Cover count is the number. Everything else is noise.
SEOD builds Bay Area restaurant marketing that moves covers, not vanity metrics. Run by an F&B operator who read Toast reports at 6am for 16 years.
- 16 years F&B operations
- $54M+ F&B P&L operated
- BCD Tofu House · Gen Korean BBQ · Sake2Me · Obaba Fresh
No sales pitch. Direct founder access.
Three things squeezing Bay Area restaurants in 2026.
Third-party delivery takes a bite you can't see on the P&L.
DoorDash publishes partnership tiers at 15%, 25%, and 30% commission. If delivery drives 40% of your volume at the 30% tier, that is thousands a month leaving before food cost. Most operators never break it out as its own line, so it never gets managed.
AI answers are absorbing the discovery click.
A randomized field study found Google's AI Overviews cut outbound organic clicks by 39.8% and raised zero-click searches by 34.5%. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google for the best Korean BBQ near them, the answer gets written without a visit to your listing. If your restaurant is not in the source set those engines read, the discovery pipeline shrinks quietly.
Labor has moved the goalposts on what a healthy margin looks like.
Full-service labor now runs a median of 36.5% of sales, with profitable operators holding 34.2% (National Restaurant Association and Bureau of Labor Statistics data). The 30% to 33% benchmark most playbooks still quote is gone. Every marketing dollar has to work harder because there is less room behind it.
This approach is built for that environment. Not the 2019 restaurant playbook.
Built by someone who's been in your kitchen.
Eric ran $54M+ in F&B P&L across four Bay Area restaurants: BCD Tofu House (Korean), Gen Korean Barbecue (KBBQ), Sake2Me Sushi (Japanese), and Obaba Fresh (fast-casual). Sixteen years operating.
He's read Toast reports at 6am when labor came in at 36% and known immediately which shift caused it. He's negotiated with DoorDash reps on Friday afternoons. He's rebuilt a menu from scratch when food cost hit 35%. He knows what a 4.6-star Yelp rating actually converts to at check-day.
Your marketing gets built by an operator, not a marketing consultant who happens to have a restaurant client. That's the difference.
What working on a restaurant usually involves.
The starting point depends on the actual business. We review it first, then recommend, and the review costs nothing.
- Onsite kickoff at your restaurant during a slow hour (2-4pm typically). 90 minutes with Eric.
- Google Business Profile deep optimization tuned for restaurant discovery: menu photography, chef stories, hours accuracy, event promotion.
- Regular Google Business Profile posts each month,. Every post written for restaurant intent ("Sunday brunch specials," "Chef's Wednesday feature," "reservation-only Valentine's").
- Menu SEO with structured data markup so Google reads your menu items as real products.
- Reservation flow audit: OpenTable and Resy hooks, confirmation cadence, no-show reduction.
- AI-answer optimization so your restaurant surfaces when someone asks ChatGPT for the best Korean BBQ in San Francisco.
- Yelp management: response templates for every review type, plus a review velocity plan.
- Monthly dashboard showing GBP impressions, direction requests, calls, reservation clicks, and cover count trend where Toast is connected.
- Monthly operator call with Eric. He reads your numbers and tells you where the money is.
- Text Eric directly at 707-718-3579. Usually the fastest way to reach us, 9am to 9pm PT.
Which of these matter, and in what order, is what the Business Growth Review is for. If the foundation needs rebuilding first, that is SEOD Foundation. If the site and brand are sound and the gap is customers, that is SEOD Growth. If the constraint is inside the business rather than in front of it, that is SEOD Operations.
What we don’t do for restaurants.
No custom online-ordering apps.
Use Toast, ChowNow, or Square Online. They are purpose-built and a fraction of the cost of custom. We wire the ordering link into your GBP and site instead.
No influencer campaigns under $80K/mo revenue.
The ROI math does not work at that volume. Get above $80K a month and it becomes worth revisiting.
No third-party delivery menu optimization.
DoorDash menu SEO is its own discipline with its own specialists. We will refer you rather than pretend it is our lane.
No happy hour email blasts.
Klaviyo or your POS already does this better than we would. We would just be a markup on a tool you own.
The tools we actually run for restaurants.
Not a logo wall. These are the systems we log into on your behalf during SEOD.
Google Business Profile Manager
Your single biggest discovery channel. Posts, photos, hours, attributes, Q&A.
Toast POS
Revenue and cover count reporting pulled into your monthly dashboard when connected.
Meta Business Manager
Instagram and Facebook local ads targeted to your delivery and dine-in radius.
OpenTable and Resy
Reservation tracking, confirmation cadence, and no-show pattern review.
Google Ads
"Best [cuisine] near me" campaigns when paid is in scope. Ad spend billed direct to you.
Yelp Business Manager
Review response and velocity. Love it or hate it, Yelp still moves covers for full-service.
Klaviyo
Guest email if you do not already have a platform running.
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude
Tracked monthly for how often your restaurant gets cited in AI answers.
What this looks like in practice.
The first number that usually moves is Google Business Profile impressions, because that is where the earliest work lands. Direction requests are the closest available proxy to walked-in covers, and they are one of the numbers we report on from the first month. Response rate on Yelp is one of the signals we work on directly, and Yelp treats it as a ranking factor.
These are the patterns we build toward, not a promise. Actual outcomes vary by neighborhood competition, cuisine, and your starting GBP baseline. We publish named client results only with the client's permission and real numbers attached. When a Bay Area restaurant engagement completes and the owner agrees to be named, their numbers replace this block.
SEOD vs the two alternatives you're weighing.
Most Bay Area restaurant owners choose between hiring a marketing manager, subscribing to a cheap restaurant SEO tool, or running SEOD. Here is the honest comparison.
| SEOD SEOD | In-house marketing manager | $99/mo restaurant SEO tool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Quoted after a no-cost review | $30,000 to $45,000 (salary plus burden) | $594 |
| Bay Area onsite | Yes, 90 min with Eric | Yes, they work at your restaurant | No |
| F&B operator credentials | 16 years, $54M+ P&L | 0 to 3 years typically | None |
| Google Business Profile posts | 48 posts, written to your menu | Yes, but competing with other duties | Automated and generic |
| AI-answer optimization | Baked in | Rare, most managers do not run GEO | No |
| Monthly dashboard | Yes, with Toast data where connected | Sometimes, usually DIY | Basic report only |
| Commitment | 6-month bundle, cancel anytime after | Ongoing employment | Monthly |
| Direct founder access | Text Eric at 707-718-3579 | Direct, they are your employee | Chat with support |
Marketing manager cost assumes a $45K to $65K Bay Area salary plus roughly 25% burden, prorated to 6 months. Tool cost assumes $99/mo for 6 months. Neither alternative is wrong for every restaurant. If you need someone onsite 40 hours a week, hire the manager.
Questions Bay Area restaurant owners ask.
Do you handle Toast integration?
Yes. If you are on Toast, we hook into your reporting to pull cover counts, average check, labor and food cost trend, and menu item performance into your monthly dashboard. If you are on Square or Clover we work from exports instead.
Do you deal with Yelp?
Yes. Love it or hate it, Yelp still moves covers for full-service restaurants in the Bay Area. We handle review response, review velocity strategy, and escalation for removal when a review violates Yelp's terms.
How do you handle a review that's clearly false?
We draft a professional public response for you to approve, and file the Yelp or Google terms complaint when the criteria are met. Removal is never guaranteed, but the process is standard and the response protects you either way.
Can you set up online ordering if I don't have it?
Not directly. We recommend Toast Online Ordering if you are on Toast, or ChowNow if you are not. We then integrate the ordering link into your Google Business Profile and website so it actually gets used.
Do you work with restaurants under $500K annual revenue?
Yes, if you are actively growing. We work that out in the Business Growth Review rather than applying a revenue cutoff. If a smaller project is the honest answer, we will say so. The no-cost Website & Visibility Audit is the better starting point and you can revisit SEOD later.
Will you take on my chef's Instagram?
No. Chef Instagram works best run by the chef. We handle Meta Ads on the paid side and GBP posts on the discovery side. Organic Instagram is a separate discipline and we would be a worse operator of it than your team.
What if I already have a marketing agency?
Two options. We replace them and match their scope at lower cost, or we complement them on the pieces they do not cover, usually Google Business Profile and AI-answer visibility. Talk to Eric and he will tell you honestly which one applies.
Can you help with menu photography?
We handle GBP-optimized menu photos as part of SEOD. For a full print-quality shoot across every menu item, we refer you to a specialist food photographer. Bay Area half-day shoots typically run $800 to $2,500.
Three ways to start.
Not ready yet? Start with the no-cost Website & Visibility Audit. Get the audit →