Today’s special
UpdateToday only: [dish] with [side], $[price]. We make [number] portions and stop when they are gone. Order ahead and it is ready at [time].
Free tool
Google Business Profile post ideas for restaurants: 40 ideas + templates
Forty post ideas, sorted by the moment a restaurant has something to say — today’s special, a new dish, holiday hours, the patio, hiring. Each one loads a fill-in template into the composer, which counts Google’s 1,500 characters, shows roughly how much the card displays, and copies the finished post for you to paste into your Business Profile.
Post type
0 / 1,500 charactersRoughly the first 100 characters show on the card; the rest opens on tap. Put the point first.
Button
Card preview — roughly how Google shows it
Update
Type a post, or load an idea from the list below, and the card appears here.
This page does not post to Google and is not connected to it. Copy, then paste into Add update in your Business Profile, one field at a time.
Everything stays in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved; close the tab and it is gone.
40 post ideas, grouped by moment
Every idea is a fill-in template: swap the words in brackets for your own. Loading one brings the post type and the button along with it.
Daily special
Post before 11 a.m. so it is on the card when people search for lunch.
Soup of the day
UpdateSoup today is [soup], made this morning from [ingredient]. Cup $[price], bowl $[price] with bread. From 11 until it runs out.
Weekend brunch plate
UpdateBrunch this Saturday and Sunday from [time]: [dish], [dish] and the [dish] that sold out last week. Tables go fast after 10, so book one.
Weekday lunch deal
OfferLunch: [dish] + drink for $[price]
Weekdays [time] to [time]: any [category] with a drink for $[price]. Dine in or pick up. Order online and skip the line.
New dish
One dish per post. A photo of the plate in daylight does more than the text.
New on the menu
UpdateNew this week: [dish]. [One line on what is in it]. $[price], available every day from [time]. Tell us what you think.
Back by request
UpdateYou kept asking, so [dish] is back on the menu from [date]. Same recipe as before, $[price]. It stays as long as you keep ordering it.
Launch-week price
Offer[dish] for $[price] until [date]
Try the new [dish] for $[price] until [date]; after that it is $[price]. One per order, dine-in and pickup.
Which one stays
UpdateTwo dishes, one spot on the menu: [dish A] or [dish B]. Both are on until [date]. Order the one you want to keep, or tell us at the counter.
Seasonal menu
Say when the menu starts and when it ends. An end date gives people a reason to come this month.
Seasonal menu is here
UpdateThe [season] menu starts [date]: [dish], [dish] and [dish], built around [ingredient] from [farm or region]. Runs through [month].
Last week of the menu
UpdateLast week for the [season] menu. [dish] and [dish] come off on [date] and return next year. Order them while they are here.
Ingredient of the week
Update[ingredient] is in season for about [number] weeks, and ours comes from [farm or region]. This week it is in the [dish] and the [dish].
Holiday hours
Post a week ahead and change the hours in the profile too; plenty of people read the post and never open the hours tab.
Open on the holiday
UpdateWe are open on [holiday], [date], from [time] to [time], with the regular menu plus [dish]. Book a table; walk-ins are welcome until [time].
Closed for the holiday
UpdateClosed [date] to [date] for [holiday]. We reopen on [date] at [time], regular hours. See you then.
Holiday order deadline
UpdateOrder your [holiday] [platters or pies] by [date]. Pickup on [date] between [time] and [time]. [number] orders at most, first come first served.
Patio open
Weather posts are short and true. If rain closes the patio, say so in a second post.
Patio is open
UpdateThe patio is open for the season from [date]: [number] tables, shade after [time], dogs welcome. Book a patio table or ask for one when you arrive.
Heaters and blankets
UpdateHeaters are on and the blankets are out. The patio stays open through [month], [time] to [time]. Ask for an outside table when you book.
Patio closed today
UpdatePatio closed today for the weather. Inside is open as usual, [time] to [time], and there is room. Call if you want us to hold a table.
