How To Increase Restaurant Sales? 18 Practical Strategies

Published by: Apr 17, 2026

Vincent Nguyen

We all know that the restaurant industry has razor-thin margins. The average restaurant operates on somewhere between 3–9% net profit, which means that for every dollar that comes in, only a few cents actually stay.

And yet, the conversation around "increasing sales" tends to get buried under a pile of tactical advice, like running a promotion, or updating your menu. To really boost sales, restaurant owners need to look at their operations from a higher level perspective.

In this article, I'll share:

A restaurant revenue engine framework to build sales improvement strategies

18 strategies to improve restaurant sales and revenue

Recommended AI and software to improve guest experience and manage operations

Let's dive right in!

The Restaurant Revenue Formula

Before we get to any of those strategies, I believe it's worth stepping back and thinking about what "increasing sales" actually means at a structural level.

At its core, restaurant revenue optimization is unbelievably simple: selling more and losing less.

Sell more

↑ More orders
↑ More value per order
↑ More repeat visits

Lose less

↓ Less wasted capacity
↓ Less customer churn
↓ Less ordering friction

Every strategy, every tactic, every operational decision you make ultimately moves one of these two levers. You either get more people to buy from you, or you save on the current operational cost.

All of these 18 strategies I'll share in this article fall into either one of those two.

1. Optimize your Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (GBP) is basically a free tool that lets you manage how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps to reach new customers.

When they search for something like “Mexican restaurants near me”, if your GBP is well-optimized, you should show up at the top.

The higher you rank on this Map Pack, the more clicks you get, which means more guests coming to visit your restaurant. And guess what? Up to 90% of consumers research restaurants online before choosing where to eat. If you’re not optimizing your GBP, you’re missing new customers.

So, how to optimize your Google Business Profile? Here are some tips from Google itself:

Represent your business as it's consistently represented and recognized in the real world across signage, stationery, and other branding.

Make sure your address and/or service area is accurate and precise.

Choose the fewest number of categories it takes to describe your overall core business.

There should only be one profile per business, as this can cause problems with how your information displays on Google Maps and Search.

Here's the rule of thumb: make sure all information about your business is consistent and accurate across all locations.

2. Improve local SEO and "near me" search visibility

Doing local SEO is all about matching the content on your website with what people are actually searching.

For example, these are the keywords that Le Petit Chef is ranking for in Atlanta:

You can easily see that people are searching for phrases like:

Fun dining in Atlanta
Unique dining experience in Atlanta
Interactive restaurants in Atlanta

Simply by structuring their content around those keywords, Le Petit Chef managed to become the #1 restaurant in the region for that niche.

Here’s how you can do the same:

List down keywords that someone interested in your type of restaurant may be searching for. Use the formula of {service} + {location} and you should arrive at quite an extensive list.

Build landing pages for each of those keywords. I recommend that you build a landing page template with reusable blocks (why choose your company, your menu, testimonials, etc.), and adjust the copywriting to match each specific keyword.

Start collecting reviews from Day 1. This is extremely important. For local businesses, reviews are probably the number one ranking factors. The more positive reviews you have, the higher your chance to rank.

Manage all your reviews on auto-pilot

What if you have too many positive reviews to answer? Momos AI Review Manager can come in to help — handling high volumes of reviews and building your reputation on auto-pilot.

See how it works

3. Set up a direct online ordering system

Third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, or GrabFood are convenient, but they take a 15–30% commission on every order. That's a massive cut out of your margins, especially when you're already operating on thin restaurant profits.

A direct online ordering system lets customers order straight from your website, and you keep 100% of the revenue.

Tools like Square, Toast, or Owner.com let you embed an ordering system directly on your site. Customers place their order, pay online, and you get notified. That means no middleman and no commission.

You own the customer relationship. Third-party apps keep the customer data, just that you never see it. With direct ordering, you collect emails, phone numbers, and order history you can use for marketing.

You control the experience. Custom upsells, loyalty rewards, and branded packaging all reinforce why your restaurant is worth coming back to.

Your average order value goes up. Direct ordering platforms let you prompt customers with add-ons ("Want to add guacamole for $2?") at checkout, which is something most third-party apps don't do as effectively.

Some good direct online ordering systems are Square, Olo, and StoreOrdering.

4. Expand onto third-party delivery platforms

Of course, you still shouldn’t miss out on third-party delivery platforms, since they drive the majority of online orders.

But you need to actually rank within the platform. Here's how to make third-party platforms work in your favor:

Optimize your profile like you would Google. Use a high-quality cover photo, write a clear description with keywords people actually search for ("late night tacos in Austin", "healthy lunch bowls downtown Chicago"), and make sure your hours are always accurate.
Start with promotions to build momentum. Most platforms push new or promoted listings to the top. Offer a limited-time discount when you first launch to collect reviews and climb the ranking.
Reviews matter here too. The more positive ratings you have, the higher the algorithm places you.

The problem with third-party platforms is that when you're on multiple platforms, review requests can quickly become impossible to manage manually.

