You cook better than the chains. Hungry people just can’t find you yet.
Discovery Marketing gets your restaurant found by the people searching for dinner, brunch and catering right now, and turns those searches into direct orders, booked tables and catering inquiries that land in your own systems.
Your website is built and hosted free. We earn a percentage of ad spend only if you choose to advertise.
RinaChef & owner, Kusina Rina · Ravenswood, ChicagoA composite character. Her story shows exactly how we work.
She learned to read order tickets before chapter books.
Her parents ran a Filipino lunch counter on Lawrence Avenue. Her mom cooked. Her dad ran the register and the catering, pans of pancit for every baptism and graduation party on the Northwest Side. After school, Rina called out tickets at the pass.
Then culinary school. Then ten years on the line in River North kitchens, where she learned speed, and a sous chef job that ran her ragged. So she signed a lease on a 28-seat room in Ravenswood and cooked her family’s food her way: Kusina Rina.
She can run a Friday rush in her sleep. Marketing is a different job.
Albany Park, the late 1990s. Calling out tickets after school.
The food gets raves. Tuesday nights are empty.
Her regulars would walk through a snowstorm for her adobo. Two blocks away, almost nobody knows she exists.
Delivery app Your weekly commission statement is ready.
POS update New menu sync starts Monday.
Reservations 4 no-shows on Saturday.
Supplier Pork shoulder prices are up again.
City license Your renewal is due this month.
Every week, another app.
The two biggest delivery apps charge 15% to 30% of each delivery order on their standard plans. Marketing is the job that never makes the prep list.
DoorDash and Uber Eats merchant pricing, 2026
Who caters lunch for 40 people near Ravenswood?
Here are some options nearby:
Catering marketplace
Sandwich chain
Big caterer
Kusina Rina: not mentioned
The big names are everywhere.
Chains buy the billboards. Delivery apps buy the top of the screen. Catering marketplaces answer the office lunch search before a local kitchen ever comes up. When people ask Google or an AI assistant, those are the names they hear.
Word of mouth has a ceiling.
Regulars bring friends. Her mom’s old customers still order party trays. It grows, slowly, and stops at the edge of the people who already know her.
Busy, but not growing.
Fridays are slammed and Tuesdays are dead, while food, labor and rent keep climbing. In 2025, 42% of restaurant operators said their restaurant wasn’t profitable.
National Restaurant Association State of the Restaurant Industry, 2026
She knows food. She doesn’t know how hungry people choose. So she keeps cooking for whoever finds her.
Being great isn’t the same as being found.
Hungry people search, skim the photos and the latest reviews, and order or book wherever it’s easiest. A restaurant with an old menu PDF, no recent photos and no way to order direct loses the guest to the app.
lunch near meChicago, IL
1Fast-casual chain
2Delivery app pick
3Food hall
47% of consumers won’t use a business with fewer than 20 reviews.BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026
4Franchise
5Mall food court
11Kusina Rina4.9 stars · 19 reviews
Illustration. Competitor names are hidden on purpose.
45% of consumers used AI tools like ChatGPT for local recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier. BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026
58% of customers surveyed would rather order delivery through a restaurant’s own app or website. NCR Voyix Customer Experience Report (vendor), 2025
74% of consumers only consider reviews written in the last three months. BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026
And AI assistants are starting to choose for people: Google’s AI Mode began booking restaurant tables for U.S. searchers in November 2025 (Google, 2025). A restaurant with a clear menu, current hours and open tables online is easy to pick. We’ll never promise a map ranking; nobody can buy one.
Then Rina met Andy.
A regular sent her one of Andy’s videos about local businesses that beat the chains on quality and lose on visibility. She booked a call for the dead hour between lunch and dinner.
Andy BedellFounder, Discovery Marketing
Andy learned marketing the measurable way: four years marketing executive education at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, then KeySmart, where the ads had to get strangers to buy something they had never seen. Since 2015 he has made the kind of short videos that get people to try something new.
That’s a restaurant’s whole problem. Your regulars already love the food. The job is getting the next thousand people to try it once, then making it easy to order direct, book a table or ask about catering.
Career stats
Where
What happened
UChicago BoothExecutive Education · 4 years
Managed budgets above $20 million a year across Google, LinkedIn and direct mail.
KeySmartJoined 2015
Took daily sales from about $5,000 to $25,000 within a week, then helped the company reach a peak near $35 million a year.
Local businesses
One of the earliest specialists in Facebook video ads, since 2015, with campaigns for local services and real estate, including helping sell out one of Adelaide’s largest new luxury condo developments (2018).
Career
$200 million+ in managed ad spend.
One short call. A working website two hours later.
