10 Restaurant Newsletter Ideas You Can Send This Month
Plan your next month of newsletters with ten ideas, each with subject lines, what to put in it, who gets it and when to send it.
- Free list
- 9-minute read
- PDF, 9 pages
- Restaurants, lounges and bars
Having 2,000 emails means almost nothing if you never speak to those people. A customer database is not valuable because it is big. It becomes valuable when you actually use it.
So here are ten newsletter ideas I would send this month if I ran a restaurant, lounge or bar. For each one you get a subject line or two, what to put in it, who to send it to and when. Pick one a week and your next month is planned.
Martins Udotai, co-founder and CEO of Dinesurf
What's inside
- The math of one newsletterRead it below
- Three ideas that give guests something to bookRead it below
- Three ideas that give guests something to talk about In the PDF
- Four ideas for the right guests at the right time In the PDF
- A four-week sending calendar In the PDF
- Four newsletters you can copy In the PDF
- Before you press send In the PDF
The math of one newsletter
Say you have 3,000 customers, and you send them a newsletter about Sunday brunch. Say 40% open it, and that is being generous: that is 1,200 people. If just 3% of them make a reservation, that is 36 bookings. At two people each, that is 72 covers from one newsletter.
No influencer. No new ad campaign. No new audience. You already paid to acquire those customers, with every ad, post and promotion that first brought them in. A newsletter is how that spend keeps paying you back.
The hard part is not the sending. It is knowing what to say every week without repeating yourself or turning every message into a discount. That is what these ten ideas are for.
Three ideas that give guests something to book
The best restaurant newsletters give people a plan. These three put a date, a table and a booking link in front of your guests.
Your weekend experience
Sunday brunch, a Friday night with live music, a Saturday lunch for families: pick what you do best at the weekend and make it the whole newsletter. Subject lines: "Your Sunday, sorted" or "Brunch is back at {Restaurant} this Sunday". Put in one great photo, what is on the table, the times, and a booking button at the top and the bottom. Send it to everyone on Wednesday or Thursday, while people are making weekend plans.
A weekday offer for quieter nights
Every restaurant has a night that needs help. Give it a reason: a set menu, a cocktail hour, a quiz, a live band. Subject lines: "Tuesdays just got better" or "Your midweek plan is here". Keep it to one offer, the dates it runs and how to book. Send it to everyone on Monday morning, so it works that same week, and keep offers like this away from your busy nights.
An event, with early access
A tasting night, live music, a chef’s table, a big-match screening. Subject lines: "Before we announce it anywhere else" or "{Event} is coming, and you are first". Say what it is, the date, the price, what is included and how many places there are. Send it three to four weeks ahead: first to your regulars, then to everyone two days later.
The rest of the list is in the PDF
5 more parts, ready to print or keep on your phone:
- Three ideas that give guests something to talk about
- Four ideas for the right guests at the right time
- A four-week sending calendar
- Four newsletters you can copy
- Before you press send
Send these newsletters from Dinesurf
- Every reservation, online order and event ticket adds the guest to Guestbook, so your list grows every night you are open. See how
- Build each newsletter in the dashboard from a template, and send it to your whole Guestbook, a tag or a filtered group such as Birthday This Month, Lapsed (90+ days), Top Spenders or New Guests (last 30 days).
- The report for each newsletter shows opens and clicks, so you can see which subject lines your guests read.
- Point every newsletter at bookings on your own website and Instagram link, with a deposit on busy nights. See how
- Sell tickets to your events from the newsletter, and every buyer lands in Guestbook. See how
- Take orders on your own website with no commission, for the newsletters that end with "order it tonight". See how
More free guides
- The Win-Back PlaybookBring back the guests you already have with a simple monthly system: build the list, sort it, give a reason, send a short sequence and count who returns.
- The Customer Automations Every Restaurant Should HaveSet up the eight customer automations every restaurant should run, each with its trigger, timing, audience and a message to copy.
- The VIP Guest FrameworkFind your best guests in your own data, sort them into five tiers, and give each tier a reason to feel known.
- All free resources