After COVID hit, the restaurant industry collapsed. Facing major obstacles, from dining rooms being shut down, to a wide range of employees leaving the industry for good, owners were left with struggling businesses. Today, the living wage hardly allows consumers to eat out. Therefore, a strong restaurant digital presence plays a major role across an extremely competitive industry, with a very low margin of error.
In fact, according to Statistics Canada, restaurants across the country are dealing with an average of 3,6% operating profit margin. Surviving across this ruthless field is a real challenge, especially considering that according to the latest Restaurants Canada report, 75% of Canadians are eating out less often due to the rising cost of living. This situation leaves managers with no other option than to be efficient throughout their digital strategy.
Building a strong digital presence doesn’t have to be expensive.
For restaurants, a great way to build success across digital platforms is a strong Google Maps presence. In order to rank high, restaurants must optimize their business listing on the platform. High quality pictures of their food, menu descriptions, a link to a website and a high volume of reviews are tools that can greatly affect not only the algorithm, but also potential customers to choose a restaurant over an other. In other words, a great placement online doesn’t only lead to visibilty. In the mind of the customer, it is often a synonym of a good reputation.
However, to reach this point, restaurants must gain traction beforehand. Fortunately, word-of-mouth is a strong selling point when it comes to restaurant marketing. Many magazines and websites provide insights on great food spots across different areas, often for free. For example, Montreal food magazine, Tastet, writes articles based on client’s recommandations, without charging a dime to restaurant owners.
Gaining traction through social medias
In today’s business landscape, social medias are inevitable. Having a presence on social networks allows restaurants to build a strong brand, by highlighting the quality of their food, atmosphere, and staff. Those elements undeniably influence customers’ bahaviour. In fact, according to Statista, in 2024, 68% of Gen Z shoppers discovered a new brands from social media, 69% learned about a product or a brand from an influencer and 60% purchased an item or a service from that brand.
As these numbers show, establishing partnerships with influencers is a powerful form of word-of-mouth, reinforcing restaurants branding and expertise across the web. Either by collaborating with paid influencers, or by benefiting from free content from creators, restaurants craft their digital footprint, which reinforces their credibility in the mind of customers.
Conclusion
Being in the restaurant business is hard. As customers, we must respect the hard work that entrepreneurs put in behind closed doors. However, as highlighted in this article, to stay profitable, restaurants must not only establish a digital strategy, but make is a efficient as possible. The ball is now on their side, as maintaining a strong restaurant digital presence is not only the key to success, but also the answer to survival.
Bibliography
Restaurants Canada. (2025, September 22). Canadians are snacking more, drinking less and looking for more value for their shrinking dollar: 2025 Foodservice Facts report. Retrieved from Restaurants Canada: https://www.restaurantscanada.org/fr/canadians-are-snacking-more-drinking-less-and-looking-for-more-value-for-their-shrinking-dollar-2025-foodservice-facts-report/
Statista. (2025, June 23). Share of Gen Z shoppers who discovered a new product or brand on social media and purchased it in 2023 and 2024 . Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1455391/shoppers-social-media-discovery-and-purchase-worldwide/
Statistics Canada. (2025, February 18). Food services and drinking places, summary statistics. Retrieved from Statistics Canada: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2110017101&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2019&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2023&referencePeriods=20190101%2C20230101
Tastet. (2025). About Tastet. Retrieved from Tastet: https://tastet.ca/en/about/
Photo credits :
1- https://stocksnap.io/photo/wine-tasting-T8FNYMYTHK
2- https://www.pexels.com/fr-fr/photo/personne-tenant-iphone-6-744780/