Andy asked about her food, her family’s recipes and the catering jobs she turns down because she has no time to quote them. Two hours later she had a link to a complete site: the full menu, party trays with servings and prices, and buttons to order pickup or book a table.
Before A menu PDF from opening week and a delivery-app page.
2:00:00to your demo
kusinarina.example
Filipino comfort food, cooked like family.Ravenswood · Open Tue–SunOrder pickup
DinnerWeekend brunchParty traysOffice catering
Do you cater weddings?
How far ahead should I order trays?
Can you cook around allergies?
Open tables
Fri 6:15Fri 7:30Sat 11:00
You’re booked. Your confirmation comes from the restaurant’s own reservation system.
Fictional restaurant. Your demo typically arrives about two hours after your call.
Before we write a word, we read what guests already say.
Every claim on her new site came from somewhere real:
Public reviews. Sorted by what guests rave about, and what almost kept them away.
Her call with Andy. Thirty minutes on her food, her family and the orders she wants more of.
Her neighborhood. What people nearby search for at lunch, at brunch and before a party.
Her menu. Every dish name, price and allergen note, checked against what the kitchen actually does.
Tastes like my aunt’s cooking. I almost cried into the sinigang.
Homemade
Ordered a tray for 30 and fed 40. Nobody went home hungry.
Generous
Lunch for our whole office showed up 15 minutes early, hot and labeled.
On time
You can tell the lumpia was rolled by hand that morning.
Homemade
Took half my adobo home and had lunch for the next day.
Generous
She catered our rehearsal dinner and nothing ran late.
On time
Tastes like my aunt’s cooking. I almost cried into the sinigang.
Homemade
Ordered a tray for 30 and fed 40. Nobody went home hungry.
Generous
Lunch for our whole office showed up 15 minutes early, hot and labeled.
On time
You can tell the lumpia was rolled by hand that morning.
Homemade
Took half my adobo home and had lunch for the next day.
Generous
She catered our rehearsal dinner and nothing ran late.
On time
Composite excerpts written for this illustration, not real reviews.
Three things kept coming up.
Homemade
Her mother’s recipes, made from scratch every morning. Guests keep saying it tastes like a family party.
Generous
Plates that go home as leftovers, and party trays that stretch further than the headcount.
On time
Catering that arrives early, hot and set up, so the person who ordered it looks good.
Now run the plays.
A website that sells her food and her catering on every page. Then campaigns that reach people deciding where to eat tonight, or who’s feeding the office on Thursday.
Every page makes the same three promises.
A couple picking a date night and an office manager feeding 40 people want different things. Each page shows what homemade, generous and on time mean for that guest.
HomemadeAdobo, sinigang and pancit from her mother’s recipes, cooked fresh every day.
GenerousFamily-style plates built for sharing, with leftovers likely.
On timeOrder pickup online and it’s ready at the time the page gives you.
HomemadeThe trays her parents made for every baptism and graduation, from scratch.
GenerousServings and prices listed per tray, sized for seconds.
On timeOrder 48 hours ahead and pick up on time, packed and labeled.
HomemadeHot lunches cooked that morning in her own kitchen.
GenerousPer-guest pricing with enough for seconds.
On timeDelivered early, labeled with allergens and set up before the meeting starts.
Couples can book a tasting without a phone call.
Her site and Google Business Profile are built so AI assistants like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode can read her menu, catering options and open times, then finish the booking. Tastings, tables and pickup orders land in her own reservation and ordering systems.
AI assistantExample conversation
We’re getting married in September, about 120 guests. Any Filipino caterers in Chicago that do tastings?
Kusina Rina in Ravenswood caters weddings and lists its tray menu and per-guest pricing online.
There’s a tasting for two open Saturday at 3:00 PM. Want me to book it?Kusina RinaCatering tasting for 2 · Sat, 3:00 PM4.9 · Ravenswood
Yes, book it.
Done. The restaurant will email a confirmation and a few questions about your guest count and allergies.
Meet guests at the search.
Someone typing “office catering near me” is ordering lunch for 30 this week. Google Ads put her kitchen at the top of those searches in her part of the city, with an ad that answers the search and a page built for it. Pick a search:
Catering
Dine in & pickup
1 · They search
office catering near me
Sponsored · kusinarina.exampleOffice Catering in Ravenswood | Hot Lunch for 10 to 100
Filipino comfort food cooked that morning, delivered early and labeled. Order online.
2 · They land on the matching page
Kusina RinaLunch the whole office will talk about.Build my order
3 · They book
Ordered directStraight into her own ordering system, no app commission
Restaurant and food search clicks averaged about $2.05 in 2026 benchmarks (LocaliQ); your market will vary. Ad position depends on bids, ad quality and competition.
First on a new field.
