Restaurant SMS Marketing Guide: Where Convenience Meets Cravings

The US food industry attracts millions of people each year. It indicates that Americans love going out to eat. Studies show that there are around 750,000 restaurants in the US alone, making competition tough for restaurants to attract customers and drive more sales. The restaurant industry is significantly changing with cutting-edge technology and online ordering. With each passing day, audience attention spans are shrinking, and competition is increasing more than ever. Therefore, restaurants must think about effective ways to cut through the noise in the restaurant market, attract new customers, and improve loyal customers. Here is where restaurant SMS marketing comes into the picture.

Imagine you receive a personalized and friendly message reminding you about tonight’s special dish! How do you feel? You will feel like you have received a reminder from your friend, right? This is the power of restaurant SMS marketing. However, this SMS marketing tool is not just for sending quick reminders. It helps build relationships, drive repeat visits, and engage diners personally and more genuinely.

In this article, we’ll discuss how restaurant SMS solutions can help you connect with customers and drive results, along with the key challenges, benefits, and best practices of restaurant SMS marketing.

What is SMS Marketing for Restaurants?

SMS marketing for restaurants means using text messages to promote restaurants directly to the target audience’s mobile phones. Restaurants can use it in four different ways.

Check out these effective SMS templates for restaurants that you can use to save your time.

Why Should Restaurants Use SMS Marketing?

The simple answer is that it is a cost-effective, highly personalized, impactful, and easy-to-use marketing channel.

Many businesses think that SMS marketing is not in trend, and if you’re one of them, you’re mistaken. If you’re thinking about who will still be using SMS in 2025? Well, the answer is plenty of people!

SMS Marketing is Not the Thing of the Past – This Data Tells a Different Story!
According to the study, around 75% to 78% of people prefer talking with business via SMS.

As per the statistics, the SMS marketing market in the US will be worth $12.6 Billion by the end of 2025.
More than 85% of businesses found text marketing a useful strategy for their digital success.

SMS offers a 98% open rate and 45% response rate, with a relatively low opt-out rate. Businesses can easily measure analytics and measure data like click-through rate, response rate, open rate, engagement rate, etc. That’s why more and more businesses are including it in their marketing strategy, and you should be, too.

SMS marketing for restaurants lets them efficiently manage their waitlists and engage guests while they wait. In short, SMS marketing offers higher guest retention and conversion rates. By using AI-powered SMS marketing platforms like Textdrip, you can schedule SMS, drip SMS campaigns, and reminder drip campaigns with personalization and drive more sales.

Don’t you think all these reasons are enough to include SMS marketing in your overall marketing strategy?

Check our blog on text message marketing for restaurants to understand what benefits SMS marketing offers for restaurants.

Just like other marketing strategies, SMS marketing has its challenges. However, we can easily overcome this. Read on to learn more about it.

Key Challenges of Restaurant SMS Marketing and its Solution

Text message marketing sounds simple, but in reality, it is different. Many restaurant owners tried implementing SMS campaigns to promote their restaurants and found themselves blocked by spam filters or weighed down by SMS marketing laws they didn’t know about.

Let’s check out a few challenges and what they must face if they overlook them.

1. SMS Marketing Regulatory Compliance

Businesses must stay compliant with SMS regulations and region-specific laws. It helps restaurants to win their customers’ trust and avoid hefty fines. There are two main key regulations – TCPA (in the US) and GDPR (in Europe). If restaurants do not comply with these rules, they have to pay hefty fines.

For example, in 2021, the ICO – Information Commissioner’s Office issued £10,000 fine to Papa John’s for sending more than 165,000 marketing messages between 1st October 2019 and 30th April 2020 without obtaining explicit opt-in consent from consumers. What mistake they’ve made was they relied on a soft opt-in approach. This approach lets businesses send marketing messages to past customers, but they have not been provided with a chance to opt-out.

Some customers who ordered by phone were not clearly communicated regarding opt-out, leading to complaints and a hefty fine. Therefore, as a business, you should research and follow the local SMS marketing laws to avoid such costly mistakes.

