nearly 75% of restaurant traffic now happens off-premises through takeout, delivery, and drive-thru orders.
If your website isn't current or lacks helpful information, customers may be less likely to dine with you. You could also use the site to share something that illustrates the mission and history of your restaurant. And AI-assisted menu builders, SEO tools, and mobile optimization make it easier to showcase your food and turn curious shoppers into paying guests.
Every DoorDash Commerce Platform plan includes commission-free Online Ordering*. This enables pickup and delivery directly from your site — helping you attract more local traffic, boost off-premises sales, and maintain control of your customer data.
How can restaurant CRM and email marketing tools build loyalty?
For all the bells and whistles of other marketing solutions, email remains one of the highest-ROI marketing channels — earning $36 for every $1 spent. And it's much more powerful when you support it with personalized data from restaurant CRM (customer relationship management) tools.
A restaurant CRM tool helps you store customer data, track order history, and send personalized messages. Think of it as a smart guest book. It keeps track of who your customers are, what they like, and when they visit, so you can remember things like birthdays or favorite dishes. It also helps you send the right messages — like specials or reminders — to the right people at the right time. Not only does personalization create a bond with your clientele, it also often drives a 10–15% revenue lift.
Platforms like Mailchimp or Benchmark offer free tiers to get started, but integrations can help you do more. When your CRM connects to your ordering and loyalty systems, you can automate campaigns that reach customers at the right moment, from their first order to their next visit.
AI tools like Canva Magic Write and ChatGPT can help you create content faster, while automated email marketing, available with the Commerce Platform Boost and Pro packages, can allow you to send tailored messages without lifting a finger.
Learn more about building customer relationships in our guides to restaurant CRM campaigns and CRM promotions.
What restaurant promotions and discounts attract repeat orders?
Discounts and promotions have always been an excellent way to attract attention, but today's tools make them more effective — and more automated. Your gut is reliable for determining how delicious one of your newest dishes is, but it's far less trustworthy when it comes to designing promotional offers. Instead, use DoorDash's data-driven restaurant marketing tools to suggest, schedule, and track promotions for you.
Here are some ways that DoorDash can use automation and personalization to help you attract and retain customers:
First Order, $0 Delivery Fee: Get prominent in-app placement and entice new customers by covering the delivery fee for their first DoorDash orders from your restaurant.
First Order, % Off: Offer first-time customers 15%, 20%, or 25% off their DoorDash order with you.
Order Again and Save: Win back previous customers who haven't ordered from you within the past 45 days by offering a 15%, 20%, or 25% discount on their next order.
$0 Delivery Fee: Get prominent in-app placement and offer reduced or free delivery for customer orders greater than $15.
Spend $X, Get Y: Give simple $ or % off incentives to customers who meet a minimum order size. You can use this to boost your average order value.
Promote Menu Items: Promote specific menu items to new or existing customers. Use this to incentivize higher order sizes, build momentum around new releases, or highlight your most profitable items.
If you're already a DoorDash partner, turning on promotions is easy. Simply log in to your Merchant Portal, go to "Run a campaign," select the promotion you'd like to run, and track your campaign results directly.
Social media marketing tools that grow your audience
The world connects through social media, and it's no different for restaurants. Use your social media channels to share information with existing customers and reach new ones, too. Social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok let you interact directly with diners, run advertisements, and analyze your performance.
According to the 2025 DoorDash Delivery Trends Report, Instagram (22%) is the most popular social media platform overall for people who use social media to find new restaurants, followed by Facebook (19%), TikTok (18%), and YouTube (16%). Both men and women list Instagram and Facebook as their top two channels, but men prefer YouTube much more than women (21% vs. 10%), and younger generations are much more likely to trust restaurant reviews from social media influencers — 67% of Gen Zers and 63% of Millennials vs. 45% of Gen Xers and only 28% of Baby Boomers.
