TLDR: Set the total from your own sales and model: published restaurant figures vary too widely for one percentage to be right. Then split the single line into three and fund them in order: shared foundations every location relies on, central reach, and a small budget each location controls. Reach only works as well as the facts it repeats.
You are building next year's budget and the sheet has one row labelled digital marketing, with one number beside it. Your CFO asks what it buys. Nobody can say, so the number is either copied from last year or cut.
The fix is not a better percentage. It is three rows instead of one, funded in the right order. Our position is simple and some operators will disagree with it: pay for what every location depends on before you buy reach, because ads and AI answers repeat whatever your profiles and pages already say.
How much should a restaurant group spend on digital marketing?
Start from your own sales, margin and growth plan, because published figures for restaurants span a factor of ten. The cleanest numbers come from US-listed restaurant companies, which report marketing costs in their annual filings, and from franchise brands, which publish what franchisees pay into national advertising funds. The first three rows below are what each company spent itself. The last two are levies on franchisees' sales: a cost to the franchisee and income to the brand, so they do not compare directly with a group's own budget.
| Source | What it measures | Figure | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Roadhouse 2025 annual report (10-K) | Advertising and local restaurant-area marketing for company restaurants | $35.1 million, 0.6% of $5.85 billion restaurant sales | Company-restaurant advertising and local marketing only; spending from the franchisee-funded advertising fund is booked elsewhere; no national TV or print |
| Darden fiscal 2026 annual report (10-K) | Marketing expenses across Olive Garden, LongHorn and other brands | $180.4 million, 1.4% of $13.21 billion sales | Year to May 31, 2026; brands of very different sizes in one figure |
| Chipotle 2025 annual report (10-K) | Advertising, marketing and promotional costs | $364.2 million, 3.1% of $11.93 billion revenue | Fast-casual chain; includes free food given without a purchase |
| Wingstop 2025 annual report (10-K) | What US franchisees pay into the national advertising fund | 5.5% of gross sales, up from 5.3% | National fund only; franchisees' own local spend not included |
| Domino's 2025 annual report (10-K) | What US stores generally pay into the national advertising fund | 6.0% of their sales | National fund, used mainly to buy media; some stores pay less under incentives |
Read across the table and one thing stands out: the share follows the business model. The two full-service companies report under 1.5% of sales. Chipotle, a fast-casual chain, reports 3.1%. Franchise brands built around national campaigns collect 5.5% to 6% for those campaigns alone, before any local spend.
Cross-industry surveys sit higher still and say little about restaurants. Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey put marketing at 7.8% of company revenue, up from 7.7% in 2025. It surveyed 401 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe from January to March 2026, most at companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, as Marketing Dive also reported. In its report on the 2025 edition, Marketing Brew noted that travel and hospitality companies were among those with the smallest budgets relative to revenue.
So the total is a judgement you make from your own numbers. The split is where most groups lose money, and it is the part you fully control.
What are the three lines of a restaurant group's digital marketing budget?
Split the one row into shared foundations, central reach and location local. The test for each cost is simple: does every location depend on it, does it bring new guests to the group as a whole, or does it only make sense on one street?
| Line | What it pays for | Who decides | Form of cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared foundations | A page for every location, menu pages a crawler can read, Google Business Profiles and other listings, a review routine, guest data and consent, Search Console, GA4 and booking tracking | Corporate | Mostly hours and setup, then upkeep |
| Central reach | Paid search and social, email and CRM campaigns, PR, content and creators that speak for the group or a brand | Corporate, with location input on dates and offers | Media spend and production |
| Location local | Local partners, neighborhood events, offices and hotels nearby, small local ads and print | The general manager, inside a fixed amount | Small, frequent spends |
This is our framework, not a measured benchmark. Who does each task is a separate question, answered task by task in our guide to local store marketing for restaurant groups. This guide is about where the money goes.
Why should the foundations come first?
Because reach repeats what the foundations say. An ad, a map listing and an AI answer all pull your hours, address, menu and booking link from the same few places. If those places are wrong, every dollar of reach sends guests to the wrong facts.
Do ads really depend on the Business Profile?
Yes, for the parts of an ad that show where you are. Google says the data for location assets in Google Ads comes from Google Maps and Google Business Profile. If a location is marked temporarily or permanently closed in its profile, its location details stop showing in the ad. Corrections are made in Maps and flow back into the ad account. Who keeps each profile right from week to week is covered in our guide to keeping every restaurant location's hours and menu up to date.
On the unpaid side, Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. The ranking factors it names are relevance, distance and prominence, and prominence takes in reviews and links from other sites.
Do AI answers depend on the same facts?
Largely, yes. Google's guidance on AI features in Search says the usual SEO practices still apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, that no special schema is needed, and that owners should keep Business Profile information up to date.
The risk of stale facts is real. An August 2026 preprint auditing 2,208 AI answers about 4,776 cafes, restaurants and bars in Canggu and Ubud, Bali, found that ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity rarely invented places (0.08% of mentions) but recommended permanently closed venues 93 times. It is one foreign market and not peer reviewed, so we cite it for the type of failure, not for US rates. A group that keeps its facts current at every location is guarding against that failure.
What do the foundations actually cost?
Mostly hours. A Google Business Profile, Search Console and Google Analytics are free to use, so the cost is the work of setting them up for every location and keeping them right. The bigger items are building a proper page and menu page for each location, a routine for reviews and a single guest list with consent.
