Restaurant SMS and email marketing: a practical guide

Restaurant SMS and email marketing works when you message people who asked to hear from you, send something useful (a new dish, a slow-night offer, a holiday menu), and make it one tap to order or book. Use email for weekly news and texts for short, timely offers. Both have federal rules: texts need clear consent under the TCPA, and emails must follow CAN-SPAM. This guide covers both in plain English; it is not legal advice, so check the official sources.

SMS vs email: which does what

	Email	Text (SMS)
Best for	Weekly news, new menus, events, longer stories	Short, same-day offers and reminders
Cost per message	Very low	Higher, per message
Consent rule (marketing)	Opt-out based (CAN-SPAM), opt-in is best practice	Prior express written consent for automated marketing texts (TCPA)
Typical frequency	About once a week	About 2–4 times a month
Risk if overused	Unsubscribes, spam folder	Opt-outs, carrier filtering, legal exposure

Texting reaches almost everyone: Pew Research Center’s 2026 survey found 98% of US adults own a cellphone and 91% own a smartphone. That reach is exactly why the rules for texting are strict.

Step 1: Build your list the right way

Collect contacts where guests already give them:

• Online order checkout and table bookings
• Rewards sign-up (see loyalty program ideas)
• A QR code on tables and receipts
• Wi-Fi sign-in, if you offer it

Keep marketing permission separate from the order itself:

• Use an unchecked box for marketing texts. The guest must tick it.
• Say what they get and how often, and how to stop.
• Do not make it a condition of ordering. The FCC’s definition of prior express written consent requires telling people they don’t have to agree in order to buy.
• Save the record: date, time, phone number and the wording they saw.

Sample text consent wording (have your own adviser review it):

“Yes, text me offers and news from [Restaurant] at this number. Up to 4 msgs/month. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel. Consent is not required to buy.”

Step 2: Decide what to send

Useful beats loud. A simple monthly plan:

Week	Email	Text (to opted-in guests)
1	New dish or seasonal menu, with photo	—
2	Story: the chef, a recipe origin, a regular’s favorite	Slow-night offer, Tuesday only
3	Event or holiday pre-order announcement	Reminder: pre-order closes tomorrow
4	Catering and office lunch menu	Weekend special, Friday 11 a.m.

Good message examples:

• Text: “[Restaurant]: Tuesday only, free garlic naan with any 2 curries. Order: [link] Reply STOP to opt out.”
• Email subject: “New this week: lamb chops from the tandoor”

Each message should have one clear action and one link. Ideas for what to promote are in slow-day promotions and restaurant marketing ideas.

Step 3: Send at the right time

• Texts: federal rules bar telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the recipient’s local time (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). Some states have stricter rules. For restaurants, about 10:30–11 a.m. (lunch) or 3–4 p.m. (dinner) is a sensible test.
• Email: test a weekday morning vs late afternoon for a month and keep what gets more orders.

The legal basics for texts (TCPA)

This is a summary of federal rules, not legal advice. State laws can add more. Check the official text and talk to a lawyer about your setup.

1. Consent. Under 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2), calls and texts that advertise or are telemarketing, sent with an autodialer or prerecorded voice to mobile numbers, need the recipient’s prior express written consent. Electronic signatures (like a ticked box and form submission) can count if valid under federal or state law.
2. Not a condition of purchase. The consent must make clear the person doesn’t have to agree in order to buy.
3. Opt-outs. People can revoke consent; replying “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe” counts. Opt-outs must be honored within a reasonable time, no more than 10 business days (64.1200(a)(10)).
4. New FCC changes. An FCC order published October 26, 2026 takes effect November 25, 2026. It lets senders name an exclusive way to opt out (if clearly disclosed) and narrows the scope of opt-outs from informational messages. A stop request in reply to a marketing text still covers all future marketing texts from that sender.
5. Penalties. The TCPA lets people sue for $500 per violation, and a court can triple that for willful or knowing violations (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3)).
6. Carrier registration. US carriers have a registration system, called A2P 10DLC, for business texts sent from regular 10-digit numbers. Twilio’s documentation says registration means less filtering, and unregistered traffic gets extra carrier fees. Your texting provider handles the form.

The legal basics for email (CAN-SPAM)

The FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide lists these requirements for commercial email:

• Accurate “From,” “To” and “Reply-To” information
• A subject line that matches the content
• Clear disclosure that the message is an ad (when it is one)
• Your valid physical postal address
• A clear way to opt out
• Opt-outs honored within 10 business days, with the opt-out working for at least 30 days after sending
• Opted-out addresses never sold or transferred
• You stay responsible even if someone else sends for you

Each separate email that breaks the law can bring penalties of up to $53,088, per the FTC page. Order confirmations and receipts are mostly exempt, but adding promotions to them can make them commercial. Check the FTC guide.

What results to expect

Mailchimp’s published benchmarks (data last updated December 2023) show an average 35.63% open rate and 2.62% click rate across all its users. Mailchimp does not publish a separate restaurant row on that page. Opens are a rough signal; clicks and orders matter more.

Worked example with those averages: you email 1,500 guests. At a 2.62% click rate, about 39 people click. If one in four of them orders at a $35 average check, that is about 10 orders and $350 in sales from one email that cost almost nothing to send. Track it with a unique code or link so you know.

Measure what matters

Metric	Why it matters
Orders and bookings from each message	The real result
Click rate	Whether the offer and button work
Unsubscribe or STOP rate	Whether you send too often
List growth per week	Whether sign-up points are working
Revenue per message	Compare email vs text fairly

Mistakes to avoid

• Texting everyone who ever ordered. Order updates are not marketing consent.
• Buying lists. Bought contacts did not agree to hear from you.
• No restaurant name in the text. Guests should know who is texting before they read further.
• Long texts with many links. One offer, one link.
• Promotions inside receipts. It can turn a receipt into a commercial email.
• Sending at 9:30 p.m. Outside the federal calling-hours window for solicitations.

For more ways to bring guests back, see how to increase restaurant sales.

How WhatsTable helps

WhatsTable drafts email, WhatsApp and SMS campaigns for the week ahead from your sales and slow hours, and nothing is sent until you approve it. Guest emails go out automatically when a table is booked, an order is confirmed, an order is ready, and after the visit to ask how it was. WhatsApp receipts and confirmations work where set up. Rewards points, referral links and coupons give each message a reason to order direct into your Clover. Pricing is $0 a month plus 5–10% of sales that come through WhatsTable. See marketing tools.