Why 90 days is the real launch window
Google gives every new place two windows. Before opening, a profile with a future opening date appears on Google 90 days ahead. After opening, the profile carries a “Recently opened” tag for 90 days. Nobody else in Dubai gives a new restaurant free, local, high-intent visibility like that, so the plan below is built around those two windows.
The trap: before the official opening, guests cannot post reviews or photos on the profile. A soft launch with friends produces content, not reviews. Reviews start with the first public service.
Our general guide to restaurant marketing in Dubai covers delivery commissions, menus and content rules. This one is only about the launch.
Days −90 to −30: build the system before the room is ready
Pretty renders and a “coming soon” post are not a strategy. In the pre-opening months you are building the machine that will catch guests later.
- Google Business Profile. Create it, set the opening month, verify. Verification review can take up to 5 business days, so do it early. Add the menu link, booking link and WhatsApp number now.
- A one-page site or menu link. Guests and Google need somewhere to send people. It holds the menu, location pin, hours and a booking button.
- WhatsApp waitlist. One number, one auto-reply, a form that collects name, phone and consent to receive the opening invite. Under UAE rules marketing messages need opt-in; see our WhatsApp marketing rules guide.
- The hook. Decide the one reason a stranger should come in the first month: a dish nobody else in the area does, a chef with a story, a price point, a view. If you cannot name it in one sentence, no reel will fix that.
- Construction content. Short clips of the fit-out, the chef testing dishes, the team in training. They cost almost nothing and they give the account a story before the plates exist.
Days −30 to 0: soft opening is a production day
The soft opening is the cheapest content shoot you will ever have: a full room, a working kitchen, people who agreed to be there. Treat it as one.
- Book the shoot for the second or third soft service, when the kitchen has its rhythm.
- Shoot every hero dish the same way, so the menu, the delivery listing and Instagram match.
- Collect written consent from anyone recognisable. Filming people without consent is a criminal offence under Federal Decree-Law 34 of 2021.
- Record with venue music off or low. From 1 December 2026 restaurants pay AED 1,500–6,000 a year for music in the room; that licence does not cover music inside your reels. Details in our music licence guide.
If you invite creators, check each one's NMA Advertiser Permit. Since February 2026 anyone who posts about you for money, a free dinner or a voucher needs one; see the Advertiser Permit guide. Market asks for a micro-influencer post sit at AED 1,500–5,000 according to one agency's rate survey.
What nobody tells you about launch discounts
“50% off for opening week” is the most common launch idea in Dubai, and it needs a permit. Federal Law 15 of 2020 and Cabinet Decision 66 of 2023 require a prior licence to announce discounts by any means, social media included. In Dubai, the economy department has repeated that a permit is mandatory for any promotional offer and that the campaign must start and end on the permitted dates.
Our promotion permit guide has the fee table.
Two cheaper routes work without a discount: a dish or dessert that exists only in the launch month, and a WhatsApp-only invite for the waitlist. Both reward early guests without cutting the price.
Days 0 to 90: the “Recently opened” window, week by week
| Weeks | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Reviews and first guests | Message the waitlist; ask every guest for a review the same way, no reward. Reply to every review within a day. |
| 3–4 | Content rhythm | Two or three reels a week from the soft-opening shoot: one dish, one moment each. |
| 5–8 | Paid reach | Start ads only now, on the reels that already performed organically. Target a 3–5 km radius and the cuisine audience. |
| 9–12 | Retention | Second shoot for new dishes and real guests; WhatsApp follow-up to first-month guests; review the numbers. |
Google bans incentives for reviews, including discounts and free items, and bans asking only happy guests. A QR card on the table and a short WhatsApp message after the visit, sent to everyone, is enough.
A worked ad budget
Agency benchmarks put Instagram feed CPM in the UAE at AED 22–40, with Reels at AED 15–28. These are market reports, not official data.
| Monthly ad budget | CPM used | Impressions |
|---|---|---|
| AED 3,000 | AED 40 (feed, high end) | 3,000 ÷ 40 × 1,000 = 75,000 |
| AED 3,000 | AED 22 (feed, low end) | 3,000 ÷ 22 × 1,000 ≈ 136,000 |
| AED 3,000 | AED 15 (Reels, low end) | 3,000 ÷ 15 × 1,000 = 200,000 |
Impressions do not fill tables. What converts is the chain after the ad: profile with fresh reviews, a menu that opens in one tap, a WhatsApp reply in minutes. Fix that chain first, then raise the budget.
Vladimir Chernyshev, GM: the launch is a system, not a party
Most launches we see put the money into an opening night and a feed of renders, then go quiet in week three. The restaurants that keep a full room after the first month treat the launch as a system: Google profile ready before the doors open, one clear hook, content shot during the soft opening, every enquiry answered on WhatsApp, and a list of first-month guests they can invite back. Instagram is one part of that, not the whole thing.
The launch checklist
- Profile with opening date and verification at day −90.
- Menu link and booking button live before the first teaser.
- WhatsApp waitlist with opt-in.
- One sentence that explains why to come.
- Soft-opening shoot with consent forms.
- Discount permit, or a launch idea that needs no discount.
- Influencer permit numbers in every deal.
- Review request for every guest from the first public service.
- Ads from week 5, on proven reels.
- Second shoot and guest follow-up by week 10.
