20 Restaurant Blog Ideas That Will Bring More People to Your Website

If you’ve scoffed at the idea of starting a blog for your restaurant, I’m here to tell you you’re missing out on benefits that translate into increased restaurant sales. Having a blog allows you to engage with customers, rank higher in search engines, build brand authority, and boost social media engagement, to name a few.

Companies that have blogs generate 55% more website visits than those without blogs. So, if you post quality content often, you too can bring substantially more people to your website. This is particularly beneficial if you want them to order from you online, but not only. I’ve crafted a list of restaurant blog ideas you can use to write at least 50 articles and get that extra website traffic.

20 Restaurant Blog Ideas to Increase Website Traffic

1. Kitchen Secrets with Your Chef

Your chef is who makes the magic happen, so they are the ones people are most excited to hear from when it comes to kitchen tips and tricks. Your chef can share anything that has to do with their job, from the best way to strain pasta to must-have kitchen utensils or how to make the perfect steak sauce.

It’s important to highlight that this is a “super-secret” tip your chef is willing to share because it will make the article more appealing. You should also think of a catchy title if you want to turn this into a series like “Kitchen Talk with Chef [name]” or “Exposing the Kitchen with Chef [name].”

2. Stories About Your Restaurant

On your main website, you should focus on essential information like address, phone number, reservations & online ordering button, and so on. People who visit your website because they want to dine with you or place an order will seldom want to read a long story about how you build the restaurant from the ground up. Save those kinds of stories for your blog.

A blog is a perfect place for stories because there will always be people who want to learn more about their favorite restaurant. They will feel more connected to it if they can put a face to the name.

That said, as a restaurant owner, write posts about your journey to success, what inspired you to open the restaurant, how you opened it, the challenges you faced along the way, the things you’ve learned, etc. If you have old photos to attach to the blog posts, even better.

3. Customer Testimonials

There’s no better reference for your restaurant than the opinion of a happy and satisfied customer. Loyal customers will always have something nice to say about your restaurant; otherwise, they wouldn’t dine with you so often. If they don’t mind being featured on your blog, these restaurant blog ideas are a gold mine.

Depending on how much the customer is willing to contribute, you can go in different directions with the testimonials. It can be a simple message saying what they like about your restaurant, accompanied by a photo. Still, you can also ask for a full interview or even a video testimonial.

4. Employee Spotlight

In a similar vein to the personal stories you can tell about your restaurant, employee features help customers feel more connected to your brand. Not to mention that your employees will feel recognized for all the hard work they put into making your restaurant a success.

Here are some restaurant blog ideas of how you can feature your staff:

• Feature all staff answering the same question: “How do you feel you’ve grown professionally since you started at the restaurant?”
• Interview members of staff separately.
• Create “day in the life” blog posts following different employees.
• Focus on a specific team like “Following our servers for a day” or “How it feels to be a busser during peak restaurant hours.”
• Start an “Employee of the Month Podcast” where you chat with a staff member every month about their job, passions, hobbies, and how they came to be a part of this industry.

5. Restaurant News & Announcements

Your blog should also serve as an announcement board for things that might interest your customers. I’m talking about teasing and introducing new menu items, announcing a new restaurant location, promoting an upcoming event like a Halloween party or a Thanksgiving feast, and so much more.

Are you redecorating? Have you switched to all local suppliers? These are things your customers might like to know about, so don’t hesitate to make a blog post dedicated to every news or announcement.

You can also try to write about restaurant industry news. Still, the market is already oversaturated by news giants, so you probably won’t get that much traffic unless you’re blogging about local, very specific news.

6. Unique Series

Together with your staff, brainstorm ideas for a series that could become an integral part of your blog. They can be from your perspective as the owner or the POV of any of your employees. So, may the best idea win.

Here are some food blog ideas to get your creativity started:

• Cook with Us – each employee attempts to cook something on your menu.
• Tipsy Tuesday – your bartender recommends drinks for a different menu item every Tuesday.
• Monday Morning Meal – breakfast recommendations from around the world.
• What’s in This? – your chef reveals the ingredients that go into making your dishes.
• From Farm to Table – conversations about sourcing ingredients locally if that’s the case for your restaurant.

7. Tips for Fellow Restauranteurs

You might think restaurant blog ideas that teach other restaurant owners to improve their business are counterproductive. However, sharing things you’ve learned along the way won’t take away from your authority and popularity. On the contrary, it will improve it because you are obviously knowledgeable enough to give advice.