ChatGPT started showing ads in 2026, and Andy got access early. People ask it about food in full sentences, like “Filipino caterer for an office lunch of 40 on Thursday.” Her clearly labeled sponsored listing can sit right beside the answer, while few local kitchens are advertising there at all.
ChatGPT keeps ads separate from its answers and labels them as sponsored. Its ad rules don’t allow alcohol, so the bar menu stays out of it.
AI assistantIllustration
Who can cater a Filipino lunch for 40 people near Ravenswood on Thursday?
SponsoredKusina Rina · ChicagoHot office lunches cooked that morning, delivered early and labeled. Per-guest pricing online.
Ask everyone. Reply like a host.
Every guest gets the same review request, whatever we think they’ll say. When a tough review lands, Rina answers within a day, calmly and specifically. 89% of consumers expect owners to respond to reviews, and half are put off by canned replies.
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026
Waited 25 minutes for a pickup order that was supposed to be ready.
Reply from the owner
Thank you for telling us, and I’m sorry. Friday got away from us, and your order should have been ready on time. We’ve changed how we pace pickup orders on busy nights. Please ask for me by name next time. — Rina
Illustration of a calm, professional reply.
Most people don’t order on the first look. Follow up.
An office manager might find the catering page on Monday and order on Friday. So we show up in between: short videos from the kitchen, fresh reviews, a clear catering page and, for guests who signed up, a text with the week’s specials.
Five days. One catering order.
MondayGoogle
Searches “office catering near me.” Reads the catering page. Doesn’t order yet.
TuesdayInstagram
Sees Rina rolling lumpia at 7 a.m., shown to people who visited the catering page.
WednesdayGoogle reviews
Reads what other offices say, and how Rina replies.
ThursdayAI assistant
Asks for a caterer who can feed 40 next week. The clear catering page makes Kusina Rina easy to recommend.
FridayKusina Rina’s site
Orders lunch for 40 for next Thursday.
Texts go only to guests who signed up for them, and the FCC requires opt-outs like “STOP” to be honored within ten business days.FCC TCPA consent revocation rule, 2025
Then the catering calendar started filling.
Catering orders / month, before4
Catering orders / month, after22
Illustrative figures from Rina’s composite story. Not a typical or guaranteed result. Your numbers depend on your menu, market, capacity and kitchen hours.
More pickup orders came in direct, so less of each ticket went to app commissions. Catering inquiries arrived with the date and headcount already filled in. And for the first time, she could see which searches and pages brought in which orders.
Then we made the videos hungry people actually watch.
No stock food shots. Just Rina in her kitchen: how the lumpia gets rolled, why there’s always pancit at a Filipino party, and who’s on the line. Real food, real hands, about 20 seconds each.
How-toHow 300 lumpia get rolled before lunchStraight talkDelivery app or order direct? Where your money goesWarmthMeet the family behind the line
Concept frames from Rina’s composite story.
From empty Tuesdays to a booked calendar.
Year 1 Full Fridays, empty Tuesdays.
Regulars keep the weekends busy. Weeknights are quiet, and catering is whatever her mom’s old customers call in.
Year 2 A line cook joins.
Direct ordering, online booking and a real catering page. The phone quiets down, and a second cook takes the weeknight line so Rina can quote catering.
Year 3 A catering manager comes aboard.
Office lunches repeat every week and wedding tastings book months ahead, so Rina hires someone to run catering instead of answering email at midnight.
Year 5 A catering kitchen next door.
Organized, visible and growing. Her parents still come by on Sundays to taste the pancit and tell her it needs more calamansi.
The kid who called out tickets at her parents’ pass now runs a full dining room and a catering calendar, on her terms.
Her one regret: years of turning down catering because she had no time to quote it.
Got an idea? We test it before we bet on it.
Rina wanted her catering page to show the price per guest, “From $18 a person,” instead of a “Request a quote” button. Andy liked it, but the page was already bringing in inquiries. So they ran a trial: half of visitors saw the current page, half saw hers.
70% of employees who first tried a restaurant through a work meal later ordered from it on their own.ezCater Feeding the Workplace report (vendor), 2025
A “Request a quote”
Visitors
1,000
Inquiries
100
Per 100
10.0
+20%
B Her idea: show the price per guest
Visitors
1,000
Inquiries
120
Per 100
12.0
Winner: B. 12 catering inquiries per 100 visitors instead of 10. That’s 20% more inquiries from the same budget.
Illustrative test from Rina’s story. We call a winner when the difference holds up statistically, not when one page is ahead for a day.
What diners want changes with the calendar.
A restaurant’s year has its own rhythm: the gray weeks after New Year’s, Mother’s Day, patio season, weddings and holiday parties. So the campaigns and pages rotate with it, and the budget follows the nights you have open tables.
