Guides / Finding an agency

How do I find a restaurant marketing agency?

Start with the restaurant result, then find the shop built for that job. Website reservations, private-event inquiries, in-store foot traffic, and confirmed visits are owner outcomes. Awareness decks, content calendars, and a pile of channels are not. Ask who owns the Google and Meta accounts, which of those restaurant results you will see every month, and when the agency would tell you to spend less. A good partner should be comfortable telling you not to hire them.

What problem should I define before I search?

Empty seats	Name the soft days, dayparts, locations, or guest types. If the problem is demand, do not buy an awareness plan with no way to score it.
Private events	Count the qualified inquiries coming in now. Know what a booked event is worth and where the lead trail goes cold.
Nearby guests	Check whether Maps, Google Business Profile, directions, calls, and location pages are helping people nearby find and choose the restaurant.
Paid media	Confirm who owns the accounts. Then ask to see what people typed when they found you, where money was wasted, and what you paid for a reservation click, call, direction request, or inquiry.
Restaurant results	Decide whether the spend can connect to reservations, calls, event inquiries, confirmed visits where available, or hotel bookings on your own site.
Brand or PR	Be honest. If the real need is identity, press, reputation, or content, hire for that job instead.

If nearby guests cannot find the restaurant, start with the Google Business Profile and local SEO guide. If the real gap is private dining, use the private dining and buyouts guide to check whether the inquiry path is ready.

I want the problem to fit in one sentence. That stops a pitch deck from turning a pile of activity into fake progress, and it lets you compare shops against the same job instead of against each other's websites.

Key takeaway: Name the restaurant problem before you pick the marketing plan.

Where should I look for a restaurant marketing partner?

Start with operators who run a business like yours, not whoever happens to be down the block. A tasting-menu restaurant, a busy multi-location group, and a private-events venue can share a ZIP code and still need completely different machinery.

Search the problem and the reporting together: "restaurant Google Ads monthly report," "multi-location restaurant Maps marketing," or "private dining inquiry marketing." Then read past the victory lap. Look for a restaurant like yours, the month or weeks being discussed, where the guests came from, how the restaurant counted the result, and what the number does not prove.

Directories and referral lists are fine for filling the bench. They are not the coach. Fit, account ownership, and the questions an agency asks matter more than a shiny badge.

My advice: Ask peers for names, then make every agency earn its spot with relevant proof.

Hire a restaurant specialist for reservations, Maps, and private events

Hire a restaurant specialist when the work lives in website reservations, Google Business Profile, Maps, private dining, average checks, results by location, or bookings on the hotel's own site. Hire a strong generalist for a broad rebrand, a national advertising push, or work that mostly sits outside hospitality.

The first conversation tells you which one you have. A specialist asks which days are soft, what a booked event is worth, who owns the accounts, and whether the reservation path actually works. A generalist starts with awareness, a content calendar, and a stack of channels.

Website reservations	Can they read the reservation system or the hotel's own booking site, not just a click they named a win?
Maps and nearby guests	Can they talk about calls, directions, the Business Profile, and in-store foot traffic without turning it into a generic local-SEO speech?
Private events	Can they separate a sent inquiry from someone who only opened the form or tapped directions?
Confirmed visits	Will they use that number when Google can show it, and say so when it cannot?

Key takeaway: Match the shop to the restaurant result. Do not hire a generalist and hope they learn hospitality on your dime.

What seven questions should I ask every agency?

Define the report. What exact result will I see every month? Ask for the structure, not another promise.
Trace the number. Did it come from the reservation system, the hotel's own booking site, website records, Google, phone calls, or direction requests? Those are not interchangeable.
Protect ownership. Who owns the Google and Meta accounts and their history? Your restaurant should keep them if the relationship ends.
Read what people typed. Will I see the searches people used when they found the restaurant? This is where waste likes to hide.
We do not buy your name. For restaurants, we do not spend your money on people already typing your name. They find you on Maps and your own site anyway. If you run a hotel, we do, because travel sites bid on it, and we show it on its own line.
Set the first test. What should the first 90 days prove? A serious answer names what gets fixed, which restaurant result you will watch, and the decision that comes next.
Test the judgment. When would you tell me to spend less or hire someone else? This question clears the room fast.

Translation: You are not buying tasks. You are hiring someone to make good decisions with your money.