2. Spam Filtering

Mobile carriers use strict spam filtering to keep users secure from unwanted messages. However, it might happen that sometimes they catch legitimate text messages that have some spammy words or patterns. Suppose your well-crafted and well-timed message carrier’s block never reaches your target customers. In that case, you’ve wasted your valuable time and money on SMS campaigns that gave you no results.

Sometimes, the grammar and tone of the message, such as using all capital characters or too many emojis, can look suspicious, and carriers can block it. If you don’t want to face this situation, it’s better to adjust your messaging style and use a conversational tone that is unique and personalized.

For example,

Instead of a message like this –

Get the FREE cupcake now! Act Fast.

You can write something like this –

Hey [Customer Name]! This weekend, enjoy a complimentary dessert on us with your meal. Show this text when you visit. Reply ‘STOP’ to unsubscribe.

This message would look more friendly and natural and bypass the spam filters.

If you understand and strictly follow these spam filtering rules, your SMS campaigns will be more likely to reach your target customers’ phones, ensuring they will read it instead of blocking you.

3. Service Reliability

When it comes to restaurant SMS marketing, timing is everything. Think about it – if your limited-time lunch offer does not reach your customers until after lunch, what’s the meaning of running such SMS campaigns?

Technical glitches such as congestion and network delays happen more often than you think. If you Google it, you’ll find many reports showing instances where service interruptions adversely affect mobile carriers, and users could not send/receive text.

Image Source: Google

So, what’s the solution to it?

Use reliable SMS providers that provide better service reliability. And, for the safer side, don’t put all the eggs in one basket.

We’re trying to say here that, undoubtedly, SMS is an outstanding marketing channel, but it should not be the ONLY communication channel for your customers.

Therefore, think about diversifying your marketing strategy.

You can use email marketing, social media, and in-app notifications along with your SMS marketing campaigns.

By doing so, if you’ve launched a limited-time lunch offer and it doesn’t reach your customers through SMS, you can still inform them about the offer via other channels.

So, invest in a reliable SMS marketing platform like Textdrip. This platform offers seamless integration through automation studio with various marketing tools, including email, social media management, and push notifications. It enables you to implement an effective omnichannel marketing strategy. So, mix your communication methods to navigate the unpredictability of marketing easily. You can use these restaurant marketing tools and start your restaurant marketing strategy immediately.

How can Restaurants Build and Grow an Effective SMS Subscriber List?

If you want to build and grow your restaurant SMS subscriber list, only crafting a text message with 1-2 catchy lines is not enough. Your subscribers must find value in joining your subscriber list. They must feel that their data is handled properly and have an easy-to-opt-in and opt-out path.

Now, you must be wondering – how to do that.

Attractive Incentives

You can offer attractive incentives.

If people feel that by opting into your SMS marketing, they’ll get something special, they’ll be more likely to opt in.

So, you can start giving your SMS subscribers rewards like complimentary dessert, special discounts on their next meal, direct entry to your loyalty club, etc., using web sign-up forms.

Image Source:Link

It will make it easy for customers to opt-in for SMS messages, perks encourage them to sign up for text messages, and you can even use automated follow-up via SMS to increase engagement and ROI.

You can even use the fun giveaway in which interested customers will revert with a keyword like “DINNERCONTEST” via SMS to enter the contest. Such giveaways encourage customers to opt in for your text message marketing.

Remember – you can go beyond offering incentives through coupon codes or discounts. Sometimes, customers want to be the first person to know about upcoming menu items, special ingredients, or seasonal recipes.

Make Use of Multiple Communication Channels

Use multiple channels to promote your SMS sign-up forms for maximum reach. To grow your SMS subscriber list, design a website pop-up that first asks for an email ID and follows up with an SMS opt-in option.

You can design social media posts highlighting the benefits of signing up or special deals available only to your SMS subscribers. This way, your subscribers will see the value of joining your SMS list.

Do you have an app for online ordering or table reservations? If so, you can add an SMS opt-in during the checkout process.

Transparency is Must

If you want to build trust, be transparent. Let your customers know what type of message they can expect from you, the frequency of the message, how you’ll use their data, and a clear opt-in/opt-out process. In short, be upfront about your messaging.

Here, one important thing you need to ensure is that sending too many messages can frustrate your subscribers, which can be why they opt out.

