Jan. 29, 2026

The Digital Welcome EVERY Restaurant Needs

If somebody walked into your house, you would greet them with a hello, correct?

Now ask yourself the same thing about your restaurant. All guests are welcomed, right?

I have experiences almost every day where I walk into a restaurant and nobody says hello. Not even after I approach the register. And no, “What can I get you?” is not a hello.

That falls under Operations, and that’s a different post. Today is about Marketing.

Operations owns the physical front door. Marketing owns the digital one.

There are moves every restaurant should make to properly and hospitably welcome every guest digitally, not just to ensure a great experience, but also to cement who they are as a brand.

Because if your brand does not matter to a guest, then you are replaceable by another restaurant serving the exact same menu items.

Here’s how to help avoid that, with three marketing moves that help welcome your guest digitally.

Getting Started

For the first part of this exercise, we need to answer four easy questions:

Who are you?
What do you do?
Why do you do it?
Who do you do it for?

Whether you’re a multi-unit brand or an independent operator, this should already be laid out in the about section of your website, and maybe even your brand documents. But it’s important that you are crystal clear on these before taking the next step.

Also, what is your brand promise? What is the promise you make to every guest with every experience they have with your brand?

If you need help thinking through that, check out this framework.

Welcome Email

Take all of that and turn it into a welcome email.

This is an email you send to every single guest, every single time, no matter how they join your database. It could be via an eClub, Rewards, online ordering, reservations, or gated Wi-Fi. Whatever channel they used to enter your CRM, they receive this email, ideally the day after they join.

Keep the email brief. It should simply make them feel welcome and share a little about your brand and values. You want it to be interesting, engaging, and digestible in under 60 seconds, closer to 30.

The content should include a short about or storytelling section and one strong image. Be sure to include a CTA to learn more that leads to your about page. That is all it needs.

PS. Most multi-unit brands skip this and it couldn't be a bigger mistake when it coudl easily differentiate them from competitors.

Pro tip

Turn this into a welcome email flow - a series of four to seven emails that run over the first 30 to 60 days after a guest enters your database.

Throughout that series, you can share everything that makes your brand special, including your most popular menu items, the items guests discover later in their journey, check average increasers, catering, Rewards, and anything else that is unique to your brand or experience.

Get after it. Need help? Ask me for it.

The Welcome Video

I can’t tell you how many brands I’ve recommended this to, and I still don’t know why nobody does it. You spend so much time obsessing over social media, a platform where content is digested in a matter of seconds and then forgotten. Why would you not welcome every new follower?

Here’s how to leverage it in an evergreen way.

Take the same script you wrote for the welcome email and turn it into a 30 to 60 second video that you pin to the top of your social media profiles. That way, anybody who follows you also gets a welcome message, so they know who you are, what to expect, and what matters.

If all they see is your latest meme or a picture of food, it doesn’t quite tell them what to expect from you.

Need a minute to put one together, try a welcome carousel as a placeholder

Haute Dog Gets it ...

Welcome to Rewards

This one you might already have, but the mistake many restaurants make is thinking of this as their actual welcome email.

No.

If somebody signs up for your Rewards program, of course you have to send them a same-day confirmation that it went through. It should include how the program works, what they can expect, what they should do next, and maybe a welcome reward.

However, this does not welcome them to the brand. This does not tell them what’s unique or special. This does not talk to them as a person or treat them like a guest. This is merely instructions.

Yes, you should absolutely have this, but it cannot serve as the welcome to your brand.

BEAST MODE

Step 1: Create all three.

Step 2: Rewards confirmation should send immediately, or at least same day they sign up.

Step 3: Welcome email sends the day after they join the database.

Step 4: Add an email to your welcome flow about why your guest should follow you on social media. Link to the welcome video to view more.

Step 5: Create a welcome to Rewards video for social media, similar to your welcome to Rewards email. Pin that to your profile too. Just make sure it explains why guests should join, details the benefits, and then tells them how to sign up.

If you take all of the steps above, you’re cross-pollinating your databases and getting more shots at staying top of mind with your guests.