Restaurant · Guide Updated July 2026
6 Emails Every Restaurant Should Be Sending to Make More Money
There are six core email types every restaurant should send: a welcome series, a weekly newsletter, new promotions and events, surveys, review requests, and re-engagement offers. Add a birthday email as a seventh and you have a complete system. Most restaurant owners collect emails and never use them, leaving a direct, nearly free revenue channel completely idle.
Email is not dead. Your customers check it every single day, and it costs you almost nothing to reach them. The biggest mistake I made running 720 Sweets, my ice cream shop before we sold it, was sitting on a list of more than 2,000 emails and barely sending a single message. I will not let you repeat that.
Here are the six types of emails every restaurant should be sending, plus a seventh you should not skip.
Why a Welcome Series Email Comes First
The moment someone subscribes to your list, send them a welcome email. Do not wait.
That first email serves two jobs. First, it sets expectations. Tell your new subscriber what kinds of content they will get from you and how often. When they know what is coming, they open your emails. When they do not know, they mark you as spam.
Second, the welcome email protects your deliverability. Most people open the first email they get from a new sender out of curiosity. That open signals to email servers that you are a legitimate sender. Miss that window and your future emails start landing in junk folders instead of inboxes.
Whether someone subscribed through a discount, a lead magnet, or a sign-up sheet in your shop, treat them all the same: greet them immediately, tell them what to expect, and give them a reason to keep reading.
How Do You Stay Top of Mind Between Promotions?
Send a weekly newsletter. Every week.
This is the email that most restaurant owners skip because it feels like a lot of work. It is not optional. If you go silent for two or three months and then suddenly blast your list with a promotion, you will get ignored. Nobody wants to hear from a stranger who only shows up to ask for something.
A weekly email keeps you present. Ideas for what to include:
- A weekly promotion or limited-time dish
- Customer testimonials about a recent experience
- A community spotlight, featuring a local person or cause worth celebrating
- Behind-the-scenes content from your kitchen
The format is up to you. Be yourself. Bring your personality. Readers stay subscribed to newsletters that feel human, not corporate.
When Should You Send Promotions and Events Emails?
After you have been consistently delivering value for several weeks. Not before.
Think of it this way. The weekly newsletter is you showing up, giving, giving, giving. You are sharing recipes, celebrating customers, and telling stories. You are building a real relationship. Once you have done that, you have earned the right to ask for something.
Now you can send the email that says: “We have a new flavor dropping this Friday” or “We are hosting a Father’s Day dinner, here is how to reserve your spot.” That ask lands completely differently when your subscribers already trust you and look forward to your emails.
Do not skip the warming phase. It is what separates restaurants that get strong response from ones that see their promotions ignored.
Why Survey Emails Are Make or Break
Your customers’ tastes shift. What worked on your menu two years ago may not be what they want today. You cannot know what to change unless you ask.
Survey emails are how you stay close to your core demographic. Ask them what they love about your restaurant. Ask them what they wish was different. Ask them if there is a dish or a flavor they have been wanting to see. Their answers tell you exactly where to double down and where to pull back.
A few rules that determine whether people actually fill it out:
Keep it to eight questions maximum. Go longer and completion rates fall off a cliff. Use multiple choice and one-word-answer formats wherever possible. Make it fast. Then, most importantly, give them an incentive to complete it. A gift card to your restaurant is a straightforward and effective reward.
The data you collect from a well-designed survey is more valuable than most paid research you could buy.
How Do You Get More Reviews Without Begging?
You ask, directly, at the right moment.
Every time a customer orders through your website or makes a reservation and leaves their email, follow up. Send them a short message asking how their experience was and include links to leave a review on Yelp, OpenTable, and Facebook. Make it one click to get there.
Reviews build trust with people who have never eaten with you. A potential customer reading your Yelp page is deciding whether to walk through your door. Authentic reviews from real guests close that decision for you. Platforms like Yelp and OpenTable already do this well. Every time you book through their systems, they follow up automatically asking for a review. Model your own email exactly the same way.
The reviews you collect also become content. Drop them into your website, your Instagram, and future email newsletters.
What Do You Send to Customers Who Have Gone Cold?
A re-engagement email with a compelling reason to come back.
If a segment of your list has not opened, clicked, or visited in months, do not just keep sending them the same newsletter. Send a specific re-engagement email. Give them something real: 20% off their next visit, a free appetizer, a free drink. Make the offer clear and put it front and center.
Will everyone respond? No. The success rate is not high. But the customers who do respond often come back and become regulars again. Someone who had simply forgotten about your restaurant suddenly remembers why they loved it, and you win them back with a single email. Test different offers and track what actually gets people back through the door.
The Bonus Email: Why Birthday Emails Work So Well
Everyone loves free stuff, especially on their birthday.
