By Matt Plapp
August 7 marks my 26th wedding anniversary, and September marks 30 years since Christy and I first got together.
I’ll never forget September 11th, 1995—the day we officially started dating at a football party with my teammates. But to truly appreciate that moment, you have to rewind two weeks, to a conversation we had in the training room. Christy and I were both injured athletes at the time, and she asked me to tell my friend Tom that she and I were dating, so he’d back off. (Sorry, Tom.)
I did my part and passed the message on, but the truth is, we weren’t dating yet. At least not officially.
Related: Ignite Your Restaurant’s Growth by Creating the Monthly Attention Plan
That same night in study hall, I asked her friend if Christy would go out with me. Minutes later, Christy handed me a piece of paper with her dorm room phone number on it. That was it—my foot was in the door. I made the call. We went on a date. And now, nearly three decades and two amazing kids later, here we are.
So what does that have to do with restaurants? Everything.
Remember that the 3 ABR commandments are:
Attract
Build
Retain
Christy attracted my attention that day in the training room. I built my “database” by asking for her number. And I’ve retained her for 30 years. That’s the playbook for your marketing, too!
Every week, your restaurant gets the attention of local diners. They see your Facebook ads and drive past your building and signage. That’s your moment—your “training room” interaction.
Related: ABR Marketing: How Two Pizzerias Attracted Attention With Offers That Stopped the Scroll
But here’s the killer stat: 99% of those people never make it into your customer database. And, even worse, 80% of your existing customers walk in, spend money and walk out—and you have no idea who they are.
It’s like flirting with someone for weeks but never asking for their number. What’s your end game? Hope? Prayer?
Restaurants don’t fail because of bad food. They fail because of bad follow-up. They attract, but they don’t build. So let’s look deeper at this second commandment of ABR.
BUILD: Your No. 1 Job (If You Want Repeat Customers)
Let’s get tactical. You have three frontlines to capture customer data:
- Your dining room
- Your social media
- Your website
If you’re not building a database from those, your “marketing plan” is a leaky bucket. You should know who’s visiting, how often and what they love. So when Matt Plapp comes in and devours pizza and wings, you don’t hope he returns—you make sure he does.
Now let’s review what you need to collect. Here’s the foundation:
- Name: So you’re not yelling, “Hey, you!”
- Email: Still the king of ROI.
- Cell Number: Texts work, especially with value (free dessert pizza? Yes, please).
- Birthday: Easy win for retention.
- Visit Frequency: How often they dine with you should dictate how you talk to them. You must know if they are a new, frequent or lost customer. Your messaging depends on it.
How to Build (Without Being Creepy)
Keep it simple. Facebook Messenger. Website popups. In-store QR codes.
We’ve seen restaurants use “Scan to Win $500” contests and get huge opt-ins. Why? Because they make it worth it, and it works. In fact, 73% of in-store opt-ins return. That’s your build moment.
What happens next? Start the nurture sequence. Follow this template:
Day 0: Confirmation text and email.
Day 7: Reminder of their free item.
Day 14: “Hey, still hungry?”
Days 30-90: Drip campaigns that keep you top of mind.
Back in 2015, I thought 45 days of follow-up was plenty. Turns out that 90 was the magic number. Life’s busy. Customers need reminders.
Finally, you can’t improve what you don’t track. Take a look at this recent campaign, shown below, for a pizzeria client. With just $325 in Facebook ads, they built a database of 501 customers and drove $1,826 in sales, with a 5.61x return on ad spend (ROAS).
Even better? Only 18% were frequent customers. That means 82% of the redemptions were brand-new or lost diners—pure incremental revenue. That’s found money.
Let’s do the math:
- Ad spend? Covered.
- Food cost? Minimal.
- Profit? A few hundred bucks in the bank—and 500-plus people to market to next month.
This isn’t just marketing—it’s building a revenue engine that funds itself.
Final Thought: Build or Bust
You wouldn’t let someone walk into your home, eat and leave without knowing who they are. So why are you doing that in-store? Or online? Every. Single. Day.
Think back to my story. Imagine if I had never asked Christy for her number. No study hall. No phone call. No first date. No 30-year journey.
You’ve already attracted your customers. They’ve noticed you. They’re walking through your doors. Now it’s time to build.
Capture their info. Start the conversation. Who knows? You could create a lifelong relationship.
Next week, we’ll tackle commandment No. 3: retain. I’ll show you how a national chain lost me for an entire year…just because they didn’t follow up.
My name is Matt Plapp. I’m the CEO (chief energy officer) of America’s Best Restaurants. I’ve worked with thousands of restaurants since 2008 when I started this company, and over the next 12 months, we will help 2,500-plus restaurants with their marketing. This is the latest article in a new weekly column for PMQ to help restaurant owners understand the gold mine we have to market in 2025—and beyond.
