19 Best Restaurant Marketing Tools

Peadar Gormley • May 23, 2024

Grow fast with smart social media calendar and planner

Want to increase foot traffic and orders at your restaurant? Wondering what tools could help scale your restaurant’s marketing efforts?

Well, you’re in luck, then. You see – In this guide, I’ve compiled a list of 19 of the absolutely best tools restaurants use to drive various aspects of their marketing.

So, keep reading to find out what restaurant marketing tools to use for social media management, email marketing, WiFi marketing, local SEO, loyalty programs, and more.

And let’s start with this…

What types of restaurant marketing tools do you need

I think we can both agree on this – Restaurant marketing is complicated.

For one, there is no single marketing strategy or activity that could take your business to new heights. Instead, you always have to focus on at least several channels and strategies.

Add to that high competition, high customer expectations, or seasonality, and growing a restaurant is really quite an endeavor.

Naturally, there are plenty of tools to help with that. However, the fact that you rarely work on a single marketing strategy at a time means that you always need more than one tool to manage your restaurant’s marketing activities.

In most cases, you need:

Social media management software
Online ordering and delivery platforms
Customer relationship management and review management platforms
Email marketing tools
WiFi marketing solutions to capitalize on your Guest WiFI (believe it or not, this is an incredibly powerful marketing strategy.)
Loyalty programs
Reservations, table management,
Data and performance analytics, and more.

Below, I’ve compiled a list of the best tools in each category. Take a look, review them, and test the ones that best fit your needs.

Good luck.

19 Amazing Restaurant Marketing Tools

Social Media Management Tools

#1. Hootsuite

Overview:

Hootsuite is one of the most known and popular social media management tools. Its robust feature set, and the ability to also manage social media advertising makes Hootsuite ideal for managing even the most complicated social media campaigns.

But even if you’re looking for a tool to manage your restaurants’ social media presence and schedule content ahead of time, Hootsuite is a good choice.

Best features for restaurants:

Social media scheduling
Social media analytics
Social listening
Unified social media inbox
Social media advertising

AI capabilities:

AI content creation
Automated caption writing
Hashtag generation
Automated routing and auto-responders
Chatbot integrations

Free trial: 30 days

#2. Buffer

Overview:

Buffer is one of the first social media scheduling tools ever, if not the first. A legend in its category, Buffer is the tool restaurants and businesses turn to plan, create, and publish content across social media platforms.

Best features for restaurants:

Social media scheduling
Analytics and performance reporting
Social listening
Team collaboration tools
Hashtag suggestions

AI capabilities:

AI content suggestions
Automated post scheduling
Hashtag Generation

Free trial: 14 days

#3. SproutSocial

Overview:

The last social media scheduler I want to show you is SproutSocial. What’s unique about this tool is that it not only allows you to manage the restaurant’s social media presence, it also helps you listen to what people talk about on social media and power your social media customer support.

From robust social analytics and data to the ability to tap into customer conversations, SproutSocial is truly a powerhouse of restaurant social media marketing.

Best features for restaurants:

Social media scheduling
Analytics and performance reporting
Social listening
Unified social media inbox
Social media advertising

AI capabilities:

AI-driven social listening
Automated reporting
Intelligent social calendar scheduling

Free trial: 30 days

Online Ordering Tools

#4. GrubHub

Overview:

I guess it’s impossible not to have heard about GrubHub, both as a customer and restaurant marketer. The platform allows customers to order their food online directly from their local restaurants. And for restaurants, it connects them with a large customer base, facilitates online ordering, transactions, and even offers some marketing support.

And so, with GrubHub, you can increase your order volume, streamline the delivery process, and more. All without having to invest in developing an ordering system for your restaurant.

Best features for restaurants:

Online ordering system
Delivery service integration
Customer reviews and ratings
Promotional tools
Real-time order tracking

AI capabilities:

Personalized restaurant recommendations
Predictive delivery time estimates
Customer behavior analytics

#5. Doordash

Overview:

Doordash is another food delivery platform that can connect your restaurant with the local community and generate sales and online orders. Just like GrubHub, with Doordash, you can expand your local reach, manage orders and deliveries, and generally build up your business.

Best features for restaurants:

Online ordering system
Delivery service integration
Marketing and promotional tools
Real-time order tracking
Customer reviews and ratings

AI capabilities:

Personalized restaurant recommendations
Predictive delivery time estimates
Customer behavior analytics

#6. Ubereats

Overview:

Like the other two companies above, Ubereats allows customers to place orders online at their restaurant and have their food delivered. This means that your restaurant can quickly connect with the local community and largely expand its marketing reach.