As per the study done by Validity, 49% of customers feel annoyed because of frequent messaging, and approximately 58% will unsubscribe if they feel overwhelmed.

Therefore, be transparent about your restaurant SMS marketing to build trust.

Key SMS Features Required for Effective Marketing for Restaurants

If you want effective SMS marketing for your restaurant, your SMS marketing strategy/restaurant SMS solution must contain the following features.

1. SMS Automation

This feature lets you automate text messages according to triggers such as order confirmations, reservations, etc. It ensures timely and quick communication without manual effort and keeps your customers informed and engaged.

2. Drip SMS Campaign

You can send a series of scheduled messages over time using the Drip SMS campaign feature. It is perfect for welcoming new customers, promoting seasonal menus, and offering loyalty rewards without bombarding customers with too many messages.

3. Contact Segmentation

The contact segmentation feature lets you categorize customers based on their preferences, order history, or visit frequency. It will allow restaurants to run targeted promotional SMS campaigns like special discounts for repeat diners or birthday/anniversary offers.

4. Landline Remover Integration

If you choose an SMS marketing platform like Textdrip, it comes with landline remover integration, which filters out landline numbers from your contact list. It will ensure that SMS campaigns reach only mobile users. It increases delivery rates and maximizes marketing impact.

5. Personalization

You can give your text message a personalized touch by including the customer’s name, favourite dishes, etc. This personalization touch makes your customers feel valued and boosts engagement without promotions.

6. Bulk Texting

Restaurants can use bulk texting features to send mass messages instantly. It is ideal for announcing daily specials, exclusive deals, or happy hours to large audiences in seconds.

7. Two-Way Texting

This feature lets your customers respond to your messages. It makes it easy for them to book tables, inquire about menu items, give feedback, or improve customer service and engagement.

8. Spam Checker

If you want to ensure that your messages comply with SMS marketing regulations and avoid spam filters, opt for a restaurant SMS solution like Textdrip that helps maintain high delivery rates and ensures promotional texts reach customers.

Best Practices for Texting Restaurant Customers

Here are the best practices for texting restaurant customers.

1. Keep it Short and Clear

You should not overload your message with excessive details, offers, or unnecessary emojis like this –

Hey Valued Customer! We at [Restaurant Name] are excited to offer you an exclusive discount of 15% off all meals this week!

Instead of it, use concise and friendly language like this –

Enjoy 15% off your next meal at [Restaurant Name]! Show this text to redeem. Valid until Sunday!

2. Personalize Your Message

Avoid sending too generic, impersonal messages like this –

Hey! Visit us for discounts on select meals today!

Instead, you can personalize the message by including a customer’s name or order history like this –

Hey [Customer Name], your favourite BBQ ribe are on special today! Order now and get the FREE drink.

3. Timing Matters

Don’t text too early or too late. For example, don’t send a message like this in the morning –

Good Morning! Come in for dinner deals tonight.

You should send messages when customers are more likely to act, like in the evening or at lunchtime.

Craving for a delicious dinner [Customer Name]? Enjoy a FREE dessert tonight at [Your Restaurant Name].

4. A Clear Call-To-Action is Must

Don’t leave your customers unsure like this –

We have great offers today!

Include a proper CTA and guide customers on what they need to do next.

Reserve your table NOW! – reply ‘YES’ or click here: [Link].

5. Respect Opt-Out Requests

Never ignore opt-out compliance or send repeated messages after customers opt-out. Instead, allow your customers to unsubscribe easily by clicking

Reply STOP to opt out.

Let’s Textdrip Help Add Flavour to Your Restaurant SMS Marketing Strategy

In summary, the restaurant industry is competitive, and if you want to spice up your restaurant marketing strategy, don’t ignore the power of text messages. You can build strong relationships with your customers, fill more tables, and increase ROI through text message marketing for restaurants. One such AI-powered text message marketing platform is Textdrip.

It is the top-rated SMS solution that perfectly meets your restaurant’s unique marketing needs. With its impressive features such as personalization, scheduling, landline remover, reminder drip, drip SMS campaigns, SMS automation, bulk texting, and much more, this platform helps you increase your restaurant’s revenue.

So, take a FREE trial or book a demo to create a personalized customer experience and increase foot traffic and online orders.