Definition
SMS marketing
SMS marketing is sending promotional and transactional text messages, from offers to table-ready alerts, to guests who have opted in to receive them.
Text is the highest-attention channel a restaurant has, because almost everyone reads a text within minutes of receiving it. The audience is ready for it: 81% have opted in to business texts, and ~50% prefer restaurant texts. Consent is not optional, though: every recipient must have given an explicit Opt-in before you send.
The right use is time-sensitive and high-value: a same-day offer to fill a slow night, a table-ready alert, an order-status update, or a Win-back campaign to a guest who has drifted. Speed is the expectation that comes with the channel, since 42% expect reply in 15 min / 66% within 1 hour. The risk is overuse: texting is intimate, and one message too many gets you muted or unsubscribed, so send less than you think you should.
Tools (Klaviyo, Marsello, Ovation, Popmenu) run SMS with segmentation, automation, and two-way replies, and keep the opt-in and STOP records that keep you compliant. See email and SMS marketing.
See it in action
Your next service / Ready when you are
Less busywork. A better next shift.
Turn what you have learned into a focused brief. Start with the job that matters most, and keep the tools that already work for your restaurant.
Describe it. Review it. Keep improving it. Check connections and costs before going live.