But Ubereats is also slightly different. You see, Ubereats uses Uber’s extensive driver network to facilitate deliveries. In other words, you don’t have to have drivers in your employ and can use those on Uber’s network to deliver food to customers.

Another difference between Ubereats and other online food ordering systems is its strong integration with the Uber app, meaning you can immediately tap into the company’s strong user base.

Best features for restaurants:

Online ordering system
Delivery service integration
Marketing and promotional tools
Real-time order tracking
Customer reviews and ratings

AI capabilities:

Personalized restaurant recommendations
Predictive delivery time estimates
Customer behavior analytics

Customer Relationship Management Tools/Guest CRM

#7. Toast

Overview:

Toast is a complete restaurant point-of-sale solution that includes a CRM at its core. With Toast CRM, you can:

Store important guest information (their email address, phone no., etc.)
Collect order history and preferences.
Stay connected with guests, entice them to come back to your restaurant over and over again,
Use email marketing, coupled with CRM data, to send targeted campaigns and more.

Best features for restaurants:

Integrated email marketing with automated campaigns
Customizable loyalty programs with advanced reporting
E-gift cards with online balance management

AI capabilities:

Automated email campaigns based on guest history
Advanced loyalty reporting
Predictive analytics for marketing performance

Free trial: Not specified

#8. Lightspeed

Overview:

Lightspeed is another point-of-sale software that can help you manage orders and build customer relationships. But Lightspeed does more than that. With the tool, you can track inventory, process payments, run loyalty programs, offer e-gift cards, and more.

Best features for restaurants:

Integrated email marketing
Customizable loyalty programs
E-gift cards
Advanced reporting and analytics
Online ordering and delivery integration

AI capabilities:

Automated marketing campaigns
Predictive analytics for sales and inventory
Customer behavior analysis

Free trial: 14 days

#9. Square

Overview:

Square is another POS tool that offers incredible capabilities for restaurants: Takeout and in-person order management, table management, reservations, payment processing, CRM, remote menu and staff management, inventory tracking, and more.

It truly is an all-in-one tech solution for managing orders and customer relationships at your restaurant.

Best features for restaurants:

Integrated online and in-person ordering
Customizable point of sale interface
Table management and reservations
Real-time sales and inventory tracking
Customer feedback and loyalty programs

AI capabilities:

Predictive sales analytics
Automated marketing campaigns
Inventory management predictions

Free trial: Not specified

Email Marketing

#10. Mailchimp

Overview:

Mailchimp is by far the most well-known email marketing platform in the world. It’s the tool restaurants use to send one-time promotional emails, deliver drip campaigns, and more. What’s more, Mailchimp integrates with many other CRM and data systems (including our MyPlace Guest WiFi) to enrich your email campaigns with additional data points, and deliver better results.

Best features for restaurants:

Customizable templates
Marketing automation for customer journeys
Audience segmentation and targeting
Detailed analytics and reporting

AI capabilities:

AI-driven content creation and optimization
Predictive analytics for customer behavior
Automated marketing campaigns

Free trial: 30 days

#11. ConstantContact

Digital marketing software for restaurants.

Overview:

ConstantContact is an all-in-one digital marketing platform that focuses on email and social media. With ConstantContact, you can create, send, and track beautiful newsletters and emails to your restaurant’s customers. The platform also lets you communicate with them via SMS, find and connect with new customers on social media, and even manage events.

Best features for restaurants:

Email marketing with customizable templates
Marketing automation for personalized customer journeys
Social media marketing integration
Audience segmentation and targeting

AI capabilities:

AI-driven content creation and optimization
Automated marketing campaigns
Predictive analytics for customer behavior

Free trial: 60 days

#12. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Overview:

Brevo is an all-in-one platform for managing customer relationships through email, SMS, and live chat. Although that last option is usually the least applicable to restaurants, the other two channels can provide you with incredible opportunities to reach, connect with, and engage customers.

TIP: Did you know that you can collect customer emails and build your list with your guest WiFi access?

Best features for restaurants:

Email marketing with customizable templates
SMS marketing campaigns
Marketing automation for customer journeys
Audience segmentation and targeting
Detailed analytics and reporting

AI capabilities:

AI-driven content creation and optimization
Predictive analytics for customer behavior
Automated marketing campaigns

Free trial: 30 days

Review Management

#13. Google Business Profile

Overview:

Google Business Profile helps local businesses manage their online presence in Google Local search results. This includes local search and Maps, meaning that with Google Business, you can connect with local customers as they are searching for a restaurant.

