Restaurant marketing software: what UK restaurants and takeaways actually need

Short answer: Restaurant marketing software helps you collect customer details, send offers, run loyalty and get repeat orders. Most UK independents need just three things: a way for customers to order from you direct, a customer list you own, and one messaging channel (WhatsApp, SMS or email) to bring people back. Buy those first. Add extras only when they pay for themselves.

This page explains the main types of restaurant marketing tools, compares WhatsApp, SMS and email with real UK costs, and gives you a checklist for choosing. It also shows where Menuthere fits, and where it doesn't.

Written for UK restaurants, takeaways, cafés and pubs. Updated October 2026.

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What restaurant marketing software does

"Restaurant marketing software" covers many tools. They do one of four jobs:

1. Get found: Google Business Profile tools, review tools, local SEO and social media schedulers.
2. Capture the customer: online ordering, Wi-Fi sign-up, booking systems and loyalty sign-ups. These give you a name and a number or email.
3. Bring them back: WhatsApp, SMS and email marketing, plus loyalty and coupon codes.
4. Measure: which offers and channels lead to orders.

The second job is the one most venues miss. If your customers order through Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats, the app holds the relationship. You can't easily market to them, and you pay commission every time they reorder. So the most useful "marketing tool" is often your own ordering page.

Types of restaurant marketing tools

You don't need all eight. A small takeaway can do well with the first two. A sit-down restaurant may add bookings and email.

SMS vs WhatsApp vs email marketing for restaurants

These are the three main channels for bringing customers back. Here's an honest comparison using UK prices.

Worked example: 1,000 opted-in customers, two offers a month

So WhatsApp isn't much cheaper than SMS per message in the UK, and on the cheapest bulk SMS rates it costs more. It earns its place in other ways. Customers can tap a button to order, ask a question in the same chat and see your dishes in photos. For a takeaway, that usually matters more than a penny per message. For long news and events, email is the cheapest option.

Read more about WhatsApp Business API pricing in the UK.

SMS marketing for restaurants

SMS still works for short, urgent messages: "Fish Friday: 2 cod and chips for £14 tonight." It reaches every mobile phone, including people without WhatsApp.

The downsides are cost per text and no pictures. Long messages and emojis can use two or more texts' worth of credit. Customers often can't reply if you send from a name rather than a number.

Use SMS if: many of your customers are older, or you only send a few short messages a month.

Restaurant email marketing

Email marketing for restaurants suits longer content and planned events. It's cheap to send, and it works well for sit-down restaurants and pubs with a booking list.

Restaurant email marketing ideas:

• A monthly "what's new" email with one new dish and one event
• A birthday email with a free dessert (ask for the month at sign-up)
• Christmas party menus in October and gift vouchers in November
• A "we've missed you" email to people who haven't visited in 60 days
• A behind-the-scenes story: your supplier, your chef, your recipe

Keep emails short. One message, one picture and one button. Send from a real name ("Sara at The Old Mill") rather than "noreply".

Restaurant marketing automation

Automation means messages that send themselves when something happens. Good examples for restaurants:

• Order updates: order accepted, ready and out for delivery. These are service messages, not marketing.
• Welcome message: sent when someone opts in to your offers.
• Win-back message: sent when a regular hasn't ordered for a set number of days.
• Birthday offer: sent in the customer's birthday month.
• Review request: sent the day after an order. Ask everyone, and never offer a reward for a review.

Start with one or two automations. Check every month that they still make sense.

How to choose restaurant marketing software: a checklist

• Do you own the customer data? Can you export your customer list if you leave?
• Does it take commission? Some platforms charge a percentage of each order. Others charge a flat monthly fee.
• Does it handle consent? Look for opt-in records and automatic "STOP" handling.
• Does it link offers to orders? A message with a direct order link beats a message that says "call us".
• Can you see results? Orders, repeat customers and redemptions per campaign.
• Is it built for food? Menus, sizes, add-ons and collection times matter.
• What does it really cost? Monthly fee + per-message fees + card fees + set-up.
• UK support and UK pricing? Prices in £ and support in UK hours.

The UK rules for marketing messages

• PECR: you need consent to send marketing texts, emails or similar electronic messages to individuals. The "soft opt-in" covers existing customers for similar products, if you offered an opt-out when you collected their details and in every message.
• Every message needs an opt-out, and you must say who you are.
• Don't buy contact lists. The soft opt-in doesn't cover them.
• Order updates aren't marketing, but adding an offer to one can make it marketing.
• Bigger fines: under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the ICO can now fine up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover for PECR breaches.

More detail: UK GDPR and PECR for WhatsApp marketing.

Menuthere as your restaurant marketing platform

Menuthere is a commission-free ordering platform with marketing built around WhatsApp. Here's what it does, by plan.

What Menuthere doesn't do: it isn't an email newsletter tool or an SMS sender. If email matters to you, use a separate email tool alongside it.

Costs: Menuthere takes 0% commission. Lite is US$17 a month and Pro is US$39 a month, billed in US dollars (your bank converts it). Both have a 7-day free trial. A card is needed to start it, but nothing is charged until it ends. The Branded App plan is US$99 a month, with no trial: press Get your app, add 10 dishes with photos and book a call; nothing is paid at signup, and your subscription only starts counting from the day the app goes live. Menuthere is an official Meta Tech Provider: Meta bills WhatsApp message fees to your own WhatsApp account directly, and Menuthere adds no markup. Card payments go through your own Stripe account, which charges its own fee.

Start free, then switch on WhatsApp marketing when you're ready.

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For more on the WhatsApp side, see WhatsApp marketing for restaurants and our comparison of the best WhatsApp marketing software for restaurants. For free ideas to use with any tool, read our 48 restaurant marketing ideas.