Hiring
A post reaches people who already like the place. Put the pay in it: several US states now require a pay range in any job ad, and applicants look for it first.
Hiring a line cook
UpdateWe are hiring a line cook: [number] shifts a week, $[pay] an hour, [meals and benefits]. Experience with [cuisine or station] helps. Details and how to apply are on our website.
Hiring front of house
UpdateHiring a server for [days and shifts]. $[pay] an hour plus tips, meals on shift, [benefit]. Come in between [time] and [time] and ask for [name], or apply through our website.
Open interviews
EventOpen interviews, [date]
Open interviews on [date], [time] to [time], for cooks, servers and dishwashers. Bring a resume or just come talk to us. Pick a time slot on our website.
Catering
Catering searches peak before the holidays and graduation. Post the menu a month ahead.
Catering menu
UpdateWe cater: trays of [dish] and [dish] that feed [number] for $[price], delivered or picked up. The menu and order form are on our website; [number] days notice, please.
Office lunch
UpdateFeeding a team? Boxed lunches from $[price] each, [number] choices, delivered to your office by [time]. Order by [time] the day before.
Holiday party booking
UpdateThe [room or space] seats [number] for a holiday party, with a set menu from $[price] a person. [Month] dates are going; call to hold one.
Happy hour
Google’s regulated-goods rule covers alcohol, so a post that leads with drink prices may be rejected. Lead with the food and the hours.
Small-plates happy hour
OfferHappy hour small plates, $[price]
Small plates for $[price] from [time] to [time], [days]: [dish], [dish], [dish]. Bar and patio seating, dine-in only.
Half-price appetizers
OfferHalf-price appetizers, [days]
Every [day] from [time] to [time], all appetizers are half price. Dine in or take out. Ends [date].
Late-night menu
UpdateKitchen stays open until [time] on [days] with a short late menu: [dish], [dish] and [dish]. Order online for pickup until [time].
Game day
Event[Team] game day, [date]
The [team] game is on every screen on [date] from [time]. [dish] specials all game, and tables for groups of [number]. Book ahead; the room fills.
Chef story
One story per post, first person, with the point inside the first 100 characters.
Meet the chef
UpdateMeet [name], our head chef. [number] years in kitchens, from [place] to [place], and the reason the [dish] tastes the way it does. More about the team on our website.
The story behind a dish
UpdateThe [dish] started as [origin: a family recipe, a staff meal]. [name] has cooked it for [number] years and changed one thing: [change]. Still $[price].
Where the ingredients come from
UpdateOur [ingredient] comes from [farm or supplier], [distance] away, delivered [how often]. It is in the [dish] and the [dish] this week.
Behind the scenes
Phone photos are fine. A mopped floor, a stack of crates or a tray of dough beats a stock image.
Prep morning
UpdatePrep starts at [time]: [number] pounds of [ingredient], [number] loaves, [dish] made from scratch before the doors open at [time]. This is what that looks like.
New in the kitchen
UpdateThe new [oven or equipment] arrived. What changes: [crisper crust, faster pickup, more of a dish]. First batch is on the menu from [date].
Staff spotlight
UpdateSay hi to [name], [role] here for [number] years. Favorite dish to make: [dish]. Ask for it next visit.
Review shout-out
Ask before you quote a customer, use a first name only, and never offer anything for a review.
Thank you for the review
Update[first name] wrote that the [dish] was [quoted words]. Thank you; the whole team read it. It is on the menu tonight, and reviews like this are how neighbors find us.
The dish you keep mentioning
UpdateThe [dish] is the plate you mention most in reviews, so it is staying on the menu for good. $[price], every day from [time].
Ask for a review
UpdateEaten with us lately? A short review helps the next person find us. The Learn more button goes straight to the review form, and it takes about a minute.
Events
Events carry their own dates on the card and stay up until the end date. Post them two weeks out.
Live music night
EventLive music: [artist], [date]
[artist] plays [genre] on [date] from [time]. No cover, full menu until [time]. Book a table for [number] or more.
