The 8-Minute Marketing Foundation Every Restaurant Needs

Do you remember 8-Minute Abs? That workout video that promised you lean, defined abs in just eight minutes a day?

Here’s the truth: if you do the foundational work and do it consistently, improving a little every day, you can absolutely get those abs. Or really, accomplish anything you’re trying to improve… including your restaurant marketing.

And with that, today I present to you: 8-Minute MARKETING Abs!

Okay, it’s a little bit of a joke. But it’s also exactly what I talked about with Jaime Oikle on the Running Restaurants Podcast.

He took our conversation and turned it into an 8-minute video packed with marketing tactics every restaurant operator needs. 👉 Watch the video here

Here’s the short version, the stuff that actually drives growth. No gimmicks. No trends. Just the mechanics that work.

Step back “awareness.” Step back “engagement.”

The most important number in your marketing is CRM growth, how many guest emails or phone numbers you’ve captured.

If you have your guest’s contact info, you can re-engage them, upsell them, and invite them back. If you don’t, you can’t do anything.

Every marketing effort should build your list. That’s the game.

If guest data is the goal, build your restaurant to collect it by default.

At Handcraft Burgers & Brew, we built an email-capture machine that happens to serve burgers.

Every step of the guest experience collects information. Order from the kiosk, order from your phone, join rewards, leave feedback, log into Wi-Fi, or sign up for SMS — it all connects back to your CRM.

You can’t rely on guests remembering you. But you can build a system that remembers to remember them.

You want guests to visit weekly? Email them weekly.

If you’re fine dining, once or twice a month is plenty. If you’re fast casual, coffee, or pizza, weekly is perfect.

It’s not spam when it’s relevant. It’s a reminder.

Most restaurants send too few emails because they’re worried about annoying guests. What actually happens is they just get forgotten.

Stay top of mind. Show up with value. Keep the cadence that matches how often you want people walking through your door.

If you want your social media to work, stop posting flyers and start posting food.

Film your food being made. Show the hands. Show the heat. Show the final bite.

Pick your top five to ten items and record them from start to finish. Then cut a few short clips of the finished dish looking its best.

That’s it. That’s the play.

People don’t want to see your graphics. They want to feel hungry.

If every post made someone crave what you serve, your feed would already be outperforming 90% of your competitors.

Every order is a chance to learn.

Ask guests how it was, and make sure the answer gets captured — not scribbled on a napkin, not just nodded at. Logged. Recorded.

Then connect that feedback to your CRM. Now it’s not just a comment — it’s data you can act on.

If you’re getting feedback from guests every single day, you can build a near real-time status indicator of your restaurant. It’s like a daily health check on your food, service, and hospitality.

This is how you improve food, service, and marketing at the same time.

Most restaurants guess what guests want. You don’t have to. You can literally ask, every time.

Loyalty is an outcome you earn with good service, good food, a good environment, and good hospitality. Rewards are the points your guests earn for frequency.

They don’t use the word “loyalty,” and you shouldn’t either.

Most guests only visit three pages on your website: Home, Menu, and About.

If your About page doesn’t tell your story, show your people, or explain why you exist — or worse, it doesn’t exist — you’re missing a trust-building and conversion opportunity.

Are you a menu or are you a brand? Guests read the About page hoping to fall in love.

They want to know who’s feeding them, what you care about, and why they should choose you.

If all you are is another burger, another pizza, another sandwich, there’s another one of those on every corner. Storytelling trumps promotions every step of the way.

You don’t need more marketing ideas. You need better mechanics.

The flashy ideas, contests, or one-time campaigns don’t work if you’re not doing the basics.

Listings. Ads. Email. Social. Feedback. Repeat.

It’s not complicated, it just takes focus and consistency.

I spend maybe two to three hours a week on marketing for my restaurant. Because the foundation does the work.

When you nail the fundamentals, everything else gets easier — and it actually works.

Watch the full 8-minute video with Jaime Oikle here. 👉 Running Restaurants Podcast Clip

Do you have restaurant marketing questions you would like answered? Here is your chance to get them all answered live!!

Join me at the Florida Restaurant Show and Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando!

Ill be hosting a panel you won't want to miss: “Your Restaurant Marketing Questions Answered”

Tuesday, November 11, 2025 - | - 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM - | - Education Theater 274

We will dig into:

I’ll be joined on stage by:

Together we’ll tackle your toughest marketing questions in real time!

Do you need help with any of this? Email me: [email protected]

—Rev Ciancio

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