I’m really upset. And if you’re out there trying to run a great restaurant business or support great restaurant businesses, you probably should be too.
Because restaurants are being told that going viral is bad for business.
Food & Wine recently published an article from Michael Gulotta basically arguing that chasing viral, influencer-driven attention is hurting restaurants.
Their position is that a restaurant going viral ruins the business. It upsets regulars, overtaxes the staff, and when the hype is over, there’s nothing left.
I you just read the headline, you’d think the takeaway is that restaurants shouldn’t want this kind of attention at all. That’s where this goes sideways.
They’re 110% wrong about the conclusion. Restaurants shouldn’t avoid attention. They should be ready for it.
If you own or operate a restaurant, you should be grateful for a big spotlight of attention. In fact, you should be positioning yourself to be ready for that to happen at any time with a net positive effect.
But here’s where they are right.
Those negative outcomes are real. Regulars get frustrated. Staff gets overwhelmed. Restaurants fail to turn attention into long-term growth.
All of that happens.
What bothers me is that a media outlet with the reach of Food & Wine chose to highlight the downside without offering any guidance on how to prepare for it or actually benefit from it.
And this isn’t even new.
A restaurant being featured on TV, getting press, or having a celebrity show up has always created the same effect. This was happening long before TikTok.
So no, the problem isn’t influencers.
The problem is a lack of preparation before the moment ever happens.
If you’re going to put your restaurant in a position to have a viral moment, you need to be ready for it. And a good content creator should coordinate with the restaurant out of respect and mutual benefit.
They say be the change you want to see in the world. That’s the point of this newsletter.
There isn’t a great, consistent resource for restaurant marketing that shares real tactics, frameworks, and how-to guidance.
As a fractional restaurant CMO and co-owner of my own restaurant, that’s what I’m looking for. How-to guidance.
So here we go.
Here’s what Food & Wine could have done. But only your pal Rev will.
Don’t go viral without this system.
Everyone thinks great restaurant marketing looks like going viral, or at least wishes they could engineer it. The truth is that explosive marketing moments can be created, but they’re almost a waste if they don’t lead to sustained growth.
Here’s the system successful restaurant brands like Dave’s Hot Chicken, Chili’s, and Salad House are using before, during, and after big marketing moments.
OPERATIONS BEFORE MARKETING
You need great food and consistent five-star service. That’s table stakes. Marketing doesn’t fix bad operations, it exposes them faster.
If you look at Chili’s and the Triple Dipper campaign, they didn’t just wake up and go viral because of Mozzarella sticks. They spent real time dialing in operations before pushing the promotion. That’s the part nobody talks about.
FOUNDATIONAL MARKETING ECOSYSTEM
If you’re about to go viral or not, every restaurant needs an always-on marketing system that runs every day.
One that attracts new guests, guides them through the journey, and actually drives retention.
That means a mix of local search marketing, AI search optimization, digital ads, frictionless transactions, guest feedback collection, CRM, reputation management, and if it makes sense for your brand, a rewards program.
Want a blueprint? Download my e-book. It’s literally a checklist.
HAVE A GOAL
Before any campaign, know what you’re trying to achieve.
When someone asks me how to get more Instagram followers, I ask why. Not because I don’t believe in followers, but because I want to understand the objective. There is a best way to achieve the goal and it might not even be that channel.
Without a goal, you can’t optimize the plan.
So if you’re trying to create a viral moment, answer the question first. Why? Then build backwards.
DATA COLLECTION
If you don’t have your guest’s email or phone number, it’s really hard to get them to come back. Full stop.
You need multiple frictionless ways to collect guest data across your in-store and digital experience.
STAFFING
This is a marketing newsletter, not an operations one, but let’s not overcomplicate this.
If you think you’re about to have a ton of people showing up at your restaurant you should probably make sure your team is ready for it.
At Handcraft Burgers and Brew, when we have had viral moments that we didn’t prepare, we created a difficult moment for our staff. When we knew it was coming, we prepped, staffed up, and executed better.
That’s not theory. That’s just how it works.
COORDINATION
If you are working with Influencers to bring awareness to the business, you could prepare your staff in advance, and you could also coordinate a go live date with the content creator. That way, there’s no surprise.
If they’re gonna post next Friday, you can have your staff ready for when it happens.
Here’s the thing.
That always-on system that supports great food and great service? You should already be doing it. That’s what successful restaurants do every day. And it’s what turns attention into actual growth.
Does this system make sense? Are you doing something similar? Did I miss anything?
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Want to go deeper? I’ll be breaking this down in full as the opening keynote at the Restaurant Marketing Workshop in Boston this June. If you’re serious about improving your marketing, this is the room to be in.
It’s the only event built specifically for restaurant marketers to learn real frameworks, tactics, and how-to strategies from people actually doing the work!
And if you’ve got something to add to this conversation, and you’re a multi-unit restaurant marketer with real experience to share, we’ve got a few speaker spots still open. DM me and let’s talk!
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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.
