How Much Should a Restaurant Actually Spend on Marketing?

Ask how much a restaurant should spend on marketing and you’ll hear plenty of percentages. The problem is that a percentage alone doesn’t tell you much.

A neighborhood coffee shop trying to maintain steady traffic has completely different marketing needs than a restaurant opening its second location. A new concept entering a competitive market shouldn’t have the same budget as an established restaurant with years of brand awareness.

Instead of starting with “How little can we spend?” start with a better question: What are we trying to accomplish, and what will it realistically take to get there?

Start With Revenue — But Don’t Stop There

Revenue is a useful starting point because it keeps marketing investment proportional to the size of the business. From there, the percentage should reflect what you're actually asking marketing to accomplish.

At Parke, we like to think about restaurant marketing budgets in three broad categories:

2–4% of Revenue — Maintain

You already have awareness and a consistent customer base. Marketing is primarily focused on staying visible, maintaining your digital presence, supporting promotions, and keeping existing customers engaged.

At this level, the goal usually isn't aggressive expansion. It's making sure the brand stays relevant and customers continue thinking about you when deciding where to eat.

4–7% of Revenue — Grow

You’re actively trying to increase traffic, reach new customers, build awareness, improve your digital presence, or grow sales. This gives you more room for content production, paid advertising, campaigns, creative testing, and ongoing optimization.

For a restaurant with clear opportunities to grow, this level of investment gives marketing more tools to actually influence customer behavior rather than s

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