{"id":121231,"date":"2022-07-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-review2.sapaad.com\/restaurant-marketing-budget-rules-and-techniques-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T04:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T04:39:52","slug":"how-to-manage-your-restaurant-marketing-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sapaad.com\/us\/how-to-manage-your-restaurant-marketing-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Marketing Budget: Rules and Techniques"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marketing is essential for your restaurant\u2019s success. Without a marketing plan, attracting customers and making sales will be extra challenging. Yet, many restaurant owners\u2014especially new ones\u2014may not know how much money to invest in marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no one-size-fits-all restaurant marketing budget. Some big QSRs may spend up to 50% of their gross revenue on marketing, while small, local diners may only have 3% to spare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your restaurant marketing budget should depend on your gross revenue, the size of your business, its age, and other factors. We’ll help you get started by explaining the ideal marketing budget for restaurants and how to manage it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restaurant Marketing Budget Rules <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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As a general rule, restaurant marketing budget is around 3-6% of gross sales. Spending under 3% may seem justified if you\u2019re tight on sales, but underinvesting can slow down your restaurant\u2019s success<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s currently impossible for you to increase your marketing budget, investing more time and effort may do the trick. There are many zero-budget marketing strategies to try, like using social media or optimizing your website. If you have an online ordering<\/a> page, you can also re-engineer your menu<\/a> to make high-profit items more attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you\u2019re getting a lot of sales yet still underinvest in marketing, reconsidering would be wise. It may be easier for you to increase your budget and make your campaigns work with a steady stream of business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind that marketing is an investment; the more money goes into your restaurant, the more you should also be investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, if your marketing budget is over 6% of your gross sales, you\u2019re not necessarily overspending. Since big-name QSRs can spend way more and not feel a strain on their capital, a restaurant marketing budget of a little over 6% may be just right for you. If you\u2019re experiencing a decline in sales, however, you may need to step back and re-evaluate your budget before launching a campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one good reason not to spend more than 6% of your sales on marketing: you could be banking on only a few marketing campaigns and nothing else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track your campaign\u2019s results by monitoring your real-time sales<\/a>, SEO, and social media engagement. If your sales and online engagement increase every time you launch your campaign, your marketing budget is justified. Also consider dividing your budget to give other marketing strategies a chance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you heavily promoted on-premise dining perks before the pandemic, and you suddenly had to resort to off-premise services, your campaign would be ineffective if you hadn\u2019t prepared a campaign for home deliveries.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Restaurant Marketing Budget: Capital Expenditure or Operating Expense?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Many restaurant owners often get confused over whether marketing is a capital expenditure<\/a> (CAPEX) or an operating expense (OPEX).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an investment that will benefit your business in the long term, marketing should definitely be considered a CAPEX. This is true even if you\u2019re only spending for a short-term campaign (e.g., Mother\u2019s Day, Christmas, and other seasonal offers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because CAPEX refers to purchases that are meant to improve your restaurant\u2019s performance. So whether your campaign is for the long term or a specific holiday, they have the same goal, which is to help increase your sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPEX, on the other hand, are costs incurred for day-to-day operations. Examples include rent, utilities, salaries and wages, legal fees, and interest paid on debt. Simply put, OPEX keeps your restaurant running, while CAPEX ensures that you can fulfill your KPIs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By viewing restaurant marketing as CAPEX, you will protect your budget, especially during tough times. Since a restaurant\u2019s marketing budget is usually the first to go during a decline in sales, treating it as CAPEX will help you focus on cutting OPEX<\/a> instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If, for instance, the pandemic has been slowing down your sales, you make up for it by reducing energy costs<\/a>, excess inventory, and administrative expenses. This can help maximize your CAPEX<\/a>, allowing you to increase your restaurant marketing budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing is an essential investment. Avoid decreasing it especially when campaigns could benefit you the most.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Low-cost Restaurant Marketing Ideas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These low-cost marketing strategies can help you recover from a slow period or jumpstart your newly-opened restaurant:<\/p>\n\n\n\n