Video ads for restaurants work for a simple reason: people decide where to eat with their eyes. A few seconds of a dish being finished, a drink being poured or a table filling up does more than any written offer. The hard part for most restaurants, cafés and takeaways is finding the time and budget to make that video every week. This is where AI video ads help, and also where they need handling with care.

What a restaurant ad has to do

  • Make someone hungry in the first two seconds.
  • Show what kind of place it is: quick lunch, date night, family table, late takeaway.
  • Say where you are, clearly, because almost all of your customers live or work nearby.
  • Give one reason to act now: a new menu, a set lunch, a delivery offer, a booking link.

Where AI helps a food business

  • Hero shots of a real dish or drink, built from a good photo: steam, pours, slow-motion splashes and close-ups that would need a specialist food shoot.
  • Seasonal and offer ads, such as a Christmas menu, a summer drinks list or a midweek deal, turned round in days.
  • Delivery and takeaway promos with phone screens, order steps and animated type.
  • Many versions of one ad: a different hook, a different dish or a different offer for each audience.
  • Captions and voiceover in more than one language for the communities you serve.

You can see the kind of finish this gives in drinks and food pieces on our work page.

What you should still film

Your room, your team and your regulars are the things no model can generate honestly. If the ad is about atmosphere, such as a busy Friday service, the chef at the pass or the view from the terrace, film it. A phone on a small stabiliser, shot in good light, is often enough, and it can be cut, graded and captioned into something that looks far more expensive than it was. We edit footage like that every week through our video editing service.

The strongest restaurant ads usually mix the two: real footage of the place and the people, with AI-made hero shots of the food and drink.

Keep the food honest

This matters more for food than for almost anything else. UK advertising rules say an ad must not mislead, and a customer who orders the dish from the ad expects that dish. So:

  • Only show dishes that are on the menu.
  • Start from a photo of the real plate, and keep the portion, the ingredients and the presentation true to it.
  • Do not add toppings, sides or garnishes the customer will not get.
  • Keep prices and offers on screen exactly as they are in the restaurant, with any conditions.
  • Never use a generated person as a customer giving a review.

We rebuild packaging, logos and on-screen text by hand so they match the real thing, and every delivery comes with a note of what was generated.

Formats that work for food

  • Instagram Reels and TikTok: vertical 9:16, 10 to 20 seconds, the best shot first.
  • Stories: short offers with a booking or order link.
  • Facebook and Instagram feed: square or 4:5, readable with the sound off.
  • Screens in the restaurant or window: a silent loop of your best dishes.

One short master ad can be cut into all of these. For a restaurant that posts weekly, a Reels Pack or a monthly plan on the pricing page is usually better value than one-off ads.

Reaching people nearby

A restaurant ad does not need a national audience. On Meta and TikTok you can show it only to people within a few miles, so even a small media budget goes a long way. Put the area in the caption and on screen, say the street or the landmark people know, and link straight to bookings, the menu or your delivery page.

What to send us

  • Clear photos of three to five dishes or drinks, taken in daylight, straight on and from above.
  • Your logo and menu.
  • Any footage you already have of the room, the kitchen or service.
  • The offer, the dates it runs and the link people should tap.

There is a fuller checklist in what to send us before an AI product photoshoot.

Getting started

Most restaurants start with one short hero ad for a signature dish and a handful of reels cut from it. Bring a photo of the dish to a free 15 minute call and you will leave with a plan and a price.