Why Restaurant PR Matters for Local Growth

A great PR campaign can make or break the future of a restaurant location. But in the case of multi-location restaurant brands, this requires strong collaboration between local or franchise leadership and the overall brand to ensure a consistent, coordinated effort.

The unique challenges of restaurant PR

Running a PR campaign for a restaurant is unlike doing public relations for any other type of business. A key reason for this is the stiff competition. Restaurants are not only competing with other businesses in their field but also with those in adjacent fields. A Chinese restaurant faces competition not only from other Chinese restaurants but also from Japanese, Korean, and ‌other restaurants that diners may choose.

Restaurant PR is also interesting because it combines characteristics of both niche and broad approaches. A restaurant falls into several niches, including local market and cuisine style, but at the same time, the goal is also to expand the consumer base. Still, it is important to know a target audience — and their behavior — to maximize return on investment. For example, people probably aren’t going to travel far for a new burger joint, so a highly targeted campaign is likely better, but a fine-dining establishment might have a wider geographic pull.

The final and perhaps most difficult challenge multi-location restaurant brands face with their PR campaigns is the need to balance local and national (or even international) interests. When you do PR for a specific location, the goal is, of course, to increase awareness and traffic for that location. However, messaging and initiatives must also be in line with the brand’s overall core identity. Especially for multi-location brands, customers have specific expectations that must be met.

Strategies to maximize your restaurant PR campaign

There are a few strategies that restaurants and their PR firms can use to garner publicity. The best PR campaigns combine these strategies into an integrated, holistic approach to create and drive attention. Some of these strategies include:

• Targeted local outreach: The most traditional approach to restaurant PR is to invite local news stations, newspapers, and food blogs to the restaurant for reviews and feature stories. This approach is a great way to build awareness in the local community among those who may potentially become regular customers.
• Press releases: If a restaurant is part of a national or international brand, that brand will often issue a press release announcing the opening of the new location. For brands with a large, loyal following that are just establishing a presence in a new market, this can be a great way to drum up anticipation and excitement.
• Influencer campaigns: Modern PR campaigns also extensively use influencer marketing, which might involve inviting social media content creators to come out to collaborate on a social media post or do a video review. Influencer marketing is particularly useful for restaurants in high-tourism areas, as a strong influencer-driven campaign can make a restaurant a go-to destination for people who don’t live in the city.
• Events/grand openings: New restaurant locations often put all of these strategies together by holding an event or grand opening. In addition to local media and influencers, restaurants can invite the general public to these events, giving them the opportunity to gain significant media coverage and grassroots word-of-mouth all at once.

Building both local excitement and long-term brand awareness

A great example of this can be seen in our work with the pizza franchise Mister O1 Pizza. We worked with the company to launch several new locations in the Central Florida area, which represented a massive expansion for the brand across state lines. To raise awareness, we ran an influencer marketing campaign that placed Mister O1 locations on several “best new restaurants” lists, as well as a media outreach campaign targeting both local and industry publications. Now, the brand continues to grow with 25 locations open in the Sunshine State.

For an example of a more traditional, local-oriented campaign, we worked with the coffeehouse chain Southern Grounds on its expansion throughout Florida. By combining a heavy focus on local coverage to support the new St. Petersburg location’s grand opening with a lighter focus on national media to establish Southern Grounds as a budding leader in the space, we helped increase awareness for the new location while building overall brand awareness for potential future growth.

Ultimately, the lesson to be learned is that restaurant PR is not just about one-off events, but about building brand strength and long-term awareness. The initial surge in publicity that comes from an opening is great, but it should just be a launchpad to continued work in areas like influencer marketing and media outreach to sustain interest not only in that location but the brand as a whole, so that future locations can be equally successful.