Office Hours: How I create bulletproof promotional offers

I’m Josh Kopel, a Michelin-awarded restaurateur and the creator of the Restaurant Scaling System. I’ve spent decades in the industry, building, scaling, and coaching restaurants to become more profitable and sustainable. On this show, I cut through the noise to give you real, actionable strategies that help independent restaurant owners run smarter, more successful businesses.

In this episode, I dive into why most restaurants struggle to make money and what we can do about it. The hard truth? Discounting isn’t the answer. Slashing prices might get people in the door, but it conditions your guests to expect deals instead of value. Instead, I break down how to create offers that actually influence customer behavior—offers that build demand, drive revenue, and make your restaurant the place to be.

We’ll also get into the psychology behind urgency and scarcity, and how those two factors can supercharge your marketing. Bottom line: You don’t need to race to the bottom to win in this industry. You just need to understand what your guests truly want—and then give it to them in a way that keeps them coming back for more.

Takeaways

• 80% of restaurants barely break even.
• It's not your fault, it's your system's.
• Stop trying to force behavior.
• Create exclusivity, not a fire sale.
• Incentivize upsells instead of discounts.
• Create experiences, not sales.
• People just want to be told what to do.
• A great offer gets them in the door at the right time.
• People don't act unless they feel like they're going to miss out.
• The best restaurant marketing gets the right people spending the right money.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Restaurant Profitability Challenges
01:48 The Importance of Effective Offers
06:01 Crafting Offers that Influence Behavior
08:56 Creating Urgency and Scarcity in Offers

If you’ve got a marketing or profitability related question for me, email me directly at josh@joshkopel.com and include Office Hours in the subject line. If you'd like to scale the profitability of your restaurant in only 5 days, sign up for our FREE 5 Day Restaurant Profitability Challenge by visiting https://joshkopel.com.