Restaurant Promotional Message Examples for Your Next Text or Email
Copy restaurant promotional messages for welcome texts, slow nights, launches, replies, returns, and measurable visits.
"We miss you" gives a past guest very little to make dinner plans around. "Wednesday pasta night: pasta and a salad for $24, from 5 to 7pm" gives them a meal, a price and a night to put on the calendar.
The restaurant promotional message you send should fit who you're trying to reach. Someone discovering your restaurant needs a reason to try it. A past guest may need something new to come back for. If you're running an offer, someone who signed up but hasn't redeemed it may have a question another reminder won't answer.
The examples use a fictional restaurant, River Table. Replace its name, details and links with yours. Text only people who have agreed to receive your promotional messages, and keep your messaging service's opt-out instructions. If you're starting with an old contact list, first check which customers you can contact.
Welcome a new subscriber without immediately asking them to buy
Text message
River Table: Thanks for joining our updates! We make our pasta from scratch every morning. We'll keep you posted on new dishes and upcoming dinners. Take a look at the menu: [menu link]. Reply STOP to opt out.
A welcome message should confirm what the person signed up for and give them something useful. It's also a chance to share a detail they might not know about your food. If you promised a reward during signup, send that reward here. If you didn't, you don't need to invent a discount to welcome someone.
Subject: Your first look at what's cooking at River Table
Thanks for signing up. We'll keep you posted on new dishes, seasonal menus and dinners worth planning ahead for. If you haven't visited yet, start with our roasted mushroom pasta. We roll and cut the tagliatelle from scratch every morning and roast the mushrooms until the edges turn golden, then finish the dish with thyme and parmesan. See the menu: [menu link]
Keep your email service's unsubscribe link and required sender details in the footer. The copy should describe the messages guests actually agreed to receive.
Give guests a reason to try the new dish
Text message
River Table: Our roasted mushroom pasta is on tonight's menu. We roll and cut the tagliatelle here every morning, then toss it with roasted mushrooms, thyme and parmesan. Book a table: [booking link]. Reply STOP to opt out.
You know what goes into your food. Your guests may not. If you make the pasta from scratch, let your dough ferment for two days or even make your own ketchup, tell them. Give them something specific to notice, appreciate and tell a friend about.
Choose one detail that makes this dish worth trying: a preparation step, a particular ingredient or where that ingredient comes from. “We roll and cut our pasta every morning” says more than “fresh, high-quality ingredients.” If you pay more for a particular ingredient, explain what makes it different, not just that it costs more. Use details that are true for your kitchen; the process above is part of the fictional example.
For email, add a photo that shows the dish or the preparation you described, with the same booking link. You don't need a second promotion competing with the food.
Fill a quieter night with a specific dinner plan
Text message
River Table: Make Wednesday pasta night. Pasta and a side salad for $24 per person, 5 to 7pm. Dine-in only. Book here: [booking link]. Reply STOP to opt out.
This gives someone a meal, a price and a time they can plan around. Choose an offer that makes sense for your food costs and the daypart you want to fill. Put any additional restrictions on the linked page where guests can see them before booking.
You can also promote a quieter night without cutting the price:
River Table: Looking for a quieter dinner? We're open Wednesday from 5pm, with the full menu and tables available. Reserve yours: [booking link]. Reply STOP to opt out.
Choose the reason that is true for your restaurant. Don't manufacture a deadline or claim the last tables are going when they aren't.
Reach the guest who wants dinner at home
Text message
River Table: Staying in tonight? Our roast chicken, potatoes and green salad are available for pickup. Order dinner here: [pickup link]. Reply STOP to opt out.
This sells a solution to tonight's dinner, not another reason to leave the house. Use it for guests who have ordered pickup before or told you they can't get out that evening. Send them to the meal in your ordering system, and use a photo showing what they'll actually take home.
Invite a past guest back without sending another generic coupon
Text message
River Table: Our patio is open again, and the spring menu starts this week. We'd love to have you back for dinner. Book a table: [booking link]. Reply STOP to opt out.
Use an actual reason to return. A new menu, a live music night or a seasonal dish gives you something to say beyond “we miss you.” Save this version for past guests; someone who has never visited needs a first-visit invitation, not a welcome back.
Promote an event with the details someone needs to decide
Subject: A four-course spring dinner at River Table
Join us Thursday, April 8, at 7pm for a four-course spring menu: pea soup, asparagus salad, roast chicken and lemon tart. Dinner is $65 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Drinks are separate. View the full menu and reserve your table: [event booking link] Have a dietary question? Reply and we'll help before you book.
The menu gives the guest something to send to the person they'd bring. Keeping dietary questions open lets an interested guest resolve an objection before booking, instead of abandoning the invitation. Keep the required unsubscribe link and sender details in your email footer.
Ask why someone hasn't used the offer they signed up for
If someone signed up for an offer but didn't redeem it, another sales pitch may not answer the reason they stayed away. A question gives them a way to tell you.
Text message
River Table: You signed up for our dinner offer but haven't used it yet. Is there anything stopping you from coming in? Reply and let us know. Reply STOP to opt out.
At Feast, we analyzed guest follow-up texts on July 12, 2026. Messages asking why someone hadn't redeemed their offer received replies on 19.8% of 13,225 sends. That's a reply rate, not a visit rate or a promise that this exact wording will produce the same result.
The useful part comes next. If someone asks whether you offer pickup, send the ordering link. If they can't make the available hours, explain the options you actually have. If they describe a poor experience, have a person handle it.
Only use this message for people who signed up for that offer and haven't redeemed it. Check their recent visits too, so you don't send a first-visit nudge to someone who already came in.
The Feast reply-rate example goes deeper into what that question revealed.
Don't send every guest the same next message
A guest who just booked Wednesday dinner should get their confirmation, not another message asking them to book. Someone who already redeemed an introductory offer doesn't need another unused-offer reminder. Someone who replied "I can't get there before seven" needs an answer about the hours, not the same promotion again tomorrow.
Use booking, purchase, redemption and reply information to decide who receives the next message. If your messaging tool doesn't receive those updates, you'll need to exclude those guests manually or connect the systems. That's the work behind a follow-up that feels relevant instead of repetitive.
If you're running an offer, separate people who signed up but haven't redeemed it from those who have. Send the first group the question above; invite the second group back for something different. Someone who hasn't signed up needs an invitation, not a reminder to use an offer. Don't guess a guest's history from whether they opened a message.
For sending frequency, follow-up and choosing who receives each message, see the restaurant SMS marketing guide. Twilio's messaging policy explains its consent, sender identification and opt-out requirements; your sending setup must also follow applicable rules.
You don't have to build this messaging system yourself
Feast helps you set up your restaurant's messaging with proven templates and strategies we've used across hundreds of restaurants. From welcoming a new subscriber to following up on an unused offer, you have a starting point for what to send and help putting it into action.
We also help you understand the results. Feast shows you how guests respond to your texts and connects redeemed offers to purchases in your point of sale. You can see which messages get replies and which promotions are linked to sales, then use that information to do more of what's working and improve what isn't.
Book a demo of Feast to see how we can set up and improve messaging for your restaurant.