And a major part of the Google Business platform is the ability to collect and respond to customer reviews, and get ratings that could help convince other customers to choose your restaurant over another.

Best features for restaurants:

Business profile management
Customer reviews and ratings
Posts and updates
Menu and reservation integration
Insights and analytics

AI capabilities:

Automated suggestions for business information
Predictive analytics for customer behavior
Smart replies for customer reviews

Free trial: Not applicable, Google Business is a free service by Google.

#14. Yelp

Overview:

Similarly to Google Business, Yelp for Restaurants provides restaurants with tools and capabilities to:

manage online presence, and provide crucial data about the restaurant to customers,
respond to reviews, and also,
attract new customers through Yelp’s platform.

And so, with Yelp for Restaurants, you can increase your online presence, generate greater engagement, collect and manage reviews that would help convince others to visit your restaurant, and more.

Best features for restaurants:

Review management and response
Business profile customization
Advertising and promotional tools
Reservation and waitlist management
Analytics and performance reporting

AI capabilities:

Automated review response suggestions
Predictive analytics for customer behavior
Personalized recommendations for advertising

Free trial: Not specified

WiFi Marketing

WiFi marketing is a strategy in which you use your restaurant’s WiFi network to collect customer data and engage them with personalized promotions and advertisements. And all this happens on a captive portal that they must see as they are trying to connect with your guest WiFi.

Benefits of WiFi marketing for restaurants:

WiFi marketing lets you capture customer contact information
It enhances and boosts customer engagement
It allows you to show customers targeted promotions and offers
It also gathers valuable customer insights and analytics that help drive repeat visits, and more.

And there is a wonderful tool that allows you to do that and more…

#15. MyPlace

The best WiFi marketing tool for restaurants.

Overview:

MyPlace (disclaimer – this is my tool,) is a WiFi marketing platform that will help you capture customer data via the guest WiFi in your restaurant. You can then integrate that data with your email marketing tool, for example, to engage those customers further, send them promotional messages, and increase the likelihood of a repeat visit.

Best features for restaurants:

Email capture through WiFi login
Customizable branded WiFi portal
Integration with email marketing tools like Mailchimp
Customer data analytics

AI capabilities:

Automated email verification
Real-time data updates

Free trial: 14 days

Loyalty Programs

#16. Vyper.io

Overview:

With Vyper, you can create viral giveaways, contests, and loyalty programs for your restaurant to increase engagement and, of course, get more customers and sales.

Vyper focuses on giveaways and contests that others could share on social media and boost the virality of your efforts.

This also means that to fully take advantage of it, you need to have at least some social media presence so people can share information about your contest with their networks.

Best features for restaurants:

Viral giveaways and contests
Customizable reward programs
Social media integration
Advanced analytics and reporting

AI capabilities:

Automated contest and giveaway management
Personalized recommendations for user engagement

Free trial: Free to use. However, some features are available only on paid plans.

#17. Fivestars

Overview:

Fivestars is an amazing platform for local businesses to boost their customer loyalty and engagement with rewards programs. Granted, the platform offers other capabilities, too, but for the purpose of this guide, I’m focusing on its restaurant marketing features.

And so, with Fivestars, your restaurant could run customer loyalty programs, manage reviews, and even collect payments, combining data collected across those activities to enhance your marketing programs even further.

Best features for restaurants:

Customer loyalty programs
Review management
Customer data analytics
Integrated payments

AI capabilities:

Automated customer segmentation
Predictive analytics for customer behavior
AI-driven marketing suggestions

Free trial: Not specified

Table Management

#18. OpenTable

Overview:

OpenTable is a robust restaurant reservation software. It’s the tool to use when you want to offer customers the ability to book tables online, without having to call your restaurant first. For you, the tool also offers comprehensive features to manage bookings, collect reviews, and even build customer data in the CRM.

Best features for restaurants:

Reservation management
Table management
Customer relationship management
Review and reputation management
Marketing tools and analytics

AI capabilities:

Automated reservation management

Free trial: 30 days

#19. Resy

Overview:

Resy OS offers a reservation and table management system that helps restaurants optimize operations, manage reservations, and enhance guest experiences.

Best features for restaurants: