If you’re in the market to find an easy way to encourage guests to return, look no further — it’s time to explore a restaurant newsletter strategy. While this may seem like a small and relatively inconsequential thing to do, a newsletter can do wonders for keeping customers engaged and interested in your restaurant.
What is a Restaurant Newsletter?
A restaurant newsletter is a regularly-posted collection of news related to the goings-on in your restaurant. Generally, this doubles as a marketing tool and a way to inform customers of new changes, additions, and tweaks to your menu and schedule, but it can also be used to show what you’re doing in your community. It’s simple, easy, and can actually do quite a bit for your restaurant once it’s rolling.
The Benefits of Sending a Regular Restaurant Newsletter
Creating a regular newsletter can have quite a few benefits. As a marketing tool, it’s a passive means of showing your customers what’s in the works. As a function of your business, it helps show concrete evidence of what you’re doing and what’s planned for the future. And from a community perspective, it helps your customers to stay in tune with the things that they care about.
While a restaurant newsletter is certainly a simple concept, it does have quite a bit to offer. Whatever you’d like those around you to know, your restaurant newsletter can do that. Do you have a new special on the way? Write about it! Is there a change to your hours coming with the change in season? Publish it! Are members of your staff helping the community through outreach and charity? Hype them up!
How to Create a Restaurant Newsletter
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the details of crafting a well-curated restaurant newsletter.
Step 1: Set Clear Goals for Your Restaurant Newsletter
As with all things, it’s important to establish goals before beginning. Figure out what you want to accomplish with your restaurant newsletter; are you aiming to use it as a marketing tool? Will you use it for community outreach or as a supplement to your online presence? Do you want to highlight a certain project that you, or your staff, are working on?
The answer can be all, or none, of these — but you need to have an answer and from that set achievable goals. From there, it’s time to think about your audience.
Step 2: Identify and Understand Your Target Audience
It’s vital that you figure out who, exactly, you intend to reach with your restaurant newsletter. Is your target audience your regulars? If so, plan accordingly — build a schedule for publication that lines up with events. Are you hoping to bring in new customers through this newsletter? If so, consider how to make it a regular part of your social media posts.
Beyond the actual intent of the newsletter and who you’re trying to reach with it, it’s also important to think about the content of your newsletter.
Step 3: Choose the Right Content to Engage Your Subscribers
People read newsletters because they’re interested in the business behind them, and because they want to learn (or gain) something out of it. This means that your newsletter needs to be engaging, which is easier said than done.
Once you’ve found your target audience, it’s time to consider how to keep them regularly engaged. Some readers may be there to learn about what you’re doing for your community, others may be there for cool walk-throughs on your food and how it’s made, and others still may just be hanging around to learn about new events and discounts.
After you’ve published a few newsletters, you’ll find that some formats work better than others. Once you have that initial data, it’s important that you analyze it. You can fine-tune your newsletter to reach the people that want it most and, importantly, keep them engaged.
Step 4: Design an Attractive and User-Friendly Newsletter Layout
The layout of your restaurant newsletter plays a significant role in capturing attention and encouraging engagement. A well-designed and easy-to-navigate layout helps ensure readers don’t abandon your content halfway through. Here are some key design tips:
- Keep it simple: Avoid cluttered designs that overwhelm the reader. Use clean lines, sufficient white space, and a consistent font style to make your newsletter easy to scan.
- Highlight your branding: Incorporate your restaurant’s logo, color scheme, and fonts to create a cohesive brand experience that reinforces recognition and loyalty.
- Make it mobile-friendly: With many customers reading emails on their phones, your newsletter must be responsive, adapting seamlessly to various screen sizes without compromising readability or layout.
- Use engaging visuals: Include high-quality images of your dishes, events, or restaurant atmosphere to catch readers' attention and break up large text blocks.
- Organize with sections: Segment your newsletter into clearly defined sections, such as upcoming events, promotions, or new menu items. Use headers and subheaders to guide readers smoothly through the content.
- Call-to-action (CTA): Strategically place CTAs like “Book a Table” or “Order Now” with buttons that stand out. Make it easy for readers to take the next step.
