SpicyHow to increase DoorDash sales at your restaurant
Most restaurants try to grow DoorDash sales by buying ads first. That's backwards. If the menu is missing photos and the rating is slipping, ad money buys you views instead of orders. Fix the menu. Then the ops. Then spend. This is the order Spice works in on every DoorDash store it runs, and it's the order Spicy checks your stores in.
Fix the menu before you spend a dollar
Your DoorDash menu is your sales page. Put real photos on your top sellers first, since those are the items most customers see. Use item names people recognize, keep the top of the menu short, and cut categories with 1 or 2 items nobody opens.
Then check prices against your in-store menu. A markup to cover commission is normal. A markup so big that a combo costs more than ordering the items separately is a conversion problem.
Get errors and cancellations down
Missing items, wrong items, cancellations and unplanned downtime all show up in your ratings, and customers see the rating before they see the menu. A store that's offline for 2 hours on a Friday night loses those orders and the steady volume that keeps it ranking.
Check this store by store. A good brand average can hide 1 location with a sliding rating that wastes the ad money you send its way.
Pick promotions by customer, not by habit
New customers, lapsed customers and regulars want different things. A big first-order discount wins new customers and wastes money on regulars who'd order anyway. A Spend X Save Y offer at peak hours raises order size from people already ordering. A win-back offer goes after customers who stopped.
Run offers by daypart and by location. Discounting a lunch rush you'd sell out anyway is margin you gave away.
Fresh Kitchen is a recent example. Spice grew its delivery sales 13% quarter over quarter, and its share of new customers went from 31% to 36%.
Turn on sponsored listings once the store converts
Sponsored listings put you higher in search and on the home feed. They send people to your page. Whether those people order depends on the menu, the photos and the rating. Start ads at your best-converting stores, set a budget per location, and check it every week.
Run every location on its own numbers
A store can rank at the top of its zone while another sits 3 screens down, and a brand-level report hides both. Each location needs its own read on menu, ops, promotions and ad spend, and its own plan.
Decide which number you're grading
Top-line sales, net payout and marketing spend as a share of sales can move in different directions in the same week. A promotion that lifts sales can still shrink what reaches the bank. Pick the number that matters to your business before you decide whether a promotion worked.
Questions restaurant operators ask
How do restaurants get more orders on DoorDash?
Fix the menu first (photos, item names, structure), then cut errors and cancellations, then add promotions and sponsored listings. Ads on a weak menu mostly buy views.
Are DoorDash ads worth it for restaurants?
Usually, once the store converts. Sponsored listings send more people to your page. If the page has missing photos or a low rating, most of those people leave without ordering.
Which DoorDash promotions work best?
It depends who you're trying to reach. New customers respond to bigger first-order offers, lapsed customers to win-back offers, and regulars to Spend X Save Y deals that raise the order size. Run them by daypart and by location.
Does my DoorDash rating affect sales?
Yes. Customers see the rating before they see the menu, and errors and cancellations pull it down. Watch it per location every week.
How does Spicy help with DoorDash sales?
Spicy watches every DoorDash store you have, flags menu gaps, ops problems and rating drops by location, and recommends promotions and ads you approve in 1 click. It does the same on Uber Eats and Grubhub.
See what's costing your stores orders.
Get a free audit of your DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub stores. It covers photos, menu structure, pricing, promotions, ratings and operations, and it lands in your inbox within 24 hours. Want a score right now? Try the free grader.
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