The Restaurant Marketing Workshop just wrapped in Boston and I have to say, this is an incredible show. Its the only conference that is actually a workshop - a show by marketers by marketers showing each other how to be better at marketing.
Panelists and speakers were hyper focused on sharing insights, tactics and playbooks ... basically the secrets, to enhancing all of your marketing efforts.
The Restaurant Marketing Workshop describes itself as:
“An immersive experience designed to empower marketing professionals in the restaurant and hospitality industry. This one-of-a-kind event will equip you with the latest strategies, tactics, and insights to drive brand awareness, customer engagement and revenue growth.”
It was an incredible show for all levels of the marketing team to attend and learn. From those who strategize it to those who execute it to those who need to measure, everyone in attendance walked out with ideas, frameworks and how tos.
It was totally incredible!
I took so many notes that it would be unfair to just share a summary with you. So, instead of my typically key takeaways, here are ALL OF MY NOTES, un-edited, panel by panel. One exception, no notes on my keynote since I was on stage giving it! But here is the framework:
If you have any questions, drop me a comment or send me a message.
ALL MY NOTES FROM THE RESTAURANT MARKETING WORKSHOP 2026
Getting Discovered in the Age of AI Search: No Code Required - by Marqii
- Create real-world moments that people want to talk about
- Consistency in data everywhere
- Guest experience drives
SEO vs GEO
SEO - list of links to sites based on keywords, relevance distance and reviews - influenced by listings and reviews
GEO - direct answers with citations, structured data, mentions, context - influenced by what people say about you across the web
GEO Cares about:
- Review sites
- Social media (UGC)
- Trusted media outlets
- Publications
How to optimize for AI search:
- All matching info, all the time (listings management)
- Generate and respond to all reviews, include keywords
- "Structured" menu data, including clear menu item category (Ex: "cheeseburger")
- Schema markup on your website, especially on location pages and FAQ page
- Create an FAQ Page
- PR Strategy - share fully written articles with PR outlets to make story telling easier
- Social media / UGC / Influencer campaigns
Measuring Performance:
- Run an AI Query on your brand
- Examine the sources
- Which do you control?
- Which do you not control?
- Is your website being referenced?
- Run in multiple LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc)
Run your own scan: https://marqii.com/geo-scan
How to Have a 5-Star Guest Feedback Program - by Ovation
- The perfect guest feedback program starts with having a scalable system that includes how to get more feedback, how to respond to feedback and how to understand feedback.
- Getting to near real-time feedback helps to speed up guest recovery and eliminates problems before they get out of control.
- Feedback is a proactive way to have an engaged conversation with guests and primary driver for creating retention
- Using AI is a powerful way to craft personalized, on brand responses to guest reviews
- Its easy to exceed guest expectations by simply replying to reviews
People who have a food allergen are more than double likely to sign up for a rewards program than those who dont.
1. Personalization
2. Welcome email flows
3. Lapsed guests / win backs
4. Catering upsells
5. Rewards / loyalty
6. Birthday rewards with options - allowing the guest the ability to choose the reward they want
7. Capture guest dietary preferences and use it for marketing personalization
8. Go beyond the transaction and understand guest preferences
9. Knowing how far in advance people typically order regular catering is a good signal for sending them an email reminder.
The ROI of PR: How to Earn Media Mentions & Build Buzz on a Budget - by Champion
Choose one day a year to totally own, especially a national food day.
LTOs are not typically seen as press worthy.
PR works best for brands when they agency has a seat at the planning table. They know what works, what doesn't and have strategic ideas that can help power strong marketing decisions.
Try to win local competitions (best x, best y, etc) so that you have a list of awards
Press releases need to include photos, logos and boiler plates and
Photos should be sent as links, not attached files and the file name should include your brand name and description.
Get your franchisees on local news for special holidays and promotions.
PR does not like April Fools Day press releases. It makes their job very hard.
If you don't have a budget for PR, try micro influencers and media food drops
The "Lift" Lab: Mastering Incrementality in Menu & Marketing Decisions - by Bikky
80% of guests dont come back after the first visit and its trending up
There has been a 40-50% reduction in trips since 2025
There are more LTOs now than there has been in the past decade
Core indicators of success on LTOS or new menu items:
- New vs returning guests
- Increased frequency
- Basket size
The best LTOs are unique to what makes the brand special
Try to align your LTO schedule to the frequency you are trying to get your guests to align to.
