Real lines at an Upswell partner opening.
Restaurant growth partner

Make every day a Grand Opening

Engineered lines, not lucky ones. One client re-opened with us and grew sales .

Get the free playbook

Grow your business the way we did. The exact playbook, free, no email required.

Social proof

Proven, not theoretical.

Real restaurants. Real crowds. Real numbers.

Re-opening · Rice Junky. 1.7M views in two weeks, leading to a 7× daily sales bump on the busiest day.
+40%
New momentum · New Tandoori Cafe. ~500K views in two weeks, leading to a 40% sales bump over the weekend.
400
Grand opening · My-O-My Shwarma. Three hours of non-stop lines with 400 customers.
Joe
Jay
My-O-My
Noodles Fresh My O My RJ Paris Baguette Aloha SoDoI KG Berkeley Hankki
What we do

The only way to grow is more regulars.

To turn a stranger into a regular, three things have to happen. We do all three.

  1. 1

    Drive the crowd

    Local creators and hyper-local ads pack your room, all tracked.

  2. 2

    Make it flawless

    We prep your team so every first visit is a great one.

  3. 3

    Bring them back

    Personalized follow-up turns first-timers into regulars.

How we do it

We do everything except cooking. Keep your weekends.

True white-glove. We handle strategy, creators, posting, and ads end to end, at a quality bar you would struggle to hit in-house. You just watch the crowd show up.

  1. 1
    Strategy. We sit down with you to build a strategy. Not every solution fits every concept, so we learn about your business first.
  2. 2
    Influencer party. We invite local creators to taste your best dishes. They post Reels at the same time.
  3. 3
    Amplify. We run paid ads (Instagram, Facebook) to push the views to your target customers in your area.
  4. 4
    Data. We capture the people walking in with a promo code or a special ordering link.
  5. 5
    Retain. We re-engage the creators and the guests who loved you. They become your ambassadors.

See the playbook for more details →

Why Upswell

Built specifically for restaurants, nothing else.

Instagram Stories from Upswell partner restaurants
Momentum, not a moment

One night isn't enough. We keep you in the feed.

A single viral post fades fast. We keep fresh creators cycling through your dining room, so the buzz, and the new faces, keep coming month after month.

vs. creator marketplaces

A marketplace is a great tool if you have time. Upswell is for owners who don't.

See the full comparison →

Compare every alternative →

MarketplacesUpswell
Browsing influencersYou do itWe do it
Content ideationYou do itWe do it
SchedulingYou do itWe do it
Brief & creator managementYou do itWe do it
Payment managementYou do itWe do it
No-shows, reschedules, anomaliesYou handle itWe handle it
Hyper-local ad amplificationNot includedOn us, every reel
View guaranteeNone400K+ (Splash), we top up if short
Behind the scenes

Hire experts at the cost of interns.

A full growth team most restaurants could never afford, all running your growth for less than you'd pay a part-timer.

Built by a team from

Meta
eBay
Mastro's Steakhouse
Protégé
From real openings

When the strategy works, you can see it.

Free playbook

The exact system we use, yours for free.

How to pack your restaurant and turn first-timers into regulars, without burning money on marketing that doesn't work. The whole method we run for clients, written down. No email required.

Read it, run it yourself, and tell us how it went. If you'd rather we handle it, that's what we're here for.

Questions restaurant owners ask us

Straight answers, before you ask.

How much does it cost?
The range is wide, roughly $700 to $30,000+ a year, because it depends on your goals, your market, how many creator parties you run, and whether you add paid ads and a written view guarantee. The honest move: book a quick call and we'll scope it to your restaurant.
Did it actually work? A real example: New Tandoori Cafe.
First we tried one creator with 130K+ followers. It barely moved the needle. So we ran a splash with 10 nano creators instead, and the results were fascinating: 40%+ up on the busiest weekends and 24%+ month over month sales growth. The lesson: a wave of engaged nano creators beats one big account. The owner is happy.
Is influencer marketing even worth it for restaurants?
Only when it's tracked and tied to your floor. Untracked posts are a fad that fades. We give every creator a unique code, so you capture who walked in and can bring them back. That's what makes it pay off.
Do promo codes actually work?
Yes, when they're for free items, not discounts. An unexpected free item builds a relationship and lets you track who came. Discounts just train bargain-hunters and cheapen the check.
What does "guaranteed views" actually mean?
We commit to a view number in writing (60K+ on the amplified creator engagement) and top up at our own cost if we fall short. The risk is ours, not yours.
How do you turn first-timers into regulars?
It takes three to four flawless visits. We help you manufacture them, then keep guests in the feed and the inbox with personalized follow-up. The playbook walks through exactly how.

See all answers →  ·  See case studies →

Let's fill your seats with regulars.

Tell us about your business. We only work with restaurants we believe in.

Talk to the founder
Real Instagram stories from Upswell partner restaurants showing groups of customers dining and celebrating