Join ITEX

Restaurants & Hospitality · Owner's guide

Restaurants in the U.S.: a founder's guide to running & growing your business

ITEX brings your restaurant new customers from a nationwide trade network and lets you cover real expenses without spending cash. This national guide covers running and growing a restaurant; the local editions add city-specific detail.

Explore ITEX in your area

Marketing

Marketing a restaurant in the U.S.

Restaurant marketing in the United States now centers on the digital channels diners actually use to find and choose where to eat. Search and maps come first: BrightLocal's 2025 Local Consumer Review Survey found 71% of consumers regularly read online reviews for local businesses, and 83% read them on Google1, so an accurate, complete Google Business Profile is foundational.5 Social media is a discovery engine, with Toast's 2024 study finding 62% of diners sometimes check a restaurant's social media before visiting, and most wanting food and drink photos.3 Email is a direct owned channel, with Mailchimp reporting food-and-beverage open rates near 31%.4 In its 2024 Technology Landscape Report, the National Restaurant Association found 63% of operators planned to invest in digital or location-based marketing.2

Resources

Which marketing channels matter most for a restaurant?
Start with the channels diners use to find you: an accurate, complete Google Business Profile and active review management, since most people search and read reviews on Google before visiting. Add social media with strong food and drink photos, and build an email list to reach repeat guests directly.
Do I need to pay for advertising, or is a Google listing enough?
A complete, up-to-date Google Business Profile, review responses, and current menu and hours are the free foundation, and often the highest-impact starting point. Paid social or search ads can supplement once your listings, photos, and menu are accurate. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers free guidance on building a marketing plan.

Ask Boone about marketing a restaurant in the U.S.

Customer service

Customer service & reputation for restaurants in the U.S.

For U.S. restaurants, reputation lives on a handful of platforms: Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Tripadvisor for reviews and discovery, plus reservation networks such as OpenTable and Resy that also collect diner feedback.89 These profiles carry ratings, photos, and booking activity that shape whether new guests choose a table. Research from Harvard Business School found a one-star increase in a restaurant's Yelp rating is associated with a 5-9% increase in revenue, an effect concentrated among independent restaurants rather than chains.6 Responding to reviews also matters to diners.10 Review integrity is now regulated: the FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (effective October 21, 2024) bans fake, paid, and undisclosed insider reviews and review suppression.7 Solicit and respond to reviews honestly, and consult FTC guidance before incentivizing feedback.

Resources

Which review and booking platforms matter most for U.S. restaurants?
Google Business Profile and Yelp lead for search-driven discovery and reviews, Tripadvisor carries weight with travelers and destination dining, and OpenTable and Resy handle reservations while also collecting diner reviews. Most guests check more than one site, so keeping accurate, responsive profiles across all of them is standard practice.
Can a restaurant give discounts or perks in exchange for reviews?
Be careful. Under the FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule you cannot buy fake reviews or condition incentives on a positive rating, and material connections (staff or incentives) must be disclosed. Generalized requests to all customers to leave honest reviews are allowed. Review current FTC business guidance before running any review-incentive program; this is not legal advice.

Ask Boone about customer service & reputation

Slow times

When things are slow: a cushion for your restaurant in the U.S.

Restaurants nationwide face predictable soft stretches — the post-holiday winter lull chief among them. Industry data shows January is one of the slowest months: The NPD Group's Seasonality Index put January restaurant traffic about 6% below the average month and roughly 11% below peak-month June 11, and the U.S. Census Bureau publishes food-services and drinking-places sales on a seasonally adjusted basis precisely because restaurant demand swings predictably through the year 12. ITEX is built as a cushion for those periods. Instead of discounting to fill empty tables, you route incremental demand from the local member network into slow shifts, earning trade dollars on capacity that would otherwise go unused. You then spend those trade dollars on real costs — marketing, maintenance, professional services — conserving cash when revenue dips. It works as a demand generator and cash-flow buffer, not a downturn-only tool. Talk to an ITEX broker to set it up.

Resources

Does ITEX only help when my restaurant is slow?
No. ITEX is first a demand-generation engine that routes incremental customers from the local member network to your restaurant in any season, and it also cushions predictable soft stretches like the January–February lull. Successful operators use it selectively year-round, not only during downturns. Talk to an ITEX broker to see how it fits your calendar.
How does cashless trade actually help a restaurant during a slow season?
You offer off-peak or excess capacity — slow weeknights, private-function or catering slots — to the member network at your normal menu pricing, so there's no public discounting. That fills tables that would otherwise sit empty and earns trade dollars you can spend on real expenses like marketing, maintenance, or professional services, conserving cash when revenue dips. An ITEX broker sets the terms with you.

Ask Boone about slow periods

Scale & grow

Resources to scale & grow your restaurant in the U.S.

Try ITEX!

List your restaurant with ITEX — reach new customers through the local trade network and cover real expenses without spending cash. It can even fund the ideas below.

Join ITEX now

For U.S. restaurants, growth starts with getting listed where buyers already are. Listing with ITEX adds your restaurant to a cashless B2B marketplace and member directory that has connected tens of thousands of businesses since 1982.13 Layer on the standard local-discovery channels: a mobile-friendly website; a claimed Google Business Profile (plus Apple Maps and Bing Places) showing menu, photos, hours, orders and reservations;14 review platforms such as Yelp, Google and TripAdvisor;15 and a routine of asking satisfied guests for reviews—BrightLocal finds email is among the most effective ways to prompt one.10 Then add organic social (Instagram, TikTok)33, local search ads, earned local media, chamber and neighborhood partnerships, email/SMS lists, and community events. Primary next step: List your restaurant with ITEX.

…and 10 other good ideas

Which growth channel should a restaurant set up first?
List with ITEX to reach cashless B2B buyers and appear in its member marketplace, then claim your Google Business Profile (and add Apple Maps and Bing Places). Together they put your restaurant in front of both businesses and diners who search locally, before you invest in social, ads, or media.
Do customer reviews really affect restaurant traffic?
Yes. Diners routinely consult reviews and photos on Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor before choosing where to eat, and BrightLocal finds that many consumers will leave a review when a business asks—so proactively ask satisfied guests, with email among the most effective prompts.

Ask Boone about scaling & growing a restaurant

Find ITEX for restaurants near you

About ITEX

ITEX is one of the longest-running barter communities in North America, with over 30 locations and thousands of member businesses across North America.

Trade dollars are the unit of exchange in the ITEX network: you earn them by selling your excess capacity to other members and spend them on real business expenses — at normal pricing, not a discount.

Join ITEX now

See if barter fits your restaurant. Get a quick, no-obligation assessment of your restaurant's unused capacity and potential trade value.

Join ITEX now Call 800.277.9722 Ask Boone

Prefer to talk to someone? ITEX Corporate Office · support@itex.com

Ask Boone

Ask Boone, our AI assistant, for quick answers tailored to your business.

This AI provides general educational guidance. A trade broker will confirm all details.

Common questions

What can a restaurant realistically pay for with trade dollars?
Restaurants most often use ITEX trade dollars for marketing and advertising, printed menus and signage, cleaning and equipment maintenance, accounting and other professional services, and staff incentives — the recurring cash expenses that don't disappear on a slow night. You earn the trade dollars by taking barter business during off-peak hours, then spend them on those costs.
Won't giving away off-peak tables just cannibalize full-price customers?
Not when it's structured. Barter fills capacity during genuinely slow periods — weekday lunches, early or late hours — that would otherwise sit empty, and everything is priced at your normal menu pricing. You set the timing and availability, so paid peak demand is protected.
Will bartering cheapen my brand?
No. With ITEX you sell into the network at your normal pricing — barter is not a discount. You control what you offer, when, and how much, so your published rates and brand positioning stay intact while you monetize capacity that would otherwise go unused.
Do I have to accept things I don't want in trade?
No. You decide how to spend the ITEX trade dollars you earn. The network spans thousands of member businesses across many categories — marketing, printing, maintenance, professional services and more — so you direct your trade dollars toward the real expenses you actually need to cover.
Is barter only for struggling businesses?
No. Healthy, established businesses use ITEX selectively to fill predictable slow periods and conserve cash on routine expenses. It is an efficiency tool for capacity you already have, not a last resort.
Will my regular customers know I barter?
No. ITEX barter transactions are business-to-business and typically invisible to the public. Your retail customers and your cash pricing are unaffected; trade happens within the member network.
How is barter taxed?
For tax purposes a barter sale is treated the same as a cash sale. ITEX provides the transaction records you need, and a trade broker will confirm the specifics for your business — Boone does not give tax advice.

References & sources

Citations for the local facts on this page. Regulated topics link to the official source of record.

  1. BrightLocal. “Local Consumer Review Survey”. 2025. https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  2. National Restaurant Association. “Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024 - Where Operators Plan to Invest in Tech”. 2024. https://restaurant.org/education-and-resources/resource-library/where-operators-plan-to-invest-in-tech/. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  3. Toast. “How Are Diners Using Social Media? [2024 Data Study]”. 2024. https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/restaurant-social-media. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  4. Mailchimp. “Email Marketing Benchmarks & Industry Statistics”. 2024. https://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  5. U.S. Small Business Administration. “10 Local Marketing Strategies That Work”. 2024. https://www.sba.gov/blog/10-local-marketing-strategies-work. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  6. Harvard Business School (Michael Luca). “Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com”. 2016 (HBS Working Paper 12-016). https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=41233. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  7. U.S. Federal Trade Commission. “The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers”. Effective October 21, 2024. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumer-reviews-testimonials-rule-questions-answers. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  8. Tripadvisor. “Tripadvisor's 2025 Transparency Report reveals strong review submissions and improved fraud detection”. March 2025 (covering 2024 data). https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripadvisors-2025-transparency-report-reveals-strong-review-submissions-and-improved-fraud-detection-302403631.html. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  9. OpenTable (Booking Holdings). “OpenTable Launches Gen-AI Powered Concierge for its 60,000+ Global Restaurants”. July 2025. https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/opentable-launches-gen-ai-powered-concierge-arm-diners-instant-insights-its-60000. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  10. BrightLocal. “Local Consumer Review Survey 2024”. 2024. https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey-2024/. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  11. Nation's Restaurant News (citing The NPD Group Seasonality Index). “4 ways restaurants can fend off a January sales slump”. 2013–2019 seasonality data. https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-finance/4-ways-restaurants-can-fend-off-a-january-sales-slump. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  12. U.S. Census Bureau. “Monthly Retail Trade — Sales”. 2026. https://www.census.gov/retail/sales.html. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  13. ITEX Corporation. “ITEX - Our Story”. 2026. https://itex.com/AboutUs/. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  14. Google (Business Profile Help). “Get started with a Business Profile for your restaurant”. 2026. https://support.google.com/business/answer/14189260?hl=en. Accessed 2026-07-07.
  15. Yelp. “State of the Restaurant Industry Report, 2025”. 2025. https://trends.yelp.com/state-of-the-restaurant-industry-2025.html. Accessed 2026-07-07.