Social media for restaurants, cafés and hospitality

How do guests find your restaurant on Instagram?

On Google, “instagram restaurants münchen” (Munich) shows up as an autocomplete suggestion (queried October 13, 2026). That’s a sign that guests search for restaurants via Instagram, together with the name of their city. It isn’t a number: autocomplete shows that the search exists, but not how often.

• Tag your location. Every post gets your venue’s location.
• Place in name, bio and caption. For example “Trattoria Rossi · Italian in Cologne-Ehrenfeld” as the name and first bio line, “Lunch special in Ehrenfeld” in the caption.
• Public posts can show up on Google. Since July 10, 2025, public posts from professional Instagram accounts can also appear on Google and Bing, according to a third-party source; there is an opt-out in the settings. Dish and place in the text help there too; that is our assessment.

Food photos with your phone

• Daylight at a window, no ceiling light and no flash.
• A series from the same perspective: plates always from above, burgers always from the front.
• Hands and movement in the picture: sauce being poured, a piece being shared.
• Clean plate rim, cleared table, calm background.
• The photo shows the dish the way you serve it.

Recurring formats

Fixed formats take away the daily question of what to post today.

Prices and opening hours that appear only in the image can’t be read by a screen reader. The Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit (German Federal Agency for Accessibility) recommends alt text for all images and points out that Stories have no alt text option. So also write dishes and prices into the caption.

As a guide, aim for 3 to 5 Instagram posts per week (Buffer, August 2025, correlation, no guarantee). More in How often should a business post?.

3 example captions to adapt

Replace text in square brackets with your details. The examples show the structure.

• Weekly menu. “This week with us: [dish 1] with [side], [dish 2] (vegetarian) and [dessert] for dessert. All prices are in the graphic, the menu is valid until [day]. Reserve a table: [phone number]. [Neighborhood], [city].”
• Lunch special. “Lunch special today from [time] to [time]: [dish] for €[price], plus [soup or salad]. [Street], [city]. No reservation needed while there’s room.”
• Event. “Wine night on [date], [time]: four wines from [winery], with small dishes. €[price] per person, [number] seats. Sign up by email at [address].”

Google profile and reviews

The Google profile catches guests who search for “restaurant near me”. Social media whets the appetite before anyone searches. You need both, the profile first. That is our assessment.

• Keep your profile complete. Main category, opening hours, menu, photos. If holidays differ from your usual hours, enter special hours.
• Questions and answers are gone. According to third-party sources, Google shut down the Q&A interface on November 3, 2025 and hid the public feature from December 3, 2025. Instead, an AI answers questions from profile data, reviews and website (BrightLocal, as of April 2026). So important answers, such as on reservations and allergens, belong on your website and in your profile.
• Reply to reviews. Personally, briefly, without guest data, with an offer to resolve the issue.
• No review in exchange for a voucher. The Hildesheim Regional Court (LG Hildesheim) prohibited a €50 voucher for Google reviews on December 28, 2021 (11 O 12/21).

companycore doesn’t reply to reviews and doesn’t publish to your Google profile.

Giveaways

Raffling off a menu or a party? Then you need terms of participation, a privacy notice and a note that Instagram or Meta is not involved. On Facebook, “sharing” or “tagging” must not be a condition of entry. All the rules are in Giveaways on Instagram and Facebook. If alcohol is the prize, participation is generally only possible from age 18 (youth protection, general principle). This is not legal advice.

AI images of dishes?

Season and occasions

Asparagus season, beer garden opening, Christmas parties: enter your year’s occasions in the Calendar before they start. Holidays and themed days for 2027 are in Social media content calendar 2027.

With companycore

In the Visual Designer you build images on your real photos: product Food & dishes, environment Restaurant / café / bar / kitchen. They remain AI images, so check before scheduling that they show what you serve. You save your weekly menu once with Save as template (Carousels, slides and templates) and then only refill the fields each week; you schedule the lunch special post in the Calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google autocomplete (Germany), own query on October 13, 2026 (observation, not a number)
• Media Perspektiven: ARD/ZDF Media Study 2025, social media between growth and saturation (in German), 2025 (primary source)
• Storyboard18: Instagram to make public posts searchable on Google and Bing, July 2025 (secondary source)
• Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit: Accessible social media (in German), retrieved October 13, 2026 (primary source)
• BrightLocal: Google Q&A, what happened, as of April 2026 (secondary source)
• Birdeye: Google Business Profile Q&A API discontinued (secondary source)
• Buffer: How Often Should You Post on Instagram, August 13, 2025 (vendor study, correlation)
• 123recht: LG Hildesheim prohibits financial incentives for Google reviews (in German), December 28, 2021, 11 O 12/21 (secondary source)
• Meta: Pages, Groups and Events Policies, Promotions section, retrieved October 13, 2026 (primary source)
• European Commission: Quick Facts, Transparency rules for AI systems, last updated July 29, 2026 (primary source)
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Art. 50 (regulation text)
• § 22 KUG (German Art Copyright Act, right to your own image; in German; primary source)