Key Takeaways
Would you dine in a restaurant where the staff ignores you? A warm greeting encourages people to do business with you. Retargeting ads work the same way online—keeping your restaurant on the radar for people who've already shown interest in what you serve.
To succeed in today's hospitality industry, you need a balanced recipe of digital marketing strategies. And retargeting—or remarketing, as it's also known—is one of the best tactics in the modern restaurant marketer's toolbox.
What Is Retargeting?
Retargeting is a digital marketing technique that puts your restaurant back on the radar for online shoppers. It helps you reconnect with people who have searched for businesses like yours or visited your website, keeping your brand top-of-mind long after that first contact.
The Problem: 3 in 4 online shoppers—across all sectors—abandon their orders instead of buying. But restaurant consumers are different: 64% of smartphone restaurant searchers convert within an hour, and 44% of tablet users do the same. Retargeting helps you capture the ones who don't convert immediately.
5 Retargeting Channels for Restaurants
Website
Search
Mobile
Social Media
9 Ways Retargeting Grows Your Restaurant
Nail Your Target With Precise Marketing
Retargeting ads display your restaurant only to people who have shown interest in your brand, or similar brands. Forget scattergun marketing tactics. Create ads that give users the exact content they're interested in.
Pro Tip: Pay close attention to search timing. If people searched at lunchtime, show them ads for your lunch menu, promotions, and specials. Your ad messaging should be as tailored and targeted as possible—like a signature dish with the right mix of special ingredients.
Convert Browsers Into Buyers
Around 1 in 3 mobile users who search for restaurants online fail to convert within the hour. Website retargeting sends your ads to people who visited your site, reminding them of your brand until they're ready to eat.
Focus On: Visitors who spend more time on your website or abandon an order at checkout. They've demonstrated the strongest intent to purchase—they just need a nudge.
Whet Their App-etite With Mobile Retargeting
Mobile retargeting works by tagging visitors to your app. Once they leave and browse other apps, they receive reminders to revisit. Restaurant searches are one of the most popular mobile search categories, and many smartphone users search when they're ready to dine.
Key Tactic: If a visitor shows interest in a specific feature—like placing a delivery order—send targeted reminders prompting them to revisit that exact item or app feature.
Find Them in Their Inbox or Facebook Feed
Much of our time online is spent reading emails and browsing social media. Social media retargeting tags users who click your social links, showing your ads to Facebook and Instagram users who engage with your posts.
Email Retargeting: Works two ways. Either send an email after someone visits your website, or send targeted ads to users after they've read an email from you. Potential diners who've engaged with your content are guaranteed to see it again.
Ready to Retarget Your Way to More Diners?
We build retargeting campaigns that turn window-shoppers into restaurant customers—from pixel setup and audience segmentation to creative optimization and performance optimization.
Get a Free Marketing ConsultationStand Out From the Crowd With Search Retargeting
Search retargeting identifies potential diners based on their previous web searches. SEO and search retargeting work hand in hand—SEO boosts your visibility in the first place, and retargeting brings your website back like a boomerang.
Real Result: When a burger chain optimized their local search performance, they boosted local search visibility by 347% in four months. When your brand is three times more prominent in search results, you also triple the potential for successful search retargeting.
Smarter Ad Spend
Remarketing takes the guesswork out of online advertising. By drilling down into your target market, retargeting helps you make a more efficient, effective ad spend.
The Rule: Don't waste money marketing steak to vegans. Use your budget to provide steak lovers with valuable information about your steak dishes—and let remarketing tell vegan-curious users about your chef's special marinated tofu and greens.
Boost Brand Recognition
Retargeting reinforces your branding by repeatedly displaying your restaurant logo, images, and slogan to interested customers. Internet users will recall and recognize your brand, and people who know your brand are more likely to dine at your restaurant.
Goal: Make your restaurant a direct destination for hungry eyes on the web. When people search for your restaurant by brand name, that's brand recognition at work—and it's one of the most powerful tools in marketing.
Reach More Diners
Quality of reach is more important than quantity. There's no point broadcasting ads to people with no interest in dining out. When you focus on shoppers with restaurant interest, your ad spend reaches more people likely to convert.
Bonus: With retargeting, your ads appear on highly visible, premium websites at affordable rates. Advertising on these sites leads to more visibility for your brand, expanding the reach of your existing ad campaigns.
A Chance to Engage
First-time visitors typically spend less than a minute on a website and view fewer than five pages. Retargeting drives visitors back to your site again and again, giving you more opportunity to engage and resonate.
The Connection: Time spent on your content is directly related to whether the customer goes on to spend money. The more you connect with people, the more likely they'll become regular patrons.
Running effective retargeting campaigns for your restaurant requires dedicated digital marketing expertise—from pixel implementation and audience segmentation to creative optimization and bid management.
Retargeting Strategy at a Glance
Channel Comparison
The Bottom Line: In an information-soaked internet environment, retargeting reminds non-committal online shoppers about your brand. For restaurants, it's a simple and effective way to convert casual web surfers into loyal patrons. Just as your signature dish needs the right mix of special ingredients, your marketing mix needs a balanced recipe of digital tactics. When combined with a cleverly crafted SEO strategy, retargeting delivers mouth-watering results.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is retargeting for restaurants?
Retargeting (also called remarketing) is a digital marketing technique that shows your restaurant ads to people who have already visited your website, searched for restaurants like yours, used your app, opened your emails, or engaged with your social media posts. It keeps your brand top-of-mind and drives interested customers back to convert.
How quickly do restaurant searchers convert?
Research shows that 64% of smartphone restaurant searchers convert immediately or within an hour of searching, and 44% of tablet users do the same. This makes restaurants one of the fastest-converting categories in local search, and retargeting helps capture the remaining users who don't convert on first contact.
Which retargeting channel works best for restaurants?
Mobile retargeting tends to be the most effective for restaurants because restaurant searches are among the most popular mobile search categories, and many users search when they're on the go and ready to dine. However, the best results come from combining multiple channels: mobile, website, search, email, and social media retargeting working together.
Is retargeting better than traditional restaurant advertising?
Retargeting is significantly more efficient than traditional scattergun methods like letterbox drops, email blasts, and pop-ups. Traditional advertising broadcasts to everyone regardless of interest. Retargeting only shows ads to people who have already expressed interest in your cuisine and services, making your ad spend more focused and cost-effective.
How does retargeting help with brand recognition?
Retargeting repeatedly displays your restaurant's logo, images, and messaging to people who have shown interest. Over time, internet users start to recognize and recall your brand. This leads to direct brand searches, where people search for your restaurant by name instead of generic terms like "restaurants near me." Brand recognition is one of the most powerful long-term benefits of retargeting.
The Bottom Line
Retargeting replaces scattergun restaurant marketing with precision. It reconnects you with people who've already shown interest in your cuisine—across 5 channels, with tailored messaging, and at affordable rates. Combined with SEO, it transforms casual browsers into loyal diners.