Restaurants · Hospitality
Fill the tables on a Tuesday, not only the delivery app on a Saturday.
A restaurant's week is uneven. Friday and Saturday nights fill themselves, weekday lunches depend on the offices nearby, and Monday to Thursday dinners are where most places lose money. Delivery apps bring volume, but a large share of each order goes in commission and discounts, and the customer belongs to the app rather than to you.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Restaurant marketing makes you the place people nearby pick for dinner tonight, a Swiggy order or a birthday table for twenty. Restaurant sales turns a first visit into a regular and an app order into a direct one. GullySales starts with your Google Maps listing and its photographs, then builds a guest record that brings people back on a Tuesday.
Posting food photographs does not change that pattern. The people choosing where to eat tonight read Maps reviews, not your Instagram grid. First-time guests leave without a number you could message on a quiet Tuesday. Party enquiries for the slow days are taken by whoever is on the floor.
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How buyers decide
How restaurants are chosen.
Dine-in decisions are made on a phone, usually within an hour of eating. People search for a dish near them and compare the top few places on Google Maps and Zomato. They look at the rating, recent photographs and price for two, then check for parking. Instagram reels and food bloggers put a new restaurant on the list, but the Maps rating and recent reviews usually decide the final choice.
Delivery is chosen inside the apps. On Swiggy and Zomato, the customer scrolls by rating, delivery time and offers, and restaurants that rank well in the app's listing get the orders. Repeat customers who like the food will often order directly on WhatsApp or by phone if the restaurant gives them a reason and a simple way to do it.
Group and occasion bookings follow a different path. A birthday dinner or a kitty party is booked by one organiser, who calls two or three places. They ask about a private area, a set menu per head and whether a cake can be brought in. The restaurant that sends a clear set menu on WhatsApp within the hour wins the booking, and the fifteen guests who come to it.
The problem
What usually goes wrong for restaurants.
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“Weekends are full and weekdays are empty”
We turn people away on Saturday night and have half the tables free from Monday to Thursday.
“Delivery apps take most of our margin”
Commission, discounts we are pushed to fund and ad spend inside the app leave little on each order, and we cannot contact the customers.
“One bad review sits at the top of our Maps listing”
A complaint about slow service months ago is the first thing people read, and nobody replied to it.
“Our photographs on Maps are from the week we opened”
The menu has changed, the interiors have been redone, and the listing still shows the old dishes and prices.
“We do not know who our regulars are”
Some families come every week, but we have no names, numbers or birthdays, so we cannot invite them back when we are quiet.
“Party and group enquiries go to whoever answers the phone”
A caller asks about a birthday dinner for twenty, the staff member on the floor says someone will call back, and nobody does.
What we do
What we do for restaurants.
Everything included for restaurants, and the result each part is there to produce.
Google Business Profile and Maps presence
A complete profile with current menu, prices, dishes, hours, parking and interiors photographed recently, kept consistent with Zomato and Swiggy.
Result: People choosing where to eat tonight see what the restaurant is like now.
Review request and reply routine
A way for staff to ask satisfied guests for a review at the bill, and a same-week reply to every review, especially the critical ones.
Result: Recent, answered reviews push the old complaint down the listing.
Guest record for regulars
A simple way to collect names, numbers and occasions with consent, through a bill-table card, a WhatsApp opt-in or the billing software.
Result: You can invite regulars back on a quiet Tuesday.
Direct ordering setup
A WhatsApp or website ordering flow, a menu card for the delivery bag, and a small reason to order direct next time.
Result: A share of repeat delivery customers order from you without the app's commission.
Delivery app listing review
A check of menu structure, photographs, descriptions, ratings and offers on Swiggy and Zomato, with a monthly look at what the app spend returns.
Result: App orders cost less to win and you know what they really earn.
Group booking and party menu kit
Set menus per head, a private area description, a booking script for staff and a follow-up routine for every party enquiry.
Result: Group enquiries are answered properly and turn into booked tables.
Report against the baseline
Covers by day, direct against app orders, reviews and rating, party bookings and regulars reached, reported against the starting figures.
Result: You see whether the slow days are actually filling.
How the result is measured
- Covers by day of the week
- Direct orders against app orders
- Maps rating and new reviews per month
- Party and group bookings
- Regulars reached and returning
- Delivery app spend against orders
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Every service, written for restaurants
Each has its own page: what it involves for restaurants, what you get, and what it is measured on.
- Apartment advertisingWin the order that skips the app, from the towers inside your delivery radius.
- BrandingDecide what you are the place for, and put it on the board outside.
- Cinema advertisingThe hall empties hungry, two hundred metres from your door.
- Content marketingAnswer the parking, jain and cake questions before the call comes.
- Email marketingReach the office admin who books thirty lunches, not a diner's inbox.
- Lead generationAnswer the party enquiry before whoever is on the floor forgets it.
- Local SEOWin the search that happens in a car park two streets away.
- Outdoor advertisingDinner is decided in the last two kilometres, so the panel belongs there.
- Reputation managementPush the three-month-old complaint off the top of your listing.
- SEOBe found for the dish people search at seven in the evening.
- Social media marketingPost the dish people come for, on the day they decide to eat out.
