Alsama
How a Dubai restaurant filled its tables in 45 days
A new restaurant in Al Quoz opened to quiet tables. Short-form food content on TikTok and Meta, paired with a local Google campaign, brought in steady reservations within 45 days.
Start a projectA restaurant in Al Quoz opened with good food and no customers. Short-form content on TikTok and Meta showed the food and the atmosphere. A local Google campaign caught people searching for somewhere to eat nearby. Tables were full within 45 days.
Where it started.
The restaurant opened in a neighbourhood that gets less foot traffic than Downtown or JBR. Instagram had 200 followers, mostly friends of the owner. Google Maps was not set up. The first three weeks after opening averaged 12 covers on weekdays and 28 on weekends, well below what the restaurant needed to cover costs. The owner had no marketing history and did not know where to start.
The approach.
We started with content. Shot 12 short videos in the kitchen and at the pass, close-up food prep, plating, the finished dish. No voice-over, just sound and visuals. These ran as TikTok ads targeted to Dubai users aged 22 to 45 within 8km of the restaurant. The same clips ran on Meta with a reservation link. We set up and optimised the Google Business Profile, photos, menu, hours, and ran a local Google Search campaign for people actively searching for a restaurant in the area. Weekend posts promoted a specific set menu to drive higher average spend. Every piece of content was made in-house by our team, not outsourced.
The outcome.
Within 45 days, weekly covers tripled. Weekend reservations were booked out two weeks in advance by month two. Cost per reservation held at AED 22, which the owner said was less than one round of drinks at the table. The restaurant hit profitability in month three and the owner doubled the ad budget.
We opened and it was quiet for three weeks. Then the ads started working and we have not had a quiet weekend since.