A generic agency, a PR firm, and Toast are different jobs

Most expensive hires are category mistakes. The deck looks complete. The job is not.

Generic digital agency	Fine for broad creative or work outside hospitality. Weak when you need Maps, reservation tracking, or a private-event page that can send an inquiry.
Hospitality PR firm	Right for openings, chef stories, awards, and reputation. Wrong if you hired them to fill Tuesday and they send you clips.
Toast Advertising	Convenient inside the POS for a small online-ordering budget. Toast holds the ad account. The scoreboard leans toward online orders, not website reservations or event inquiries.
Independent restaurant partner	Right when you want owned Google and Meta accounts, the searches people typed, and a monthly read in reservations, calls, directions, inquiries, and confirmed visits.

Named roster is useful only as a fit check. Californios, Lazy Bear, Nisei, Gott's Roadside, John's Grill, Harborview, Kirk's Steakburgers, and the Nomada hotel group are restaurants and hotels Jay Street already knows how to work with. They are not a substitute for a report you can read.

My advice: Hire the category that owns your bottleneck. Then make that shop pass the seven questions.

PR vs performance Toast vs an independent agency

How can I tell whether the proof is real?

Real proof has names, dates, source systems, and caveats. Conveniently, fake proof hates all four.

Ask to see the actual search terms the budget bought, what counted as a restaurant result, and the assumptions behind any dollar estimate. Website reservations, private-event inquiries, in-store foot traffic, and confirmed visits are results. Clicks are inputs.

Caveats do not weaken proof. They tell you the person presenting it understands the numbers. A shop that cannot say where the evidence stops is selling decoration.

Key takeaway: Trust the partner who shows the work and tells you where the evidence stops.

How results are counted About Jay Street

When should I not hire Jay Street Media?

Do not hire me for PR, naming, visual identity, a website redesign, daily organic social posting, or influencer management. That is not the lane.

Jay Street helps restaurants and hotels bring in and track website reservations, calls and directions from Maps, private-event inquiries, in-store foot traffic where Google can confirm it, and bookings on the hotel's own site. The first 90 days should prove the accounts are in your name, the report names those restaurant results, and you can see what people typed when they found you.

A tiny online-ordering-only budget may be better served by Toast or another self-serve product. A group with an experienced in-house team may need a one-time check of the numbers, not a retainer. And if the restaurant cannot answer inquiries, take reservations, or deliver a good guest experience, fix that bottleneck before pouring more people into it.

My advice: Hire for the constraint you actually have, even when that means not hiring an agency yet.

Which agency category do you need? Toast vs an independent agency

What else should I ask while building a shortlist?

How do I find a good restaurant marketing agency?

Pick one business problem first: weak weekday reservations, private-event inquiries, nearby guests not finding you, or ad spend nobody can explain. Then shortlist agencies with restaurant proof for that exact job. Ask who owns the accounts, what the report will show, whether they spend restaurant money on people already typing the name (they should not), and when they would tell you to spend less. Hotels are the exception, and that spend belongs on its own line.

What should I ask a restaurant marketing agency before hiring it?

Ask what gets counted, where each number comes from, who owns the Google and Meta accounts, whether you will see what people typed when they found you, and how the work connects to reservations or inquiries. Then ask what the first 90 days need to prove and what would make the agency admit it is the wrong fit.

Should I hire a restaurant specialist or a general marketing agency?

Hire a restaurant specialist when the job involves reservations, Google Business Profile, Maps, private dining, average checks, results by location, and reservation or hotel booking systems. Hire a strong generalist for a broad rebrand, a national advertising push, or work that mostly sits outside hospitality.

Is Toast Advertising the same as hiring a restaurant marketing agency?

No. Toast Advertising can fit a small online-ordering budget that wants to stay inside the POS. An independent agency is the stronger hire when you need website reservations, private-event inquiries, in-store foot traffic, or confirmed visits, plus Google and Meta accounts the restaurant owns. Toast holds the ad account. You do not take that history with you.

Want to test the fit without sitting through a pitch?

Send me the restaurant, the business problem, and the number you wish you could see. I will tell you whether Jay Street fits. If it does not, you will still get a straight answer. That intro is the useful next step. A longer browse of the site is not.

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Jay Street Media publishes this guide and may be one of the agencies you evaluate. Good. Use every question here on me too.