CEEK founder Charlie Terry explores why restaurants now need to market to both people and AI, how ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping restaurant discovery, why PR has become an SEO and AI visibility tool, and the practical steps operators can take to increase bookings, loyalty and revenue.
UK hospitality contributes £93 billion to the economy, supports 2.7 million jobs, and remains one of the most culturally vital sectors in the country. Yet right now, the industry is under pressure. Sales fell by 2.4% in 2025, the steepest decline of any sector, while food inflation hit 5.1% and labour costs continue to climb. The margin for error has never been smaller.
In that context, marketing isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between full covers and empty tables – a commercial necessity. When margins are under pressure, marketing is often one of the first budgets businesses look to cut. Yet this can be a deathblow for restaurants. Visibility drives viability. Fewer people discovering your restaurant means fewer bookings, fewer returning customers and ultimately less revenue. Marketing isn’t just about attracting new diners; it’s about staying front of mind with existing customers and building the loyalty that sustains restaurants through tougher trading periods.
Today, marketing a restaurant means reaching two audiences simultaneously: the diner and the algorithm.
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI overview for a restaurant recommendation, those tools aren’t browsing Instagram. They’re reading your website, scraping review platforms, and analysing third-party coverage to form a view of your brand. If those sources don’t tell a clear, consistent story, you’re invisible. And invisible restaurants don’t get bookings.
Own your data
The most successful brands treat data as a strategic asset. Email sign-ups, booking behaviour, loyalty interactions and website traffic all build a picture of who your diners are and what brings them back. AI tools can take this further, identifying high-value customers, forecasting peak periods and targeting promotions with precision. We’ve seen US operators use AI-driven segmentation to tailor offers by neighbourhood, increasing mid-week covers by double-digit percentages.
Without owned data, marketing is guesswork. With it, every decision becomes sharper.
Content is your brand
74% of people use social media to decide where to eat, and for most, discovery starts with a scroll. Your feed is your storefront. High-quality visuals, behind-the-scenes storytelling, chef profiles and seasonal content are what stop the scroll and convert interest into reservations.
AI can accelerate content production, adjusting images, creating mood variations, cleaning up photography, but authenticity still wins. Platforms detect AI-generated imagery and reduce its reach. Use AI to enhance your content, not replace it.
Search isn’t just Google anymore
Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are the new search engines. 67% of Gen Z and 57% of Millennials rely on social to decide where to eat. Optimise your profiles with keywords, locations, and menu highlights.
That said, around one in three diners still use Google, so your website and Google profile need to work just as hard.
Build loyalty, not just footfall
Repeat customers are the engine of a profitable restaurant. Personalised newsletters, loyalty programmes, and local brand collaborations turn one-off visitors into advocates. Platforms like SevenRooms allow you to analyse spend patterns and tailor outreach, a targeted offer for someone who hasn’t visited in months, or a reward for a regular.
Restaurants that respond to every review see 88% higher consumer trust. Those that don’t: 73% of diners say they’ll choose a competitor if a restaurant ignores them online.
If AI can’t understand you, it won’t recommend you
Right now, AI tools are building a picture of your restaurant from sources you’ve probably never considered. That picture directly shapes what gets recommended to users — and if your website, reviews, and press coverage don’t tell a consistent story, AI will either misrepresent you or overlook you entirely. PR matters more than ever: third-party coverage feeds directly into AI recommendations.
The most effective operators are reverse-engineering their AI presence, identifying which sources are being cited and targeting those channels with updated content, reviews, or press. Your website, social, PR, and reviews all need to tell the same story.
Get this right and everything else follows
Restaurants approaching marketing strategically, with strong data foundations, consistent content, and a clear AI visibility strategy, are already seeing a 9.9% average uplift in revenue attributed to social media alone. In a sector where margins are tight, that is not a marginal gain. It’s a competitive advantage.
The restaurants winning combine human storytelling with AI-powered insight, building brands that are discoverable, memorable, and resilient.