Set up a birthday email that goes out automatically on each subscriber’s birthday. Wish them a happy birthday and offer them something real: a free appetizer, a free drink, or a free meal when they come in.
Here is the part operators miss. People rarely celebrate birthdays alone. They bring a group. When your birthday email pulls one person back into your restaurant, you get four, six, or eight covers at the same time. That one automated email turns a single relationship into a full table, consistently, without you lifting a finger after the setup.
Collect birthdays when people sign up for your list, then let the automation handle the rest.
The Bottom Line
You already have a channel to reach your best customers directly, for almost nothing. Use it. Send the welcome email, show up every week, give value before you ask for anything, survey your customers regularly, chase reviews, win back the people who drifted, and never miss a birthday. The operators who build real revenue from email are not doing anything complicated. They are simply showing up consistently. As I tell every restaurant owner I work with: collect the email and then actually send the email.
Watch the full video
Source — YouTube · the full breakdown, free
Tool — free · not sponsored, I built it
Want your exact numbers for a restaurant? The free calculator runs your cost to open, the ×1.4 cash reserve, and your break-even in about 30 seconds. Prefer paper? The One-Page Fundable Business Plan is the printable version.
Run your numbers →Questions owners actually ask
How do I build an email list from scratch before my restaurant even opens?
Start collecting emails before you have a single customer. Use a lead magnet, which is something of value you give away in exchange for an email address, like a discount code valid at your grand opening or early access to your menu. Post a sign-up form on your social media profiles and any pre-opening landing page you set up. You can also build partnerships with local community groups, ask neighboring businesses if you can promote your opening in their newsletters, and run a simple contest where entering requires an email. The list will be small at first, but it will be entirely legitimate and built on people who are already interested in what you are doing.
How many emails should I send per week without annoying my subscribers?
Wilson recommends a weekly newsletter as your consistent baseline, which means one email per week for relationship-building content. Promotional or event emails come on top of that when there is something real to announce, but only after you have been consistently delivering value first. The key is that subscribers should feel they are getting more than they are being asked for. One well-crafted email per week beats three rushed ones.
What should I offer in a re-engagement email to bring back dormant customers?
A concrete, tangible offer works best. Wilson specifically calls out a 20% discount or a free appetizer as examples that work. The offer needs to be compelling enough to interrupt someone's habit of ignoring your emails. Keep the email short, make the offer the headline, and give a clear expiration date so there is a reason to act now rather than later.
How long should my survey email be?
No more than eight questions. Wilson is direct on this point: ask too many questions and people will not complete it. Use multiple choice and one-word-answer formats so responses are fast and easy. Always pair the survey with an incentive, like a gift card to your restaurant, to increase the number of people who actually finish it.
Why does the welcome email matter for email deliverability?
When someone subscribes and you send a welcome email immediately, most people open it out of curiosity. That open is a positive signal to email servers that you are a legitimate sender whose emails people want to read. If you skip the welcome email and your subscriber's first interaction is a promotional blast weeks later, low open rates signal to email servers that your mail may be unwanted, and your future emails start getting filtered into spam or junk folders.
How does a birthday email translate into real revenue?
The birthday email offers a subscriber a free item, such as a free appetizer, drink, or meal, to bring them in on their birthday. The key insight Wilson shares is that people rarely celebrate birthdays alone. When you bring one person in for a birthday, they typically bring a group, which means you are filling a table, not just serving one free appetizer. The birthday email pays for itself many times over in a single visit.
Keep going: restaurant guides
How Much Does It Cost to Open a Restaurant? (2026 Complete Breakdown)
The real, itemized cost to open a full-service restaurant in 2026, including Wilson's x1.4 cash rule, break-ev
12 Essential Restaurant Branding Assets Every Owner Needs to Create
A logo is just one piece. Here are the 12 branding assets every restaurant needs, what each one does, and how
3 Things to Know Before Opening a Restaurant (And What Happens If You Skip Them)
Wilson K Lee breaks down the three foundational principles every restaurant owner must master: know your numbe
The 4 Restaurant Business Concepts Explained: Fast, QSR, Casual, and Fine Dining
Learn the four main restaurant business concepts, their real costs, revenue projections, and pros and cons so
5 Deadly Mistakes Every New Food Business Owner Makes
60% of restaurants fail in year one. Wilson K Lee breaks down the 5 deadly mistakes killing food businesses in
7 Instagram Tools Every Restaurant Owner Should Be Using
Wilson K Lee breaks down the 7 Instagram tools his team uses to grow restaurant marketing, save time, and brin
7 Money-Making Mindsets Every Restaurant Owner Needs to Build a Profitable Business
Wilson K Lee breaks down the 7 mindsets shared by hundreds of successful restaurant owners, from stopping perf
8 Ways to Cut Costs in Your Restaurant or Small Business
Eight proven strategies to reduce operating costs in your restaurant or small business, from building a roadma