4 Texas Restaurants Innovating Their Marketing During COVID-19

Leave a Comment / Online Branding, Online Marketing / By David Lee

Don't be stingy! SHARE!

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic will have a massive impact on countless small businesses around the country.

However, one major benefit of being small is the ability to quickly adapt.

Even though restaurants and bars cannot host customers right now, many are using this time to their advantage to adjust their business and marketing to solve problems for their customers and creating relevant marketing content.

While some businesses are contracting, others are going the extra mile and showing their customers they genuinely care. If customers can’t come to them, they are going to the customers through delivery or pickup options and regularly communicating through email and social media.

Here are four Texas restaurants and breweries creatively and swiftly adjusting their business and marketing. They illustrate the importance of building a marketing list, email list and social media following they are now able to leverage to communicate to their customers.

Intrinsic Smokehouse & Brewery

Instagram: @intrinsic_bbq_brewing

This BBQ restaurant and brewery in Garland, Texas, helped revitalize the city’s historic downtown square. It’s a popular hangout where craft beer is brewed, canned and labeled onsite.

Since having to close for onsite customers, Intrinsic began preparing ready-to-go meals. Social media posts show what’s included in the meals, helping reduce the guesswork for customers and providing faster service and easy ordering.

Going the extra mile for their bored customers stuck at home, Beer Pong Survival Kits were compiled and sold for $20 including a build-your-own four-pack of beer with 20 plastic cups and two ping pong balls. A social media video promoted the deal showing employees playing beer pong.

Bankhead Brewing Co.

Instagram: @bankheadbrewing

This eatery and onsite brewery in downtown Rowlett, Texas, serves unique food combinations such as grilled cheese and brisket, street taco pizza and oven-seared steak salad. Beers are on tap or can be taken home in cans or growlers.

A Facebook and Instagram ad of a guy smiling at his mug of beer complete with beer belly hanging out includes the caption:

“Being stuck at home just got a little better. Call now for curb-side pickup. And yes, beer too!”

Another post showed three ready-to-go 32-oz beer cans with the caption, “The Doctor Recommends Three Beers a Day… Come Grab Beer and Food to Go!”

Providing some lighthearted, relevant content is a great way to attract customers during a time of uncertainty and when just about everyone’s daily life is altered.

Hurtado Barbeque

Instagram: @hurtadobbq

Hurtado Barbeque in Arlington, Texas, celebrated the grand opening of its first physical location just a few weeks before statewide COVID-19 restrictions. Customers were lining up and the BBQ joint was regularly selling out of food.

Having to radically shift to curbside pickup or delivery in mid-March, Hurtado Barbeque posted images of prepared menu meals complete with sides, showing customers everything they will get. They also posted detailed steps on how to order and how to select a delivery option.

To maintain communication that they are successfully filling online orders, a Facebook story post showed a wall of receipts of active orders being filled.

One Facebook post ended with, “Whether you order from us or elsewhere, PLEASE support local and pray for our country right now,” showing appreciation, unity, and genuine care for customers and the community.

El Arroyo

Instagram: @elarroyo_atx

El Arroyo is a tex-mex restaurant in Austin, Texas, famous for its marquee sign that has a new message every day. Messages usually tie to Austin-area or Texas culture, margaritas or queso.

El Arroyo has 215, 000 Instagram followers and more than 155,000 likes on its Facebook page, and content is almost solely based around its marquee sign.

When Texas Governor Gregg Abbott announced that restaurants and bars would be able to deliver or provide pickup for alcohol, El Arroyo definitely jumped on the opportunity to notify customers and followers.

Marquee sign messages included:

Holy S*%T Not Even Kidding. Margarita Delivery Now!!! Call 512-474-1222

The Whole US: Freaking Out | Texas: We Now Deliver Margaritas

Come and Take It! Gov Abbott Authorizes Take Away Margaritas!

P.S. Did this post help you? If you got value from it or know someone who would, please share it and leave a comment below with your suggestions. And don't forget to enroll in my free training How to Stand Out Online and Land Your Dream Customers for tips you can start doing right now to attract your dream customers online.