That's where Momos comes in. It centralizes reviews from Uber Eats, DoorDash, Google, and more into one dashboard, so you can monitor feedback and respond without jumping between apps. After every order, a follow-up message nudging customers to leave a review goes a long way, and Momos helps you automate exactly that at scale.

4. Actively manage your online reputation and reviews

Impact: Increase brand reputation

93% of consumers say online reviews influence their dining decisions. That means your Google rating isn't just a vanity metric — it's one of the most direct drivers of new customers walking through your door.

Most restaurants treat reviews passively. They check in occasionally, respond when they remember, and hope for the best. The restaurants winning on reputation do the opposite — they treat it like an active, ongoing operation.

Here's how to stay on top of it:

5. Leverage social media and influencer partnerships

Impact: Increase brand reputation

A social media page with a “personality” can leave a lasting impression in people’s minds. And the good news is that you don't even need a massive budget to make this work.

The highest-performing restaurant content on social media is actually the authentic, behind-the-scenes moments.

A video of your chef pulling fresh pasta, a time-lapse of your team setting up for dinner service, a close-up of your signature dish coming off the grill. That kind of content builds appetite and trust at the same time.

Chipotle figured this out early. Their TikTok account leans almost entirely on humor, employee culture, and food prep videos, and it's earned them over 2 million followers.

You can also partner with influencers. We advise you to not chase those with millions of followers. Micro-influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers actually drive higher engagement and more genuine recommendations (because their fanbase consists of only the real followers). And most of them are happy to work with restaurants in exchange for a complimentary meal.

Here's how to approach it:

6. Launch a catering and group ordering program

A single catering order can replace 10 to 20 individual covers with none of the front-of-house pressure. And with corporate catering alone accounting for over $60 billion annually in the US, there's no reason to leave that revenue on the table.

Here's how you can get started:

7. Redesign your menu with strategic pricing and layout

Your menu is a sales tool if you know how to design it.

Studies show that customers spend an average of just 109 seconds reading a menu. In that window, where your eye lands first, what stands out, and how prices are presented all influence what gets ordered.

Here's how to design yours to drive higher-value choices:

8. Train staff to upsell and cross-sell effectively

Your front-of-house team is your highest-leverage sales force.

The difference between a server who asks "Can I get you anything else?" and one who says "Our truffle fries pair really well with that burger, want to add them?" is real, measurable revenue. A well-trained server can increase the average check size by 10 to 30% just through confident, natural recommendations.

Here's how to build that culture:

9. Create combo meals and bundle deals

Bundles work because they shift the customer's thinking from "how much is this?" to "how much am I getting?", and that's a powerful psychological reframe.

McDonald's built an empire partly on the value meal. But you don't need fast food scale to make bundling work. A neighborhood bistro that packages a starter, main, and dessert as a fixed-price dinner deal can see table revenue jump 20 to 30% compared to à la carte ordering.

10. Introduce premium and limited-time menu items

Scarcity sells. When customers know a dish is only available for a limited time, the decision to order it becomes urgent, and urgency certainly drives revenue.

Starbucks proved this with the Pumpkin Spice Latte. A seasonal drink that generates an estimated $100 million in revenue every fall, simply because it's not available year-round.

Here's how to apply the same principle to your restaurant:

11. Build a loyalty and rewards program

Acquiring a new customer costs 5 times more than retaining an existing one. A loyalty program is how you turn one-time visitors into regulars, and regulars into your most reliable revenue source.

Here's how to build one that works:

12. Run targeted email and SMS campaigns

Social media reach is borrowed, but your email and SMS list is entirely yours.

Email marketing returns an average of $36 for every $1 spent, making it one of the highest-ROI channels available to any business, restaurants included.

Here's how to build and run campaigns that actually drive covers:

13. Send personalized offers based on order history

Generic discounts are forgettable. A message that says "Hey, our new spicy tuna roll just dropped, we thought you'd want to know" to a customer who orders sushi every Friday is definitely unforgettable.

Tools like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or Popmenu integrate directly with your POS and ordering system, so personalization runs automatically without manual work on your end.

14. Host community events and experiential dining nights

Guest experience means that they enjoy both the food and the time they spent at your restaurant.

Consider what Dinner in the Sky does: suspend a table 150 feet in the air and charge a premium for the experience. You don't need to go that far, but the principle is the same: give people a story to tell, and they'll market your restaurant for free.

Here's how to build an events calendar that drives traffic:

15. Recover dissatisfied customers with fast service resolution

Across six months of POS-linked survey data from a QSR brand with 100+ locations, we saw one pattern: guests who received a recovery offer and redeemed came back more often than guests who had a good experience in the first place.

16. Standardize food quality with documented SOPs

In the restaurant business, consistency is key. You want your food to taste the same every single time. And to build consistency, you need SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

Here's how to build SOPs:

17. Enable QR code and mobile ordering and payment

Restaurants that have implemented QR code ordering report an average increase in order value of 10 to 30%, largely because a digital menu makes it easier to showcase add-ons, photos, and upsells in a way a paper menu never can.

Here's how to implement it properly: