Last Updated: July 2024
In this post, we’ve conducted a meta-analysis of restaurants across the country and determined benchmarks for customer acquisition costs for restaurants sorted by price point, location, marketing strategy, and various other factors.
Our hope is for restaurants to use this data to evaluate their marketing and reach an understanding of how much improvement may be necessary.
First, we’ve included definitions for the terms you’ll see in this piece.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The cost a restaurant will spend to acquire a customer. Calculated by dividing the total spend on marketing by the total number of new customers.
- Organic CAC: Organic CAC refers to the customers acquired primarily from either SEO or organic social. It is important to note that organic can be any type of marketing where you are not directly paying for impressions.
- Paid CAC: Primarily paid social, Google Ads, or other forms of paid advertising, paid CAC refers to the marketing channels where you directly trade dollars for impressions.
Note: Compared to other CAC metrics for restaurants available, these figures may seem high. The reason for this supposed discrepancy is other studies include existing customers purchasing from an advertisement in their dataset as an acquired customer. Our data is meant to show the cost to acquire a net new customer, so we have filtered out existing customers purchasing from an advertisement for the purpose of this analysis.
Average Customer Acquisition Costs by Price Point
The following table displays customer acquisition costs by the price point of the restaurant.
| Price Point Per Person | Organic CAC | Paid CAC |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Food < $15 | $9.01 | $27.04 |
| Fast Casual $16 - $25 | $35.66 | $83.20 |
| Casual Dining $26 - $50 | $62.34 | $124.68 |
| Fine Dining $50+ | $99.90 | $179.82 |
Average Customer Acquisition Costs by Location
Generally, more populated areas with less of a chance to build brand recognition will yield a higher CAC.
| Location | Organic CAC | Paid CAC |
|---|---|---|
| City Center | $63.54 | $118.71 |
| Suburban | $45.37 | $88.15 |
| Rural | $27.19 | $57.59 |
| College Towns | $36.28 | $72.87 |
| Tourist Destinations | $90.81 | $164.54 |
| Business Districts | $54.46 | $103.43 |
| Transportation Hubs | $72.63 | $133.99 |
| Shopping Areas | $81.72 | $149.26 |
| Residential Areas | $18.10 | $42.32 |
| Waterfront / Scenic Areas | $99.90 | $179.82 |
Average Customer Acquisition Cost by Marketing Strategy
Some marketing/promotional strategies will yield a cheaper CAC than more expensive marketing strategies.
| Marketing Strategy | CAC |
|---|---|
| Social Media | $54.46 |
| SEO | $39.31 |
| $24.16 | |
| Influencer Partnerships | $84.75 |
| Online Paid Ads | $111.07 |
| Direct Mail | $99.90 |
Average Customer Acquisition Cost by Delivery Method
There is a different cost to acquire customers for dine-in versus carry out and delivery. Part of this is because carry out heavy restaurants are typically cheaper, leading to a skew towards more expensive CAC for dine in.
| Delivery Method | Organic CAC | Paid CAC |
|---|---|---|
| Dine In | $51.02 | $106.14 |
| Carry Out | $40.72 | $89.10 |
| Delivery | $43.14 | $93.44 |
Average Customer Acquisition Cost by Age Group
Along the same vein, younger people are more apt to visit cheaper restaurants and live in college towns or other less expensive areas. Due to this, customer acquisition costs for younger people will be lower than older people. See the results of our analysis below.
| Age Group | Organic CAC | Paid CAC |
|---|---|---|
| 18 - 24 | $38.40 | $69.94 |
| 25 - 40 | $41.28 | $88.11 |
| 41 - 56 | $52.64 | $117.36 |
| 57+ | $47.94 | $104.71 |
Determining What Your CAC Should Be
Generally, we recommend a restaurant spend no more than 5%-10% of their average first year revenue from a customer on acquiring a new customer. Marketing, if done at scale, will not yield immensely profitable results immediately, but must be continually refined over time. That range is a good place to start to ensure marketing costs are balanced with cashflows.
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