An Influx of Bookings for the New Hickory’s Restaurant

Hickory's Smokehouse is a family-friendly chain of authentic barbecue-style restaurants inspired by the flavours and hospitality of the Southern USA.

With the launch of their new site in Hutton, the team wanted to make sure the local community knew about the opening, and more importantly, felt excited enough to book a table.

Our challenge was to generate awareness and engagement in the surrounding area, encouraging locals to connect with Hickory’s on social media, join the mailing list, and make a booking ahead of opening night.

To give the new restaurant the best possible start and to make a lasting impact, we focused on reaching people most likely to visit - those right on Hickory's doorstep.

We launched a geo-targeted Meta campaign that combined community-driven storytelling with a strong local awareness push. The  strategy included:

• Creating a dedicated Facebook page for the Hutton restaurant to build a sense of local ownership and authenticity from day one.
  
  
• Running targeted ads within a defined radius of the site to reach families, groups and barbecue fans nearby.
  
  
• Testing multiple creative formats, including  video and carousel ads to cut through crowded feeds and highlight Hickory's signature Southern-style atmosphere.
  
  
• Building brand familiarity early, using both page-like campaigns and booking-focused ads to drive immediate conversions while growing a warm, engaged audience for future marketing.

By combining community-level targeting with creative designed to make people stop scrolling, we helped Hickory’s stand out as the must-visit new spot in town - long before the doors officially opened.

The launch campaign exceeded expectations across every key metric. Within weeks, the Hutton restaurant saw hundreds of confirmed bookings, with the opening weekend fully booked and strong demand continuing into the following weeks.

Alongside driving bookings, the campaign helped Hickory’s build a long-term connection, building lasting engagement with the local community. New mailing list sign-ups created a ready-made audience the team can keep engaging through personalised updates and offers, turning one-time visitors into repeat customers.

Ultimately, the work helped cement Hickory’s as a go-to destination in Hutton, establishing a strong foundation for long-term customer loyalty and community recognition.

Continued Success: Ongoing Growth Across Campaigns

Following the success of the Hutton launch, we’ve continued to support Hickory’s on a range of digital campaigns across multiple locations, each building on the learnings and success of the original approach.

In one of these later campaigns, Hickory’s achieved outstanding results:

• Ad spend: £1,498.96 (£1,500 budget)
• Estimated revenue: £180,240
• ROI: 11,924%
• Conversions: 3,234

These results demonstrate the continued strength of our partnership and the measurable impact of a data-driven, community-first approach to local restaurant marketing.