Ottawa - Operations + Guest Re-Engagement
Platforms involved
An independent restaurant in Ottawa with 60 seats had an owner spending 2+ hours per day on email: supplier communications, staff scheduling requests, reservation inquiries, and the occasional complaint. He had an email list of 1,200 past guests that had never been used - collected through OpenTable over 3 years. Reservation no-shows were running at 19%, costing the restaurant 8 to 12 covers per week on busy nights. The owner had no time to think about marketing because he was drowning in operational email.
The one-time setup work - the systems, automations, and infrastructure we put in place before the ongoing management begins.
Built a Gmail inbox management system - 15 custom filters and labels that automatically categorize incoming email by type (supplier, staff, reservations, complaints); the owner's inbox went from 200+ daily emails to under 30 requiring his attention
Created Gmail templates for the 10 most common email types - supplier order confirmations, staff schedule responses, reservation confirmations - accessible via keyboard shortcut
Connected OpenTable to Zapier - reservation confirmations automatically trigger a reminder text 24 hours before and 2 hours before the reservation
Built a no-show follow-up sequence - guests who don't show get a 'we missed you' email 24 hours later with a rebooking link and a small incentive
Created a guest re-engagement campaign for the 1,200-person email list - 3-touch sequence introducing the restaurant, featuring seasonal menu items, and offering a return incentive
Built a monthly email newsletter workflow - seasonal menu highlights, upcoming events, and a reservation link - managed and sent on schedule
Connected Toast to Zapier - new customer records from Toast automatically sync to the email list with their visit date and spend tier tagged
Built a post-visit follow-up sequence - guests who dine receive a thank-you email 24 hours later with a Google Review request
Created a supplier communication system - weekly order emails to each supplier auto-generated from a Google Sheet inventory template, reducing manual email time by 45 minutes per day
The ongoing work included in the monthly membership - monitoring, maintaining, updating, and improving the systems we've built.
Maintain the Gmail filter system - add new filters for new suppliers and staff, update labels, and archive old threads
Deploy the monthly email newsletter - seasonal menu feature, upcoming event, or special offer - managed and sent on schedule
Monitor the reservation reminder sequence - verify texts and emails are delivering, review no-show rates, and adjust timing
Review the post-visit follow-up - track Google Review volume, monitor satisfaction scores, and flag any negative responses
Monitor the Toast-to-email list sync - verify new customer records are flowing correctly, fix any broken connections
Monthly reporting - pull no-show rate, email list growth, and review volume for the owner's review
Quarterly: rebuild the guest re-engagement campaign with fresh seasonal content; audit the email list for outdated contacts
The Result
Owner's daily inbox management reduced from 2+ hours to 20 minutes. Guest re-engagement campaign generated $14,200 in incremental revenue in 6 months. Reservation no-shows reduced from 19% to 7%.
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