If placed in the right light, these blog posts will highlight the things you are doing right more than what others should be doing. Talk about best practices for restaurants starting from your own experience:

• How Placing Larger Tables Outdoors and Smaller Ones Indoors Boosted Our Profits
• We Experimented with Lighting to Enhance the Food on the Tables
• Why Playing Fast Tempo Music at the Bar Is a Good Idea
• etc.

8. Recipes

One of the staples of any food blog, recipes are a quick and easy way to put out content and boost your website traffic. You don’t even have to share your super-secret recipes if you don’t want to, even though that would give your blog a more personal touch.

However, if you’re not willing to do that, you can still share recipes you think your customers might be interested in. To make things a bit more fascinating, you can take a staple recipe and brainstorm a twist for it that is uniquely yours. For instance, a classic apple pie can turn into a cheddar cheesecake apple pie.

9. Cooking Tips

Besides actual recipes that they can follow, people will also appreciate posts that offer insight into cooking. The good news is that there is no shortage of topics you can approach when it comes to cooking tips. Here are just a few food blog post examples:

• How to Season Salmon for a Unique Taste
• What Is the Best Pan to Cook Steak in?
• How to Make French Press Coffee in 5 Minutes
• How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey
• What Else Can You Do with an Ice Tray?
• How Often Should You Clean Your Oven?
• How to Store Fresh Herbs

10. Restaurant Specials and Promotions

First and foremost, you should advertise all promotions on your main website. They might be just what the customer needs to see to decide they want to place an order or book a table.

You might also like: Why restaurants need a website

However, if you want to advertise the promotions more in-depth and talk about your restaurant specials, post about them on your blog. Your restaurant blog website should serve as an extension of your main website, not be a different website altogether.

Don’t worry about turning these types of restaurant blog ideas into a full article. Not every blog post should be a long-form article. What you should include, however, is a direct link to how people can apply that promotion or order that restaurant special. I recommend creating a visible button that is easy to spot and click on.

11. Health and Lifestyle Posts

Yes, that’s right; having a restaurant blog doesn’t mean you can only blog about food. You can go in different directions that are still at least somewhat related to your business. And if you think about it, both health and lifestyle are strongly connected to food, so you can’t go wrong with them. Successful food bloggers do it too.

For example, if your restaurant is exclusively vegan or sells a large variety of vegan options, you can write articles about veganism, its benefits, and challenges. In fact, your entire blog can be a healthy recipe blog. If you serve gluten-free dishes, that is another topic your blog readers might like to read about.

12. Food and Drink Pairings

Suppose you have an extensive drinks menu, and customers get to choose from various beverages that complement their meal. In that case, you can write a blog post or a series of articles featuring food and drink pairings.

But that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. The best restaurant articles are those that teach people something. So, you can still suggest drinks that pair well with most common dishes, even if those dishes and/or beverages are not on your menu.

13. Local Businesses Feature

Featuring complementary local businesses is a great way to support other small business owners while getting some recognition yourself. Your restaurant blog ideas shouldn’t just be about you. Write features about other local businesses that people who read your blog and visit your restaurant might be interested in.

Not just that, but also include a link to their website in the post. Then, get in touch and show them the article, asking if they might want to write a restaurant feature article about you on their blog as well. This is a great way to get backlinks, which will boost restaurant SEO and ultimately bring more people to your website.

Here is how you could phrase the email:

Hi [name],

I love the job you’re doing at [business name]! Your business is one of the pillars of this community.

I’m a fellow local business owner as well. I own [your restaurant name], you might have heard of it.

We’re featuring other local businesses we love on our blog. Here is the feature we did on you: [link to the blog post]. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Here’s a question for you: would you consider featuring us on your blog or website? I would really appreciate it!

Let me know, and I’m looking forward to a productive conversation. Us small businesses have to stick together!

Best wishes,
[your name]

14. Food Trends

As a restaurant owner, you should be aware of current and future food trends. Why not share that wisdom with your blog readers? When it comes to food, people are naturally curious. If you know how to draw their attention even further with a catchy title, you’re sure to get some views:

• 15 Surprising Food Trends for This Upcoming Winter
• 10 Weird Foods That Have Made Their Way into People’s Plate This Fall
• 5 Food Trends You Won’t Be Able to Get Away From in 2020

15. Videos

A blog might not be the first platform you think of when wondering where to post a video. Still, if you plan on doing video marketing, you should post the videos on your blog as well. However, don’t forget posting them on YouTube is equally as important. Create a channel for your restaurant and upload every video there with a link to your website in the description.