That is the line we take off the bill at Schmitdy. Our Restaurant AI Search service, from $1,650 a month on our pricing page, includes Google Business Profile optimization, Search Console and GA4 setup, a page for every location, menu pages AI search can read and a blog where there is none, at no extra charge. We do not buy paid media or run your CRM, so the reach and location lines stay with your team or agency.
What does the split look like for a six-location group?
Here is a worked example. It is illustrative: the sales, the percentage and every allocation below are assumptions chosen to show the arithmetic, not recommendations or quotes.
A group runs six locations, each taking $1,500,000 a year, so $9,000,000 in total. The board sets digital marketing at 2% of sales, between the shares Darden (1.4%) and Chipotle (3.1%) report: $180,000 a year, or $15,000 a month. In year one two locations have wrong holiday hours on their profiles, three still use PDF menus and nothing tracks reservations by location, so foundations get a larger share.
| Line | Year one | Share | Year two | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared foundations | $54,000 | 30% | $36,000 | 20% |
| Central reach | $90,000 | 50% | $108,000 | 60% |
| Location local (six locations) | $36,000 | 20% | $36,000 | 20% |
| Total | $180,000 | 100% | $180,000 | 100% |
Inside year one, the lines break down like this:
- Shared foundations, $54,000: location pages and menu pages $18,000; profiles and listings for six locations $6,000; review routine $6,000; guest data and consent $12,000; measurement setup and monthly reporting $12,000.
- Central reach, $90,000: paid search and social $54,000; email and CRM campaigns $12,000; PR and content $24,000.
- Location local, $36,000: $6,000 per location, which is $500 a month for each general manager to spend on local partners and events.
Seen per location, each site carries a sixth of the shared lines ($9,000 of foundations and $15,000 of reach) plus its own $6,000: $30,000 in total, which is 2% of its $1,500,000. In year two the foundations drop to $36,000 of upkeep and the $18,000 released goes to reach, because the checks in the next section have passed.
What should each line prove within a quarter?
Each line needs a check you can read at the end of the quarter, with tools you already have. If a line cannot show its check, it does not get more money next quarter.
| Line | What it should prove by quarter end | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Shared foundations | Hours, menu link and booking link match across profile, location page and reservation page at every location; every location page is indexed; reservations are tracked per location page | Our free listing mismatch checker, Search Console, GA4 |
| Central reach | Cost per reservation or inquiry by channel and campaign | GA4, with every campaign link tagged with utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign |
| Location local | Reservations or redemptions per $100 spent, location by location | One tracked link or code per location activity |
The Business Profile adds a per-location view. Google's performance metrics count call clicks, website clicks, direction requests, menu clicks and bookings made through Reserve with Google. Read them location by location each month, alongside GA4. To tell whether AI answers are sending any of those guests, see our guide on whether AI search led to bookings.
When should money move from foundations to reach?
Move it when the foundation checks pass at every location for two quarters running. Then cut the foundations line to upkeep and give the difference to reach, as in year two of the example.
Three situations change the order:
- A new location. Its foundations come first even if the rest of the group is done: a verified profile, a location page with the real menu and reservation link, and tracking. Then give the opening its own time-limited reach budget. Our plan for opening a fourth restaurant sets out that sequence.
- A brand built on national campaigns. If your growth comes from national offers, reach is the business model, which is why Wingstop and Domino's collect 5.5% to 6% of franchisee sales for it. The foundations still come first, but they are a small share of a large budget.
- A failing check. If a location's hours drift or a menu page goes stale, put the money back into foundations for that location before buying more reach for it.
If you are choosing an outside partner to spend the reach line, our comparison of marketing agencies for restaurant groups shows what each one owns.
What should you do before your next planning meeting?
Rewrite the single line into three, then fund them in order.
- Sort last year's spend. Put every digital cost into shared foundations, central reach or location local. Anything that fits none of them goes.
- Check the foundations at each location. Compare hours, menu and reservation link across profile, location page and reservation page, and confirm each location page is indexed and tracked.
- Fund the failing foundations first. Price the work location by location and put it at the top of the sheet.
- Set the reach budget with tracking built in. Tag every campaign link so GA4 shows cost per reservation by channel.
- Give each manager a fixed local amount. Agree one tracked code or link per local activity.
- Book the quarter-end review. Read the three checks and move money only where a check has passed.
If you want to know which foundation is missing at which location before that meeting, request our free AI Search audit. It checks each location's facts on its own and gives you a 30-day plan you can price into the first line.
Sources
- Texas Roadhouse, Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2025
- Darden Restaurants, Form 10-K for the year ended May 31, 2026
- Chipotle Mexican Grill, Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025
- Wingstop, Form 10-K for the year ended December 27, 2025
- Domino's Pizza, Form 10-K for the year ended December 28, 2025
- Gartner: 2026 CMO Spend Survey press release
- Marketing Dive: report on Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey (republished by Yahoo Finance)
- Marketing Brew: report on Gartner's 2025 CMO Spend Survey
- Google Ads Help: About location assets
- Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Google: Business Profile overview and FAQ
- Google Search Console Help: About Search Console
- Google Marketing Platform: Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Help: Collect campaign data with custom URLs
- Google Business Profile Performance API: daily metrics
- Pitenin, Invisible to the Machine (arXiv:2608.07069, preprint)
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