Exciting news: Brizo FoodMetrics has been acquired by Datassential! Learn more.
Getting your products in front of the right restaurant owners can feel like an unattainable feat, especially when you’re competing for attention in an overcrowded market.
But with email marketing for restaurants, the job can get a little easier. With good email marketing, restaurants will be pouring in from every single batch of emails.
How to implement such successful campaigns, you might ask? This article shows how.
Read on and explore seven key strategies of b2b food marketing through emails. But first, let’s see why email marketing is worth the shot.
When you’re trying to connect with restaurants as a supplier, social media campaigns or pricey ads might be your go-to means.
But have you ever considered that the most effective tool might already be sitting in your toolkit? Yep, we’re talking about email marketing for restaurants.
While social media algorithms play hide-and-seek with your posts and ad costs are skyrocketing, email gives you full control.
You decide when to send it, what to say, and who sees the email. You’ll be having a direct conversation with your potential customers, and trust us, customers love personalized attention.
Moreover, B2B food marketing is often stuck in old-school methods like generic ads. So, since email marketing for restaurants is wildly underutilized, you’ve got a high chance to stand out.
Plus, the stats don’t lie. Studies show that email marketing is 56% more effective at retaining customers than other methods.
Research also suggests that people prefer getting deals and promotions in their inbox over scrolling past ads on their feed.
This means sending a restaurant owner an exclusive offer right to their email has a higher chance of getting you responses
Email marketing for restaurants makes less noise and drives more results.
Let’s explore some proven restaurant email marketing strategies best for the food and beverage industry.
Everyone loves a good deal, and food establishments are no different. Discounts tied to key seasons or holidays like Christmas, Black Friday, or Halloween are likely to grab attention easily.
You may also consider offering a welcome discount to bring new customers on board or a recurring discount for those who make regular purchases.
And if you’ve got products nearing expiration, don’t let them go to waste. A clearance sale email can help you move inventory quickly while showing your customers you’re proactive about their needs.
Also, you may consider running monthly or bi-monthly coupon code events to keep your email list engaged and ready to shop.
Your customers are busy running kitchens and managing staff, so make it easy for them to discover what’s new and what’s hot.
Every time you roll out a new product, send an email to get the word out. Better yet, build some excitement with sneak peeks or behind-the-scenes updates before the launch. This will work like a charm, especially if your product takes time to develop.
And don’t forget about your best-sellers for they’ve already proven their worth. Promoting your top performing products creates trust and urgency which play a major role in boosting sales.
Couldn’t sell to a customer because you ran out of stock? The best restaurant email marketing experts see an opportunity even in this.
They take note of such customers and send them an email the moment that product is restocked. Chances are, they’ll hop right back in no time.
Restock reminders show your customers that you’re paying attention. You’re saying, “Hey, we know you wanted this, and we’ve got you covered.”
This small gesture keeps them from jumping ship to a competitor and builds loyalty over time. It paves the way for long-term relationships.
Mobile phones are practically glued to our hands, and that’s where most emails get opened.
According to a Forbes study, a whopping 41% of email views happen on mobile devices, compared to 39% on desktops. That means if your restaurant email marketing campaigns aren’t optimized for mobile, you’re leaving money on the table.
So, whether someone’s opening your email on their phone, laptop, or tablet, the content should adjust seamlessly to fit the screen. It should have clear layouts, readable fonts, and images that scale properly.
Before hitting send, take a moment to test your email across multiple devices. Send it to yourself and view it on an iPhone, an Android, and even a desktop. You should make sure it’s easy to read and visually appealing everywhere.
B2B food marketing gets a whole lot more effective when it feels like a one-on-one conversation instead of a megaphone shout.
Generic emails get ignored or, worse, end up in the spam folder. So, focus on making your emails personal.
As a start, track how restaurants interact with your business. Have they been ordering certain products regularly? Offer them a deal on those items or suggest complementary products they might like.
And if you do loyalty programs, use them to highlight personalized discounts based on past purchases.
For instance, if a customer stocks up on a specific spice blend every quarter, send them a timely email with a discount or recipe ideas featuring that product.
In email marketing for restaurants, visuals do more than half the talking. This is because presentation is a major selling point of any food or beverage.
If your product doesn’t look appetizing, why would a restaurant bother ordering? High-quality images of your products can make all the difference, especially when you’re dealing with busy restaurant owners who don’t have time to read through long descriptions.
For example, let’s say you’re promoting a fresh batch of artisan bread. A crisp, close-up shot of golden crusts paired with just the right lighting will make the product practically sell itself.
When restaurants see your product in all its glory, they know exactly what they’re getting.
Market intelligence tools like Brizo FoodMetrics are what breathes life into your restaurant email marketing campaigns.
You can use them for making informed email decisions based on real data instead of gut feelings.
With this data and insights, you can identify exactly who your ideal operators are, what they’re looking for, and the best way to connect with them.
Also, you can use this data to send the right email to the right business at the right time.
Gathering leads manually or through web scraping is time-consuming and simply can’t compete with the depth and accuracy of professional food industry databases.
In addition, these DIY methods can’t keep up with the rapid updates needed to truly stay ahead of market trends.
With Brizo FoodMetrics at your disposal, you don’t have to resort to such tiresome and costly solutions.
It offers you a database of over 2.1 million+ foodservice establishments across the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland. With this data, Brizo gives you a complete picture of the market, from restaurants to bakeries, bars, food trucks, and more. The data includes every establishment’s detailed profile validated from over 500,000 authoritative sources.
What makes Brizo stand out is how easily you can filter and segment your audience. You can target restaurants by chain or independent, cuisine type, menu items, menu prices, location, and even what tech they use, like POS systems or online ordering platforms.
This means you can build highly personalized email campaigns that speak directly to the needs of each segment. Whether you’re launching a new product or booking demos, Brizo helps you reach the right buyers with the right message.
Try Brizo FoodMetrics today and get comprehensive data to kick off your email marketing for restaurants.
Take your marketing and sales efficiency to the next level with our FREE 49-page resource: The Essential Guide to Marketing & Selling to Restaurants.
Download the full guide to learn best practices and tips on the steps that come after market research:
