Best Marketing Agency for Restaurants and Takeaways in London

By the Oski Marketing team · Updated 5 October 2026 · 5 min read

The best marketing agency for a London restaurant or takeaway gets people booking and ordering direct, not just liking posts. It keeps your Google Maps listing and menu accurate, makes booking or ordering one tap away, films short videos of the food, grows direct orders alongside delivery apps, and handles reviews within the rules.

What should restaurant marketing focus on?

Being found and chosen at the moment someone is deciding where to eat. Most of those decisions happen on a phone, on Google Maps or Instagram, within a short walk or delivery radius. That puts three things at the top of the list: your Google profile, the content people see when they check you out, and how easy it is to book or order.

An agency that leads with brand strategy, a new logo or a big launch event may be useful later. For most independent restaurants and takeaways, the first job is making sure the basics are right on the platforms where people already look.

How should an agency handle Google Maps and your menu?

It should treat your Google profile as your shop window and keep it accurate every week. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and its tips are practical: complete information, accurate hours (including holidays), replies to reviews, and photos.

Menus matter most for food businesses. Google's menu editor lets food and drink businesses add dishes with descriptions and prices, upload menu photos or PDFs, or link to a menu page, and changes can take 24 to 48 hours to show. A good agency will:

• Keep the menu on Google in step with the one in the restaurant.
• Add new photos of real dishes regularly, not stock food shots.
• Set the booking and ordering links so they go to the channel you prefer.
• Reply to every review, good and bad, in your voice.

What compliance basics should a restaurant agency know?

At least the two that touch your marketing directly: hygiene ratings and allergen information. The Food Standards Agency guidance says displaying your rating is voluntary in England but a legal requirement at customer entrances in Wales and Northern Ireland, and it encourages everyone to show their rating on their website and social pages. If yours is good, an agency should use it.

For online and phone orders, the allergen guidance says you must provide allergen information before the purchase is completed and again when the food is delivered. Any direct ordering page an agency builds for you has to make that information easy to find.

Delivery apps or direct orders?

Usually both, with a plan for each. Delivery apps put you in front of people who would never have found you, which is valuable, but they take commission and keep the customer data. Direct orders cost you less per order but you have to bring the customer yourself.

A sensible agency approach:

1. Work out your margin on an average order through each app and through your own ordering, using your own numbers.
2. Keep the apps for discovery, with good photos and a well-written menu.
3. Convert regulars: a card in every bag with your direct ordering link, a reason to use it, and your opening hours.
4. Make direct ordering easy from your Google profile, Instagram bio and website.
5. Measure what share of orders comes direct each month.

What should restaurant social media look like?

Short vertical video that shows the food in the first second. Dishes being plated, the grill, the room when it is busy, the team, a new special. Captions should say what the dish is and where you are. Our guide to Instagram Reels for local businesses covers hooks, filming on a phone and posting rhythm.

Volume matters less than people think. Two good Reels a week with real food and real people beat a daily stream of graphics. Be wary of agencies that price by post count alone, because more posts is not the goal; more covers and orders are.

How should reviews be handled?

Ask every guest, reply to every review, and never pay for or filter them. Google bans offering incentives such as discounts or free goods in exchange for reviews, and UK law under the DMCC Act bans fake reviews and reviews that hide an incentive, for practices from 6 April 2025. A free dessert for a five-star review breaks both. This is a general guide, not legal advice.

Negative reviews need a calm, specific reply that does not argue or share the customer's details. Our templates for replying to bad reviews help.

How do you compare agencies for a restaurant?

For a full profile checklist, see our Google Business Profile checklist.

Where Oski Marketing fits

Oski Marketing works with independent restaurants, cafés and takeaways in London. We keep your Google profile and menu right, film and edit short-form video of your food and team, and help you build direct orders and bookings alongside the apps. Social media management starts from £700/month on a rolling contract, and you keep ownership of every account.

We are not the right fit for large restaurant groups that need national PR and many sites managed at once, or for anyone looking for a large daily volume of graphic posts at the lowest price.

What to do this week

1. Check your Google menu matches today's menu, prices included.
2. Add five new photos of real dishes to your Google profile.
3. Put a card in every delivery bag with your direct ordering link.
4. Make sure allergen information is easy to find on any ordering page you control.
5. Reply to every Google review from the last month.