---
title: "the new-restaurant marketing checklist"
slug: "the-new-restaurant-marketing-checklist"
excerpt: "Opening a restaurant is a thousand things at once. Marketing is the last thing you want to think about — and the thing that determines whether anyone walks through the door. The full checklist, before the open and after."
author: "HappySpace Team"
category: "Business Growth"
tags: ["restaurant", "marketing", "checklist", "new business"]
coverImage: ""
readTimeMinutes: 5
published: true
metaTitle: "The new-restaurant marketing checklist | Happy Blog"
metaDescription: "A full checklist for marketing a brand-new restaurant — before you open, in the first 30 days, and ongoing. Plus the four things most new restaurants get wrong."
---

Opening a restaurant is a thousand things at once.

The lease, the build-out, the kitchen, the staff, the menu, the licenses. By the time you're ready to open the door, marketing is the last thing you want to think about.

It's also the thing that determines whether the door has anyone walking through it.

Here's the checklist.

## before you open (4-6 weeks out)

- **Google Business Profile.** Set up. Verified. Hours. Photos. Menu. Categories. Cuisine type. The address Google has should match the address on every other listing within a single character.
- **Instagram.** Handle claimed. First 6-9 posts queued (not pushed yet). Bio finalized. Story highlights planned (menu, location, opening date).
- **A simple landing page.** Doesn't need to be the full site. One page. Hero image. Address. Hours. Phone number. *"Opening [date]"* or signup form for the soft-open list.
- **A friends-and-family soft-open list.** Aim for 50-150 emails. These are your day-one reviews.
- **Local press.** Email three local food writers or bloggers. Ten lines. Don't send a press release.
- **Yelp claim.** Yes, even though you don't love Yelp. Customers find you through it.

## the first 30 days

- **Soft open with the friends-and-family list.** Free or discounted, in exchange for an honest review.
- **First 50 reviews are everything.** Get them. Without fake-review begging — just remind happy customers to leave one. The number on your Google profile in week one shapes month two.
- **Post on Instagram daily for 30 days.** Yes, daily. After that you can drop to 2-3x a week. Day-one momentum sets the algorithm.
- **Reply to every review.** Every single one. Even the boring four-stars. Especially the bad ones, in the way [the bad-review playbook](/blog/what-to-do-when-you-get-a-bad-google-review) suggests.
- **Talk to the regulars.** The people coming in twice in week one are gold. Get their name. Notice it the second time.

## ongoing (forever)

- **Photos, ideally weekly.** Food, room, team, regulars (with permission). Restaurants live and die on imagery.
- **One marketing experiment a month.** A new platform, a new offer, a partnership with a neighboring business. One. Don't scatter.
- **Read the reviews.** Patterns matter more than any individual review. If three reviews mention the same thing, fix the thing.
- **The seasonal refresh.** Menu, photos, copy. Your website should change when your menu changes.

## what most new restaurants get wrong

- They wait too long to start. By the time they're "ready," the soft-launch window has closed.
- They focus on Instagram and ignore Google. Most diners search Google before deciding. Instagram closes the deal; Google opens it.
- They don't reply to early reviews. The first 20 reviews and replies set your tone forever. Don't skip them.
- They try to do everything themselves. The kitchen will eat you alive. The marketing should mostly be on autopilot, with you weighing in on what matters.

## the closer

You opened the restaurant to make food.

Make sure someone walks in to eat it.