- Test your design: Before sending your newsletter, test the layout across different devices and email platforms to ensure it looks professional everywhere.
Step 5: Build and Grow Your Subscriber List Effectively
Once you’ve designed the newsletter, it’s time to get subscribers. Generally, this is done through a combination of email marketing campaigns and social media, so be sure to get your newsletter on all of your socials. Plaster your newsletter in an easy to find space on your website, encourage those on your email list to read, and offer discounts if you can afford them. Sometimes a little reward is all it takes to get people subscribed.
Step 6: Schedule and Send Your Newsletter at Optimal Times
Your newsletter should be on a regular schedule; whether that’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly, that’s up to you and how your business operates, but pick a schedule and stick to it. Beyond that, think about when you send it out. If you send it via email in the early morning, chances are it’ll be buried by the time your readers can actually get around to it. Similarly, you’ll have a better chance of getting eyes on it if you’re not posting it on social media in the dead of night.
In short, think about when your readers will actually be able to read, and schedule around that.
Step 7: Track Performance and Continuously Improve Your Newsletter
Your newsletter may take time to get off the ground, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be paying close attention to it the whole time. Keep track of who reads it, when, and when they leave the page — those analytics will inform you on what works and what doesn’t.
And, importantly, don’t be afraid to make tweaks to the formula. If something doesn’t work (or works very well), make changes accordingly!
Restaurant Newsletter Ideas to Keep Your Content Fresh
With the how-to out of the way, let’s talk about some ideas to ensure your newsletter is always at its best.
Seasonal Menus and Limited-Time Offers
Seasonal menus and limited-time offers are an excellent feature for your newsletter. They’re timely, offer something new to guests, and most likely include visual aspects, such as images of the menu items — which is great if you plan to publish photos alongside your restaurant newsletter.
Behind-the-Scenes Stories and Chef Spotlights
With the recent success of The Bear, we’ve seen that the public is actually quite interested in the goings-on behind the scenes in kitchens. Chefs do quite a lot and often have interesting stories — which makes them an excellent option to highlight in a newsletter. Whether it’s a “who’s who” guide to your kitchen or a “how it’s made” guide to what happens in your kitchen, chances are that your guests will eat it up. Just be sure to communicate with your staff before putting them in the newsletter.
Upcoming Events and Special Occasions
Keeping your audience informed about upcoming events and special occasions is a great way to add excitement to your restaurant newsletter. Highlight events like live music nights, holiday celebrations, or seasonal menu launches. If your restaurant offers private dining options or event catering, this is a perfect opportunity to promote them. Including special occasions like anniversaries or limited-time promotions can build anticipation and encourage customers to mark their calendars. Make sure to create a sense of urgency by adding a “Reserve Now” or “Book Your Spot” call-to-action.
Customer Spotlights and Testimonials
Highlighting customer testimonials is a great way to accomplish two things. First and foremost, you’re able to give back to the community. Secondly, testimonials give you an opportunity to sneak in a few words of praise from the customers who are big fans of your restaurant.
Recipe Features and Cooking Tips
Featuring recipes and cooking tips in your restaurant newsletter adds value for your customers and helps deepen their connection with your brand. Share popular recipes from your menu or seasonal dishes that customers can try at home. Include step-by-step instructions, chef tips, and suggestions for ingredient substitutions. You can even offer behind-the-scenes insights into your kitchen’s techniques, which can foster a stronger bond with your audience.
Loyalty Programs and Exclusive Subscriber Deals
While your restaurant newsletter doesn’t need to exclusively focus on deals, discounts, and sales, it should highlight any loyalty programs or subscriber deals that you offer through the newsletter.
I find that an effective way to do this is with a quick blurb at the end, before you sign off, along the lines of, “And don’t forget, subscribers get X% off online orders.” It’s quick, simple, and does the trick wonderfully.
Local Community Involvement and Partnerships
Any time you partner with others in the community, whether that’s through a farm-to-table agreement, events that highlight people or organizations in your community, or restaurant partnerships, you should highlight it in your newsletter. It helps spread the word, shows that you care about your community.
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