Domino's sends you a text when your pizza is ready. Sweetgreen emails you about new menu items.
Chipotle pushes notifications about specials. You're manually posting to Instagram and hoping.
I'm Katie Carswell, Social Media Strategist at Outbites. I've worked with 40+ food trucks and restaurants,
and I've watched them lose customers to big chains not because their food is worse, but because
big chains have marketing automation and they don't.
Here's the truth: Marketing automation drives 3x more repeat orders. Big chains have it. You don't.
But you can. And you don't need a million-dollar budget.
The Automation Advantage
3x
More repeat orders with automation
98%
SMS open rate vs 20% email
$0
Extra cost with Outbites (included)
What Big Chains Do That You Don't
Let me show you exactly what marketing automation looks like for big chains, and why it's crushing you:
📱
Automated SMS Alerts
Domino's texts you when your order is ready. Sweetgreen texts you about new locations.
Chipotle texts you about specials. All automated. Zero manual work.
The Impact: SMS has a 98% open rate.
Email has 20%. Big chains use SMS. You use... nothing?
📧
Email Automation
Big chains send automated emails to past customers. "Haven't seen you in a while" emails.
Special offer emails. Birthday emails. All automated.
The Impact: Automated emails drive 3x more
repeat orders than manual posts.
🎁
Loyalty Program Automation
Big chains have loyalty programs that automatically reward customers. Points accumulate.
Rewards unlock. All automated. No manual tracking.
The Impact: Loyalty programs increase
customer lifetime value by 5x.
📍
Location-Based Marketing
Big chains text customers when they're near a location. "We're 2 blocks away!"
Food trucks can't do this because they don't have customer phone numbers.
The Impact: Location-based marketing
drives 2x more foot traffic.
The 3 Types of Marketing Automation You Need
You don't need everything big chains have. You just need these 3 types of automation:
Why Most Restaurants Don't Have Automation
Here's the brutal truth: Most restaurants don't have marketing automation because:
- It costs too much: Square Loyalty costs $45/month. SMS marketing costs $10+/month. Email automation costs $20+/month. That's $75+/month just for automation.
- It's too complicated: Setting up automation on multiple platforms is a nightmare. Most restaurants give up.
- They don't own customer data: If you're using DoorDash, you don't have customer phone numbers or emails. You can't automate anything.
- They think it's not worth it: "I'll just post on Instagram." But Instagram posts don't drive repeat orders like automation does.
The restaurants I've helped implement automation see 3x more repeat orders within 60 days.
Not because their food got better. Because they started re-engaging customers automatically.
How to Get Marketing Automation (Without Spending $75+/Month)
Here's what I tell all my clients: Get a platform that includes automation.
Don't pay for it separately. Don't set it up on 3 different platforms. Just get one platform that does it all.
Outbites includes all of this for free:
- Free SMS alerts: Automatically text customers when orders are ready, when you move locations, etc.
- Free email automation: Automatically email past customers with special offers.
- Free loyalty program: Automatically reward customers. No $45/month fee.
- Customer data ownership: You own every phone number and email. Export it all.
All for $1 per order. No monthly fees. No setup fees. Just included.
The Results I've Seen
Here's what happens when restaurants add marketing automation:
The Bottom Line
Big chains have marketing automation because it works. It drives 3x more repeat orders.
It increases customer lifetime value by 5x. It's the difference between thriving and surviving.
You don't need a million-dollar budget to compete. You just need the right platform that includes automation.
And you don't need to pay $75+/month for it. You can get it all included for $1 per order.
The restaurants I've helped implement automation see results within 30 days. More repeat orders.
Higher customer lifetime value. Better customer relationships. All automated. All included.
About the Author: Katie Carswell is the Social Media Strategist at Outbites.
She's helped 40+ food trucks and restaurants implement marketing automation, driving 3x more repeat orders
and 5x higher customer lifetime value. Her clients have collectively saved over $500k in commission fees.