- Buyer personaKnow the five kinds of table you serve before you pay to attract a sixth.
- CRMA guest list you own is the only way to fill a Tuesday without paying an app.
- Follow-up systemsEvery party enquiry and every first-time guest deserves a second message from you.
- WhatsApp marketingPut the menu, the table booking and the repeat order on the app your guests already open.
- WebsiteGive the guest the menu, the address and a way to book before they lose patience.
Worth a page and a campaign of their own
Weekday dinner footfall · Weekday lunch for nearby offices · Birthday and celebration bookings · Office team lunches and parties · Direct delivery and takeaway orders · Delivery app ranking and ratings · Festival and seasonal menus · Sunday family lunch and buffets · New outlet launches
Priority campaigns
Campaigns for what restaurants most want to sell.
Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.
Weekday dinner campaign
A weekday-only menu or experience, promoted to regulars on WhatsApp and to nearby residents through Maps posts and local ads with a tight radius.
Result: Monday to Thursday covers rise without discounting the weekend.
Office lunch campaign
Quick lunch combos and a group ordering option promoted to offices within walking distance, with a contact for the admin team.
Result: Weekday lunch becomes a steady base.
Birthday and celebration campaign
A celebration package and a birthday message to regulars who shared their date, with a booking link and a set menu.
Result: Celebrations bring a group to the table, not a single couple.
Direct ordering switch campaign
Bag inserts, a WhatsApp ordering number and a reason to order direct, aimed at repeat app customers who already like the food.
Result: More repeat orders reach you without commission.
Festival menu campaign
Special menus for Ugadi, Onam, Ramzan, Diwali or Christmas, depending on your cuisine and neighbourhood, announced to regulars and on Maps a week ahead.
Result: Festival weeks bring in families who plan a meal out.
Beyond search
Where we reach buyers of restaurants, beyond Google.
Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.
Offices and tech parks nearby
We prepare an introduction for admin and HR teams covering team lunches, office parties and bulk lunch orders.
Food bloggers and local creators
We prepare a clear invitation and brief for creators whose followers live near you, with disclosure of any hosted meal.
Apartment and RWA groups
We prepare a neighbourhood offer and menu suited to apartment WhatsApp groups within delivery distance.
Colleges and coaching centres
We prepare student-friendly combos and a group booking note for institutions close to the restaurant.
Event and function organisers
We prepare a note for event planners and banquet halls on post-function family dinners and small party bookings.
Who it is for
This is written for these restaurants.
- Family restaurants and multi-cuisine dining
- South Indian vegetarian restaurants and darshinis
- Biryani, kebab and non-vegetarian specialists
- Regional cuisine restaurants
- Casual dining and bar restaurants
- Quick service restaurants and food courts
- Cloud kitchens and delivery-only brands
- Office canteens and food service operators
- Multi-outlet restaurant groups
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
- You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
- You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.
How it works
How the work runs for restaurants
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Assess
We look at covers by day, the mix of dine-in and delivery, app spend and returns, reviews and how party enquiries are handled.
- 2
Fix the listing and reviews
An up-to-date Maps profile and a review routine, because that is where tonight's decision is made.
- 3
Start knowing your guests
A consented guest record and a direct ordering route, so regulars can be reached without an app.
- 4
Fill the slow days
Weekday, office lunch and celebration campaigns aimed at the tables that sit empty.
- 5
Keep regulars coming
Occasion messages, festival menus and a steady reason to come back or order direct.
Proof
What happened when owners fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
Hotel Felicity Inn
- Situation
- A traveller compares three hotels on a phone and books one. The website was not built for that.
- What we did
- The site rebuilt around booking
- Photography and one look
- Search work for destination searches
- Content a traveller reads
- Result
- Online bookings increased 35%
- Organic traffic increased 50% within six months
- Positive reviews on Google and TripAdvisor increased 30%
Also worked with
Chord Road Hospital · Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · SB Engineering · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions restaurants ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Should we leave Swiggy and Zomato?
Are paid food blogger visits worth it?
How do we reply to a harsh review?
Can we collect customer numbers for WhatsApp offers?
Do we need to show our FSSAI licence number?
What should a new restaurant do in its first three months?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
Notes for owners
Read more about restaurants.
- Radio advertising vs social media advertising: where should your money go?Radio reaches a driver who cannot click. Social reaches a thumb that can. One buys a name people remember, the other buys the enquiry itself.
- Local audience targeting strategyThree different people are local to you: the one who lives near you, the one who works near you, and the one searching near you. The settings that reach each are different.
- Influencer marketing vs social media advertising: which one should you pay for?An ad is a message you control, shown to people you choose. A creator post is a recommendation you do not control, shown to people who chose the creator.
- How to write social media ad copyThe picture stops the thumb and the first line has to finish the job, because everything after it is hidden behind the word more.
- How to write an influencer briefA brief fixes the claim, the offer and the disclosure, and then leaves the creator alone. Hand them a script and you have paid a premium for a bad advertisement.
- How to advertise to startup employeesThere is no tech park to buy. A forty person company sits above a bakery, so the audience is the neighbourhood, the delivery app and the coworking floor.
Part of Hospitality. See the other industries in the sector.
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