Trivia night
EventTrivia night, [day] at [time]
Trivia every [day] from [time]. Teams of up to [number], a $[amount] gift card for the winning table, [dish] specials during the game. Sign up on our website.
Cooking class
Event[dish] class, [date]
Learn to make [dish] with [name] on [date] at [time]. [number] seats, $[price] each, dinner included. Seats are on our website.
Anniversary party
Event[number] years on [street], [date]
We opened on [street] [number] years ago. Come celebrate on [date] from [time]: [dish] at opening-day prices, cake at [time], and a thank-you from the team.
A four-week posting calendar
Three posts a week: early, middle, weekend. Click any cell and that template loads into the composer.
| Week | Early week | Midweek | Weekend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | |||
| Week 2 | |||
| Week 3 | |||
| Week 4 |
Swap any cell for the thing you actually have that week: holiday hours, a hiring post, a patio closed for rain. Repeat the month; nobody reads a profile in order.
Why posts get rejected
Review is largely automated, and a rejection rarely says which line tripped it. These seven cover most restaurant cases.
- A phone number in the text. Google says a post with a phone number in the description might be rejected, and that includes an Offer’s description and terms. To get calls, use the Call button, which dials the number on your listing.
- Alcohol, tobacco and other regulated goods. Google’s content rules for posts bar content that promotes alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pharmaceuticals, weapons or fireworks. The usual restaurant case is a happy hour post that opens with beer prices; open with the food and the hours instead.
- All caps and stacked punctuation. A line in capitals or a row of exclamation marks reads as spam to the reviewer and to the customer. Sentence case, one point per post.
- A URL in the text. It is not clickable there, so it is only clutter, and a reviewer reads a bare link as an ad. Put the link on the button.
- An image that is mostly words. Google’s photo guidelines ask for real, in-focus photos of the place without heavy edits, and reviewers turn down some flyers and menu screenshots on that basis. Put the words in the post and the plate in the photo.
- Misleading or off-topic content. A price that is not the price, a dish you no longer serve, or a post about something other than your restaurant. Every line should be true on the day it goes up.
- Personal details. Quoting a customer’s full name, tagging a reviewer or sharing a photo of a guest without asking is a privacy problem. First names, with permission.
What a post does for a restaurant
- A post shows on your Business Profile in Search and Maps, in the Updates section of the listing people are already reading when they decide where to eat. It is the one part of the listing you can change every day without touching the website.
- Posts are shown for a limited time. Google archives a post older than six months unless it carries a date range, and newer posts sit first, so a profile that posted once in March looks idle by June. One short post a week keeps it current.
- The three types are three different forms. An Update is text plus a button. An Offer needs a title and dates, and can carry a coupon code and terms. An Event needs a title, dates and times. Switch the type and the composer switches fields.
- Nothing here posts for you. The composer counts characters against Google’s 1,500 limit, flags the things reviewers most often reject, and copies the result; you paste it into the Posts section of your Business Profile.
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See online orderingCommon questions
How often should a restaurant post on Google Business Profile?
Once a week is enough to keep the profile current, and the four-week calendar on this page is built on two to three posts a week. Consistency matters more than volume: a daily special posted at 10 a.m. beats five posts on a Monday.
How long do Google Business Profile posts stay up?
Google archives posts older than six months unless they have a date range; an Offer or an Event ends on its end date. Newer posts push older ones down the list, so a post’s real working life is the days before your next one.
Why was my Google post rejected?
Most rejections are one of these: a phone number in the text, a post about alcohol or another regulated product, a URL or a lot of capital letters in the text, a photo that is mostly words, or content the reviewer read as misleading. Google says a post with a phone number in the description might be rejected, and that reaches Offers too. Fix it and submit again.
Do Google posts help a restaurant rank higher?
Google does not list posts as a ranking factor, and this page makes no such promise. What a post does is visible: it puts today’s dish, this week’s event or the holiday hours in front of someone already looking at your listing, next to a button that orders or books.