Restaurant Visit Surveys: How Guests Heard About You and Why They Chose You

Ask how guests heard about the restaurant

Discovery options might include a recommendation, search, social media, a passing visit, or another source. Use choices that fit your restaurant and leave room for another answer when needed.

Ask why they chose to visit

A guest may choose a restaurant because of the menu, location, price, atmosphere, or a particular occasion. Keep this separate from the discovery source.

Sample questions

Avoid combining both ideas into one question. Clear questions make the responses easier to interpret.

• How did you first hear about us?
• What was the main reason you chose to visit today?

Read results as clues

Use the answers to understand patterns and decide what to explore next. Response totals alone do not establish why every guest visits.

Choose one or multiple answers intentionally

If you need the first source that introduced the restaurant, a single choice is clear. Guests may have seen several channels, though; allow multiple selections when the goal is to understand all points of contact.

Distinguish first visits from repeat visits

‘How did you hear about us?’ can be useful for a first visit. Asking a repeat guest the same discovery question every time may add effort without adding useful information. Ask only when the answer supports a decision.

Do not add personal attributes without a plan

It may be tempting to add age, gender, occupation, and home area to analyze visit reasons. For a small restaurant’s everyday form, do not collect attributes the team does not intend to use. Keep the question set focused.

Use answers as clues for marketing decisions

If many guests found the restaurant through Google, check that the Business Profile information is accurate. If referrals are common, look at which parts of the experience guests mention. Treat the response as a prompt for follow-up, not a complete explanation of customer behavior.