Jan–Mar
The gray stretch
Short days and tight budgets. Weeknight specials, comfort-food pages and recurring office lunches carry the slow months.
May
Mother’s Day and graduations
About 43% of consumers planned to use a restaurant for Mother’s Day in 2024. Graduation parties follow right behind, so tray pages move to the front.
Jun–Sep
Patios and weddings
Patios fill on the first warm weekend, and wedding and rehearsal-dinner catering peaks. Couples spent an average of $80 per guest on catering in 2025.
Nov–Dec
Holiday parties and trays
Office parties and family gatherings stack up from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. On one large ordering platform, Thanksgiving 2025 was the biggest catering day on record. Holiday pages go live in October.
Sources: National Restaurant Association Mother’s Day survey, 2024; The Knot Real Weddings Study, 2026; Olo restaurant trends (vendor), 2025.
It’s daily prep, not a one-night special.
You don’t prep once and call it done. Marketing works the same way. Ads wear out, menus change, competitors copy what works, and new apps arrive every month. We check on it every day, so you can run the kitchen.
What we watch, every day
Budgets and bids, matched to the nights you have open tables.
Broken order links, booking buttons and tracking. If something breaks, ads pause until it’s fixed.
Menu, hours and holiday changes on Google, your site and every listing.
Fresh kitchen videos before the old ones stop working.
What nearby chains, food halls and delivery apps are promoting.
It starts with a 30-minute call.
From “book a call” to campaigns that run while you cook.
1 minute
Book a call
Pick a time on Andy’s calendar and tell us your restaurant’s name and neighborhood.
Behind the scenes
We gather your footprint
Your Google listing, menu, photos, public reviews and what people say about your food online.
30 minutes
A call with Andy
Your food, your story, your catering and the orders you want more of. Bring your questions.
About 2 hours
Your demo website
Menu, catering, private events and order and booking buttons, written in your voice.
Review
Every claim checked
We confirm dish names, prices and allergen notes with you, and swap AI images for real photos of your food.
Free
Discovery Platform
Request edits with our AI, approve drafts, or send our team a ticket.
Kickoff
A $500 ten-day test
Google Ads in your neighborhood at $50 a day for 10 days, paid straight to the platforms, aimed at the searches that bring orders.
Always
Your systems stay
Orders and bookings flow into your own ordering and reservation systems. We measure which searches and pages fill tables.
We charge 20% of the ad spend we run to start, and the percentage goes down as you grow. No setup fee, no retainer, no contract. The website is built and hosted free. Everything below is included, so all you have to do is cook.
Starting outGrowingScalingMulti-site
We start at 20% of the ad spend we run, and the percentage steps down as your monthly spend grows.
Included in the percentage
Video production
Landing pages for menus, catering and events
Copywriting checked against your real menu
Review and reputation guidance
Google keyword research
Daily budget management
Order and booking tracking setup
Fresh creative before ads wear out
Ongoing A/B testing
Seasonal planning
Website hosting
Just want the website? That’s fine. We’ll still build it and host it for free.
Happy with the website you have? Keep it. If it’s tied to your ordering or reservation system, we’ll add the pieces that bring in guests, like catering and event pages and ad landing pages, and run your campaigns around it.
Nothing goes out that your guests or your liquor license would question.
Restaurant marketing touches more rules than people expect: reviews, creators, alcohol, texting and menu claims. We treat them as the brief, not the fine print. Every claim is backed by something real, approved by you, and checked before it runs.
No fake, bought or filtered reviews, as the FTC’s 2024 rule requires, and food creators who eat free say so, as its Endorsement Guides require.
Drink ads never target anyone under 21, as Google’s and Meta’s alcohol ad policies require, and none run in ChatGPT, which doesn’t allow alcohol ads.
Happy hours follow Illinois law: posted seven days ahead, four hours a day and 15 a week at most, never after 10 p.m., and no two-for-ones.
Marketing texts go only to guests who signed up, and “STOP” always works, as the TCPA and the FCC’s consent rules require.
Menu claims like “gluten-free” only where the kitchen can back them, consistent with the FDA’s definition, with allergens confirmed by you before anything runs.
Rina and Kusina Rina are composites, and this page tells you so. We are not your lawyer; your attorney has the final word, and local liquor rules can be stricter than the state’s.
Filipino food is just the start.
Cafés, bakeries, caterers, food trucks, bars and every kind of restaurant. Different guests, different seasons, same playbook: find what makes your food worth the trip, say it clearly, and put it in front of the people who are hungry for it.
Book your call with Andy.
Thirty minutes about your food, your guests and the orders you want more of. Your demo website typically arrives about two hours later.