In regard to the topics you can approach in a video, here are some ideas:

• Food vlogs shot at your restaurant
• Short recipe videos à la Tasty
• Video interviews with staff
• Cooking tip of the week featuring your chef
• “Get to know us” video presenting the restaurant and staff

Read more: Video Marketing for Restaurants: How to Stand out with Unique Video Content

16. Lists

List articles (listicles) are the most popular type of blog articles. The good news is you get to choose from various topics, from cooking tips to menu item lists. The number of items you feature on your list is also essential. 10 (always numeral) is the magic number when it comes to listicles. 5 is a close second, and 3, 4, and 7 also work. What doesn’t work great is 2, 13, and 19.

Examples of restaurant listicles:

• 10 Delicious, Easy to Make Sandwiches You Will Love
• 15 Must-Have Kitchen Tools to Cook Like a Pro
• 5 Unique Spices to Add to Your Salad

17. Drinks Tips & Tricks

Do you plan on creating a bar and restaurant blog? If you have a bartender, take advantage of his knowledge to enrich your blog. If you don’t, you can still do research and write informative articles about mixing drinks, drink pairings, and so on.

If you have signature cocktails, you could write posts teaching customers how to make them at home. Mixing drinks is an activity that would look great on camera as well. So, if your bartender is willing, you can film them theatrically mixing drinks and walking customers through the process of making their favorite cocktails.

18. Restaurant FAQs

Do people often ask you if you have outdoor seating or if you deliver to a particular location? Answer those questions that you get asked repeatedly and compile the answers into an FAQ post on your blog. Restaurant blog ideas don’t have to be overly complicated to work.

Don’t forget to redirect people to pages that might provide more information about a specific topic. For example, if the question is whether or not you offer online ordering, add a button that, when clicked, sends them directly to the page where they can place an order.

19. Local Suppliers Feature

Do you get your produce from local farms? Are you proud of your local supplier only policy? Spotlight that on your restaurant blog. Most local farms need all the publicity they can get, so they’ll probably agree to be featured in an interview.

The farm-to-table movement is stronger than ever, and restaurants can capitalize on that. You will get bonus points for collaborating with local suppliers, so why not shout it from the rooftops? This is a topic that can give you plenty of material. You can interview suppliers, talk about your journey with the farm-to-table movement, write about the benefits of such a change, etc.

20. Loyalty Programs Publicity

If you offer any loyalty program, you should showcase it on your main website first, but also on your blog. Always include links that redirect the reader either to where they can read more about it or where they can benefit from it if it’s an online loyalty program.

P.S.: Loyalty programs also make excellent restaurant newsletter ideas. If you have a list of email contacts, send your customers a newsletter focused on your latest loyalty program.

Read more: Restaurant Loyalty Marketing: How to Ace Customer Success

How to Start a Restaurant Blog: 6 Online Tools You’ll Need

1. Research article topics using Keyword Tool.
2. Learn how to write a food blog post and improve your writing with Grammarly.
3. Write a more powerful headline using CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer.
4. Create beautiful visuals for your post with Canva or Wepik
5. Schedule your blog articles on social media with Hootsuite.
6. Optimize your restaurant blog with free content optimization tools.

Final Thoughts

Starting a restaurant blog is a necessary addition to any restauranteur’s to-do list. If you create a blog for your restaurant as soon as possible, you will stand out in the crowd because not many restaurants have blogs (yet). Be a leader, not a follower, and implement the restaurant blog ideas above to smash the competition.

While written content is 90% of what makes a typical blog post, remember you should make your blog visually appealing by including many high-quality images and videos in your posts. A foodie blog is nothing without mouth-watering visuals. Just think of recipe blogs with pictures and then imagine them without. They would lose half their charm.

Moreover, experiment with the type and format of your blog posts. There’s nothing wrong with having a post that is 90% images and only 10% text. Learn how to start a food blog by mixing and matching until you find the perfect recipe for you and your customers.

P.S.: When naming your blog, keep it simple. While you might be tempted to look for wacky food blog names, it’s in your best interest for the blog to be recognized as your restaurant’s blog. So, while you can add a catchy phrase to its headline, it should also contain the name of your restaurant.

Get more content for your restaurant website: Content Writing for Restaurants: How to Channel the Magic of Words