Your social media marketing can be as simple as sharing menu specials and reposting customer photos, or as creative as running daily polls, doing giveaways, and creating mouthwatering video content. Make sure your social profiles and posts include a call to action that helps to drive sales. (Hint: tools like Buffer and Hootsuite let you schedule posts in advance to save time and stay consistent.)
AI and automation make social media much easier to manage; nearly 60% of small businesses now use AI tools for marketing or operations. Tools like Meta Advantage+, Later, and Canva Magic Studio can help you schedule posts, generate captions, and analyze engagement.
You can link your online ordering menu on your Instagram or Facebook for easier sales, so customers can access your menu from your social profiles.
Loyalty and rewards programs that keep customers coming back
While getting new customers can be challenging, the real win is turning first-time guests into regulars. Your best customers are your most valuable — just a small slice of guests can bring in a big chunk of your sales.
As keeping customers coming back is usually more profitable than chasing new ones, rewards and loyalty programs can provide a major impact. Even a tiny bump can have a major impact: a 5% increase in customer retention can raise profits by anywhere from 25% to 95%.
There are many ways to build loyalty and turn casual diners into regulars, from offering in-store punch cards to leveraging a traditional points-based loyalty program. You could also give customers $5 off their next order with you, offer a "buy 9, get the 10th free" program, or allow customers to turn points into a free meal.
Through DoorDash Cross-Channel Loyalty, you can reward customers with points they can redeem across all channels — online, in-app, in-store and on DoorDash.
And the Commerce Platform Pro Package lets merchants reward customers across those channels, plus on DoorDash. If you use the Commerce Platform Pro package, you can target offers based on customer behavior, like order frequency or time since last visit.
Explore the Pro packageCampaign planning and automation for restaurants
Working smarter beats working longer. Let AI marketing tools for restaurants like the DoorDash item description generator and AI-powered camera to handle the busywork — creating instant menu descriptions, effortless food photography and editing that looks great, and more — while you experiment with a new recipe or fine-tune the atmosphere. Many small restaurants save up to 25 hours a week this way. That's a whole extra day to prep, train staff, or try a new special.
Put AI to work as your sous-chef for ideas: ask it for fall menu hooks, a witty caption for tonight's pasta, or three ways to fill Tuesday's slump. Then line up your promos around real moments — long weekends, game nights, slower weeks — using your automation tools or DoorDash's Promotions Manager. It can kick off the campaign, track what happens, and show the results right in your Merchant Portal, so you know what to keep, tweak, or cut.
Using restaurant analytics tools to measure what works
Once you have your restaurant marketing tools in place and are regularly executing campaigns, you'll need to monitor metrics to track your progress. Looking at campaign data can tell you which tactics are the most effective, and which aren't serving you at all.
Track analytics to see which promotions drive the most ROI for your business.
Look at overall sales numbers, purchasing trends, sales, conversion rates, repeat orders, and promotion performance.
Look at each channel to see how many people engage with your content and turn into customers.
With the DoorDash Commerce Platform you can view your direct ordering analytics in the Merchant Portal — the same place you track your sales on DoorDash Marketplace.
Analyze data, get feedback from customers, adjust your menu, and grow your sales based on what you're learning.
Test and iterate campaigns. Once you have the data, take action and refine your strategy:
McKinsey found that companies that use data regularly are three times more likely to see above-average revenue growth than those that only check data once in a while.
They also discovered that regularly using customer analytics makes you far more likely — about 2.6× — to get better ROI than the competition.
Continue what's working, change what isn't. Use what works, learn from mistakes, and keep experimenting so you stay ahead and your campaigns stay fresh.
Use these insights to test, learn, and adapt your marketing strategy. The more you measure, the faster you grow.
Smarter marketing, simplified
Modern restaurant marketing runs on automation, personalization, and tools that work together. The DoorDash Commerce Platform helps stitch it all together in one connected setup. Start with a couple quick wins, keep what moves the needle, and let the tech handle the repeats.
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