Influencer partnerships are key to your 2025 restaurant marketing strategy.
Did you know Nation’s Restaurant News found that nearly 55% of millennials and 38% of all age groups have visited a restaurant or ordered food online after seeing the restaurant on TikTok?
Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool, and in our new digital world, “word of mouth” is actually digital. It lives on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more. And the way people discover your restaurant is rapidly changing. (tweet this)
Influencer partnerships are among the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal today. To help you navigate this new world, we look at the 2025 guide to influencer partnerships for restaurants. We’re going to help you take foodies and turn them into micro-creators.
If you’re a restaurant owner or manager, you’ll find that by collaborating with influencers you will elevate your brand, increase foot traffic in your restaurant, and build a buzz for your food that other advertising methods just can’t replicate.
Influencer Marketing Works for Restaurants
Before we jump into the guide, let’s look at influencer marketing. This means working with people in your community who have loyal social media followings and asking them to promote your restaurant.
Influencer partnerships work perfectly for restaurants for several reasons:
- Because they have built large followings, people trust them, and they bring authenticity to their reviews.
- Their own audience finds them believable and relatable. They trust the influencer’s endorsements.
- Influencers can taste your food and showcase it, share how your restaurant feels (the ambiance), and showcase your restaurant in a way that relates to their own followers.
- They can use visual storytelling on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and even YouTube to share more about your restaurant.
Influencers are called by the right name because they have the power to “influence” their audience’s behavior. Here are a few more reasons influencers are a great choice for your restaurant.
- It’s authentic marketing. An influencer’s recommendation is more like a friend’s recommendation than an ad. It’s personal and relatable.
- Influencers often have niche audiences (e.g., vegan foodies, cocktail lovers, brunch enthusiasts). This makes it easy for you to reach a target market that will frequent your restaurant.
- Your food is art, and influencers can show it off in creative ways that are enticing and mouthwatering.
- Your food is your art. Influencers showcase it in creative, mouthwatering ways.
Choose the right influencers with followers that match your target market.
What Type of Influencer Should You Look For
When considering an influencer partnership, you want to pick the right type. Here’s a list of the different types of influencers.
- Mega Influencers (1,000,000+ followers): These are generally actual celebrities like actors, athletes, musicians, and premium content creators. You can use mega influencers if they live in your community but do note they are generally quite expensive.
- Macro Influencers (100,000-1,000,000 followers): Great for major launches, national visibility, or premium branding. These influencers are often expensive and may not always drive local foot traffic, but they’re great for prestige and exposure.
- Micro Influencers (10K–100K followers): For most restaurants, this is a great place to start. Micro influencers typically have higher engagement rates, a strong community feel, and are more affordable than mega or macro influencers.
- Nano Influencers (1,000-10,000 followers): These are perfect for hyper-local campaigns. Nano influencers are based right in your city or even neighborhood and may even be regulars at your spot. Their audience trusts them implicitly, and you can often build partnerships around free meals or very modest fees.
- Food Bloggers & YouTubers: Food bloggers and foodie YouTubers are very popular in many communities. They are long-form content creators who provide detailed reviews or behind-the-scenes tours of restaurants where they live. They might have anywhere from 1,000-100,000 followers. People really trust and engage with food bloggers, so this is another great choice for most restaurants.
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How to Build a Successful Influencer Partnership
Now, let’s look at a step-by-step process for building that partnership.
- Define your goals: Are you looking for weekday traffic? Do you want to launch a new menu or promote a seasonal special? Your goals will help you decide which influencer to choose and what kind of content you’d like them to create.
- Identify the right influencers: You want to look for creators who match your brand vibe and food style. For example, if you are a family-style restaurant, using an influencer whose audience is 20-somethings who like to party most likely isn’t the right fit. You also want an influencer who has a very engaged audience, so check their comments and likes. The influencer should also post regularly, use high-quality visuals for images and videos, and be located near your restaurant.
- Have a clear offer: When you reach out to an influencer, you want to first praise them and tell them why you love their content. Then, state what your offer is. For example, you might explain what it is about their content you love and then offer them a free meal.
- Give them creative freedom: Influencers know their audience the best. Instead of giving them a script, share a few talking points (like a new dish you’re proud of), step back, and let them take the lead. This results in more authentic, engaging content.
- Share and reuse their content: Once they’ve posted about your restaurant, be sure to share it on your social media platforms as well. You can ask for their permission first. Do be sure to tag them when sharing. Repurpose it in your email marketing and even on your website.
- Track the results: As with any marketing, you want to track your results. You can use promo codes, custom reservation links, or even simple tracking (for example, “Mention [Influencer] for 10% off”) to measure the effectiveness of your influencer relationship. Over time, you’ll learn which influencers bring in real traffic and which types of content resonate with their followers. Remember that engagement is key, so follower counts aren’t always the most important.
Final Thoughts on Influencer Partnerships
In 2025, it’s time for your restaurant to add influence marketing to your strategy. Choosing the right influencer helps you create authentic buzz for your restaurant and draw in new diners.
Every type of restaurant can benefit from influencer partnerships. The key is to choose the right influencers, set expectations about what you are offering them and what you expect in return, and follow up on a regular basis. (tweet this)
Start small and test the water. Build relationships with your influencers so they’ll continue promoting your restaurant. Make them feel like they’re valued and part of your extended team. Invite them to all your tastings or soft launches. Send them updates when you change your seasonal menu and offer them exclusive invitations to dine with you.
When influencers genuinely enjoy your restaurant, it shows in their posting. And you can bet their audience sees this, too, and remember it when looking for someplace to eat.
Is your website ready to showcase your menu when your influencers share about it? At Restaurant Engine, we can create a website for you that highlights your menu and helps you optimize your restaurant’s marketing. Your website is the centerpiece of your online marketing, and it needs to look beautiful and perform well. You can count on us to create an amazing website that is optimized for SEO and works across all digital platforms. Let us help you make the perfect site that draws customers in, improves customer engagement and your conversion rate, and enables you to grow your new business using website data!
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Images: Jouwen Wang and Trung Tran on Unsplash
