Attract new
customers.

Ask a table how they found you and you'll hear the same few answers: a friend, Instagram, Google Maps, or 'we walked past'. The surveys say the same. SevenRooms found social media leads discovery for Australians, with only 8% finding restaurants through influencers, so most of that is friends' posts and the venue's own, not paid creators.

Each source needs something different from you, and costs something different. The table below is a quick map. Delivery apps and functions have their own pages: direct ordering and function venues.

Word of mouth isn't luck. People pass on venues they can describe in one line: 'the pasta place on the water at Terrigal', 'the Lebanese café in Parramatta that does the big breakfast'. If your regulars can't say what you're known for, a stranger won't remember it either. Pick the one dish or experience you want to be known for and put it everywhere: your Google profile, your bio, the first photo people see.

Make the friend's job easy too. A short, spellable name on Google that matches your sign, a booking link that works on a phone, and a set menu page for groups mean the person recommending you doesn't have to do any work. Group bookings are where new diners arrive six or eight at a time, so answer those enquiries the same day.

Discount platforms trade a margin for a first visit. First Table is a clear example of how the deal works: it says it's free to list, with no commission, sign-up fee or minimum period, because diners pay a booking fee. Your cost is the discount: 50% off food, with drinks at full price, for one to six diners, on at least one table a night on your quiet days, at times you choose. First Table says 75% of its subscribers are dining at its partner venues for the first time. That's the platform's own figure, so treat it as a claim.

The maths depends on two things the platform can't tell you: whether the table would have filled anyway, and whether those diners come back at full price. A half-price table on an empty Tuesday can still make a gross margin. The same table on a Saturday that would have sold is money given away. Run the numbers on your own menu below.

A first visit that never turns into a second is an expensive way to fill a table. So tag first-timers in your booking system or point of sale, and check a month later how many came back. If the number is low, the fix is usually on the plate or the floor, not in the marketing.

Give new diners a reason to return that doesn't depend on another discount: a dish they didn't get to try, a night with live music, a regulars' perk. The budget page works out what a regular is worth to you over a year, which is the number a first-visit offer is really buying.

It's tempting to load every online booking into your newsletter. Under the Spam Act, marketing emails and texts need consent, and the ACMA is blunt that inferred consent doesn't stretch to messages sent after someone has just bought something. A booking is the same kind of thing. Ask instead: an unticked box on the booking form, or a QR code on the bill that leads to a sign-up. The same ACMA page says unsubscribe requests must be actioned within 5 working days.

Many cafés and restaurants are under the Privacy Act's $3 million small business threshold, but the Spam Act applies to every business, whatever its size. If you work with creators, the ACCC's influencer sweep found 81% of 118 influencers checked were posting things that raised concerns, and it says brands that don't take reasonable steps can break the law too. Make sure any paid or gifted post is clearly labelled. Competitions and liquor promotions have their own NSW rules, covered on the social ads page.