Be constantly surveying your guests including open ended questions.
Local Store Marketing That Scales: Build Campaigns Anyone Can Execute - by Budget Branders
Increasing Catering Sales:
- Have industry by industry playbook for how to make new catering contacts that includes line by line instructions
Community Partnerships:
- When partnering with local organizations (like schools, sports teams, food banks, etc) don't just focus on what they can do, what can you do in store to help bring awareness to them. Leverage their IP through the partnership. Example - a combo meal named after them.
New Store Openings / Influencers:
- 60-90 days before store opens, identity 10-15 micro influencers. Invite them into a 90 day engagement with invites to VIP open event, loyalty dollars in exchange for 3 in feed pieces of content.
Loyalty, Pre-Store Opening:
- As soon as you can, get a window cling up with a QR code that takes people to a landing page to join your email club, learn about the brand, etc
Direct Mail:
- It works! Do it 2-3x per year. Pre-design collateral so stores / franchisees can just place an order and go.
The End of Batch-and-Blast: 1:1 Personalization, Powered by AI - by Hang
Try this prompt from Hang to build a personalized marketing campaign: https://hang-workshop.vercel.app/
Not until now have marketers have access to tools that allow us to send personalized offers based on AI analysis of what moves the needle for each guest individually. Plus it can be done with our existing tools.
Playbook for testing personalized offers:
1. Clean and unify your data - make sure your purchase behavior and loyalty information to get a full understanding of each guest. Also, standardize your menu. AI sees a small, medium and large coffee and 3 items when then are really just one in the eyes of the guest.
2. Choose your audience. Start with a segment you've already identified as being valuable.
3. Pick your offers so you can not only test which offers work but so the AI can pick which offer works best for each guest. Be sure to set parameters like maximum discount and goal like net revenue.
4. Run an A/B test - one group gets the personalized offers, one get traditional offers, and a small hold out. See which segment runs the best.
If you're already sending out offers, by simply using AI to determine personalization of who receives the offer that's best suited for them, you will see much higher redemption rates.
Steal These Loyalty Programs That Actually Work - by IMPACT Digital Marketing
- Don't think that you have to have an app to drive loyalty.
- If you can get a new customer to come back inside of 2 weeks of their first visit, the chances of them becoming a regular significantly increases.
- Give a strong sign up offer to increase rewards sign up.
- Include fliers in 3rd party orders to download the app to receive the strong sign up offer.
- For a new store opening, hand out business cards with a QR code that promotes signing up for special offers and invites to grand openings.
- Make sure your rewards are things guest really want.
- Have a scaling lapsed guest flow. Offer 1. If they dont convert, offer 2 is more aggressive. Same with offer 3. After that, remove them.*Rev suggests a survey at this point
- Measure the participation rate of guests in your rewards program on a store level.
Designing Digital Experiences Your Guests Actually Want - by Plein Air Agency
- Incentivize managers at the store level to get guests into your rewards program
- Understand the channels your most valuable guest likes to use and treat them accordingly
- A strong sign up offer increases loyalty sign ups
Social Media Mastery for Multi-Unit Brands – Q&A Panel - by Hook + Ladder Digital
- incentivize employees to create content
- If you want your locations to share content, you have to create an easy to use system for sharing. Examples: a dedicated email, slack channel
- Give a “bingo card” of what content to gather / shoot
- Ask questions on social to encourage engagement
Click here to download a Social Media Pillars & Tactical Takeaways guide
My BIGGEST takeaway from the whole show ... YOU NEED TO BE HERE NEXT YEAR!
Maybe you'll receive the honor of being named a top 30 restaurant marketing mover & shaker! Im so humbled and honored ...
If you were at the Restaurant Marketing Workshop, what did you learn?
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Do you need help with your marketing? Send me an email [email protected]
- Rev Ciancio
WHAT DOES REV DO?
*I help restaurants to build guest marketing programs.
*I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.
