u/SpringMaleficent5781

Need some sanity check on my strategy from the experts

Hey everyone, need a check on my ads strategy from people who’ve worked in the food/restaurant industry.

I am a marketer at a restaurant brand with 5 outlets in the city. Offline business is solid, and even online orders through third-party delivery apps are decent. The problem is the commission fees are getting too high, so we’re launching our own online ordering website for direct food delivery.

Our AOV is around ₹900, and the goal is to start generating consistent direct orders through our own platform. Since the site is brand new, there’s basically no historical conversion data/pixel learning yet.

The challenge is budget, we only have around ₹1000/day to work with initially.

My current thinking is:
- Start with Google search ads with sales objective
- Target brand keywords + high-intent local search queries around our outlet locations
- Keep targeting tight and intent-driven instead of trying broad awareness campaigns

I did consider Meta ads, but with this budget, getting ~50 conversions/week to properly stabilize conversion campaigns feels unrealistic. So I’m thinking of bringing Meta in later mainly for retargeting once we start getting some consistent traffic/orders.

Does this approach make sense for the early stage, or am I missing a better way to approach this with a limited budget?

Hey everyone, need a check on my ads strategy from people who’ve worked in the food/restaurant industry.

I am a marketer at a restaurant brand with 5 outlets in the city. Offline business is solid, and even online orders through third-party delivery apps are decent. The problem is the commission fees are getting too high, so we’re launching our own online ordering website for direct food delivery.

Our AOV is around ₹900, and the goal is to start generating consistent direct orders through our own platform. Since the site is brand new, there’s basically no historical conversion data/pixel learning yet.

The challenge is budget, we only have around ₹1000/day to work with initially.

My current thinking is:
- Start with Google search ads with sales objective
- Target brand keywords + high-intent local search queries around our outlet locations
- Keep targeting tight and intent-driven instead of trying broad awareness campaigns

I did consider Meta ads, but with this budget, getting ~50 conversions/week to properly stabilize conversion campaigns feels unrealistic. So I’m thinking of bringing Meta in later mainly for retargeting once we start getting some consistent traffic/orders.

Does this approach make sense for the early stage, or am I missing a better way to approach this with a limited budget?

Would love to hear how you’d structure this if you were in my position.

I’m working on the ad strategy for a restaurant in India. The place already has a pretty solid base with a 4.6 Google rating, 3.5K+ reviews, and decent local awareness. The issue is that they don’t have their own ordering system. Most orders happen through 3rd party delivery apps, and the website honestly isn’t great either.

The starting budget is also quite small, around ₹300/day, so I’m trying to figure out what actually makes sense instead of wasting spend testing random campaign types.

Right now I’m confused between:

1. Standard Search campaigns with location assets connected to the Google Business Profile
2. Performance Max focused on local/store visit goals for Maps placements and promoted pins

My hesitation with PMax is mainly the lack of control, they have never ran a Google ad before. I’m not sure Google’s automation will have enough data to optimize properly. At the same time, restaurants usually benefit more from Maps visibility and local discovery than traditional SERP clicks, which is what’s making me second guess the Search route.

So I’d really like to hear from people who’ve tested this in the real world, especially for restaurants. Would Search campaigns outperform PMax initially in a setup like this? Can Search realistically drive meaningful Maps/GMB actions like calls, direction requests, and profile visits?

Any kind of help is appreciated.

Need some practical advice from people who’ve actually run Google Ads for restaurants or local businesses.

I’m working on the ad strategy for a restaurant in India. The place already has a pretty solid base with a 4.6 Google rating, 3.5K+ reviews, and decent local awareness. The issue is that they don’t have their own ordering system. Most orders happen through 3rd party delivery apps, and the website honestly isn’t great either.

The starting budget is also quite small, around ₹300/day, so I’m trying to figure out what actually makes sense instead of wasting spend testing random campaign types.

Right now I’m confused between:

1. Standard Search campaigns with location assets connected to the Google Business Profile
2. Performance Max focused on local/store visit goals for Maps placements and promoted pins

My hesitation with PMax is mainly the lack of control, they have never ran a Google ad before. I’m not sure Google’s automation will have enough data to optimize properly. At the same time, restaurants usually benefit more from Maps visibility and local discovery than traditional SERP clicks, which is what’s making me second guess the Search route.

So I’d really like to hear from people who’ve tested this in the real world, especially for restaurants. Would Search campaigns outperform PMax initially in a setup like this? Can Search realistically drive meaningful Maps/GMB actions like calls, direction requests, and profile visits?

Any kind of help is appreciated.