I started helping a small taco shop chain in the midwest with their Google Ads recently and I'm so blown away by the results I just had to make a case study post about it. On the campaign we're tracking the following as a conversion:

1. Local action - Directions (When someone clicks on driving directions from their Google Business Profile)

2. Website Purchase (When someone orders food from their Square website)

3. Local action - Orders (When someone orders food from their Google Business Profile

4. Calls

They have a fairly limited budget but so far the campaign is generating over 100 conversions per week. Clicks are going for an average cost of $0.33 and their average cost per conversion is only $1.07. Considering how an average customer lifetime value for a restaurant can end up being pretty high, getting new customers for around $1 is a steal. These guys are basically printing money at this point and I'm sure they're likely going to increase their budget soon.

I think these stellar results are mostly due to the fact that a lot of restaurants simply don't advertise because maybe they don't have the budget for it or if they do advertise they tend to choose social media channels like Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. This means this client has very little competition with Google Ads, which allows him to reap the rewards.

If you run a restaurant and are looking for more customers, definitely try out Google Ads first as it allows you to reach people at the point of intent. In other words, you get to show your ad when they're actively searching for something to eat right now!