Restaurant marketing in Dubai: content, menu, Google Maps and delivery apps

Content: what to shoot every month

A restaurant feed runs on two kinds of material. Dish photos sell the plate on the menu, on delivery apps and on Google. Reels sell the evening: the room filling up, the chef plating, the dessert someone films for their friends.

A monthly shot list that covers most venues:

• Hero dishes. Your five to ten best sellers, shot the same way so the menu, the delivery app and Instagram match.
• New items. Shoot them before launch week, not after.
• Process. Hands, fire, plating. Short clips work as reels and as story fillers.
• People. The chef, the team, regulars who agreed to be filmed. Get written consent from anyone recognisable.
• Occasions. Brunch, business lunch, a birthday table. Show the use case guests are searching for.

Instagram now lets creators publish reels up to 3 minutes and recommends them to non-followers; the change started with US creators in January 2025. For a restaurant, length rarely helps. A 15–30 second reel with one dish or one moment is easier to shoot every week and easier to reuse as an ad.

Record with the venue music off or low. The licence you will need from December covers music in the room, not music inside your video.

The menu guests open on their phone

Guests read the menu before they book. That means three copies of the same menu: printed or on the table, a QR or link version, and the delivery app listing. Keep photos, names and prices identical across all three.

QR menus range from simple PDFs to interactive menus with photos, ordering and upsells. Published vendor prices for the interactive kind:

Compare what you get for the price: photos and video per dish, languages, who updates prices, and whether guests can order from the table.

Calories on the menu: where sources disagree

In 2019 Dubai Municipality announced that all outlets must show calories on menus by January 2020, then deferred the rule by two years. Its later calorie declaration guide treats declaration as voluntary unless the outlet is certified under the scheme, and mandatory when the menu makes "healthy" or nutrition claims. We found no newer public document that makes it mandatory for all. If your menu says "healthy", "light" or "low-calorie", treat the guide's rules as binding.

Google Maps and reviews

Most first-time guests find a restaurant on Google Maps, so the Business Profile works as your second menu. Keep hours, the menu link, booking link and photos current, and answer reviews. Our guide to Google Business Profile in Dubai covers setup.

Reviews have hard rules. Google's policy bans offering payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review, and bans discouraging negative reviews or asking only happy guests. Reviews from current or former employees count as a conflict of interest. Google says it removes incentivised reviews from Maps.

What you can do: ask every guest the same way, on the receipt, a table card or a message after the visit, with a direct link to the review form and no reward attached.

Delivery apps: what they cost

Delivery apps bring orders and take a share of each one. Only one app publishes its terms.

Other guides go higher: one software vendor puts standard talabat rates at 25–30%, and another at 15–30%. The sources disagree, so the only reliable number is the one in your contract. The 2021 group deal may have changed; ask your account manager.

Two sets of rules now limit what the apps can demand. Dubai's 2025 guidelines require 30 days' notice of changes, monthly itemised statements, optional and disclosed advertising fees, and they let restaurants list on several apps. Federal Ministerial Decision 32 of 2026 allows exclusive deals only if they are voluntary, last up to 12 months and cover up to 10% of an app's restaurants. It sets no cap on commission.

A worked example

Take 300 delivery orders a month at AED 60 of food each, AED 18,000 in item revenue. Under noon Food's published terms, 25% commission is AED 4,500 and the 2% payment fee adds AED 360, so AED 4,860 a month goes to the app. At the 19% loyalty rate the commission is AED 3,420 plus the same AED 360, but loyalty orders also carry a AED 5 flat fee per order. Your own contract decides the real figure; the arithmetic shows why the rate matters more than any single campaign.

For marketing, the takeaway is simple maths. A guest who already knows you costs a commission every time they order through the app. Put your own menu link and WhatsApp number on packaging, receipts and the Google profile so repeat guests can order direct.

Rules that touch restaurant content

The legal side has its own guides, so here is the short version:

• Alcohol and shisha. The media law bans advertising alcohol and smoking, directly or indirectly. A cocktail pour or a shisha cloud as the focus of a reel crosses the line. See what restaurants can't advertise.
• Food ads. Article 33 lists food among sectors whose advertising needs prior approval from the relevant authority. Build it into paid campaign timelines.
• Music. From 1 December 2026 restaurants pay AED 1,500–6,000 a year to play music, or AED 2,500–8,000 with a DJ. Reels need separate sync rights. Details in our music licence guide.
• Influencers. A creator who posts about your venue for money or a free dinner needs an NMA Advertiser Permit. Check it and write the number into the deal; see our Advertiser Permit guide.

What Savage Media does for restaurants

We shoot food and venue content and build the menu that shows it. Prices from our restaurant page:

One shoot can feed the menu, the delivery app listing, Google and Instagram, so plan the shot list around all four.

A monthly checklist

1. Shoot new dishes before they launch; update menu, app and Google the same week.
2. Post reels every week, recorded without background music.
3. Ask every guest for a review the same way, with no reward.
4. Read your delivery app statement: commission, ad fees, payment fees.
5. Put your direct order link on packaging and receipts.
6. Check influencer permits before any barter dinner.
7. Get your music licence quote before December.