There’s no doubt that video content production — and especially short-form video — dominates online marketing.

Just having a nice website and posting some cool-looking photos of your restaurant, the menu, the kitchen, and some dishes does not cut it anymore.

Video content isn’t just “all the rage” anymore — it’s the default format across platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

People spend more time watching videos than ever before.

• Over 80% of internet traffic is now video-based.
• Short-form video delivers the highest ROI of any social media format.
• Consumers are significantly more likely to visit a restaurant after seeing engaging video content online.

As per recent studies, people are more likely to buy — or in your case, book a table — after watching a video about the business.

So yes — having videos on your website and social channels is no longer optional.

But what kind of video should you create for your restaurant in 2026?

What should you film?

How long should it be?

By handling so many different video editing services, I know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to video marketing for businesses.

Where should you publish it?

How do you actually turn views into reservations?

Let’s break it down.

Video content ideas for your restaurant & bar

I love the restaurant industry because there are dozens of video formats that work incredibly well.

You can film most of them using just a modern smartphone.

Here are updated ideas that still work — and some that work even better now.

If you are also interested in creative ideas for making videos for your business (not necessarily restaurant-related) without being on camera, check out this post.

Interview with the chef

The chef is still one of the most important figures in your restaurant — after the customer, of course.

You don’t need a celebrity chef.

But if your chef has been with your restaurant for years and has a story to tell, put that on camera.

In addition to filming a traditional horizontal video, create a 30–60 second vertical cut for Instagram Reels and TikTok.

People love watching stories so this would be something interesting to watch.

Here’s a nice example of a video done by Joshua Davies about a head chef who works in Damson Restaurant, Media City UK.

The chef in this video is by no means famous, but he has an amazing story to tell and that makes this video so great.

I don’t know about you, but I’d want to go out and eat there just to get to meet the guy.

That’s something you can easily implement for your restaurant.

Here’s another great video example.

Storytelling works. Always has. Still does.

Client testimonials

Do you have regular clients who’ve been coming for years?

Feature them.

Testimonial videos build trust faster than any ad ever will.

Client testimonials have always been a great way to make a business gain more credibility and build its trust.

On top of that, you will be featuring average people in your video which will make your viewers somehow relate to them.

Heck, if your restaurant is located in a small city or town, many of the viewers might even know the person you are interviewing.

Many marketers think that a restaurant is all about food. Which it is if you think about it.  Sure a restaurant is about the food and drinks, but most importantly, is also about the people, neighborhood, and community.

So why not use the community or the neighborhood to promote your business?

Restaurants today grow faster by leveraging community content — not just brand-produced content.

The B-Roll Video (Short-Form Optimized)

For those of you who don’t know what a B-roll is, don’t get intimidated by it. It’s just a fancy term used by filmmakers to name the footage you use when you want to cut away from the main shot or scene.

You can create an entire video using B-roll:

• Kitchen action
• Drinks being poured
• Fire from the grill
• Close-ups of dishes
• Guests laughing
• Staff plating food

The thing about the bar & restaurant business is that you can put together an entire video using just B-roll type of shoots.

By doing this you end up with a video that showcases the overall atmosphere of the place. Even at first, the shots might seem random, but they will fall into their place and look great.

Kind of like this video.

Shoot vertical (9:16) whenever possible. Most discovery now happens in vertical feeds.

Quick, 15–30 second “atmosphere edits” perform extremely well.

Behind the scenes

Behind-the-scenes content performs even better today than in 2018.

Why?

Because authenticity beats polish.

Film:

• Morning prep
• Ingredient delivery
• Staff meetings
• Kitchen chaos during rush hour

People love seeing the human side of your business.

Recipe Videos

ecipe videos are still powerful.

But here’s the shift:

Instead of 5–10 minute recipe videos, create:

• 30–60 second “quick recipe” versions
• Fast cuts
• Big captions
• Strong hook in first 3 seconds

Example hook:
“Here’s how we make our best-selling pasta in 45 seconds.”

That format performs better than traditional long-form cooking videos for discovery.

Here’s an example which looks good.

Day In The Life Content

Vlogs are still relevant — but the format evolved.

Now it’s:

• “A day in the life of a restaurant owner”
• “What a Saturday dinner rush looks like”
• “Behind the bar on Valentine’s Day”

Consistency matters even more now. Posting 2–4 short videos per week is better than one long polished production per month.

Just make sure you have a set posting schedule and stick with it no matter what.

Consistency is really important if you want to do well on YouTube and grow your subscriber base.

Kind of like what this guy is doing.

Blend it with some music

Music is still critical.

But today:

• Trending sounds on TikTok & Reels increase reach.
• Platform-native audio boosts discoverability.

If you have live music at your venue — showcase it.

If not — align edits with trending audio when appropriate.

Brand Story Video

This still works — especially for multi-location restaurants.

But instead of only publishing it on your website, also:

• Break it into short clips
• Use snippets as paid ads
• Repurpose into LinkedIn content

Long-form brand videos now work best when broken into micro-content.

This was done by Wagamama in collaboration with Oracle and it blends bits and pieces of the restaurant business as well as the technical solution used by the restaurant to improve the customer experience.

These kinds of videos tend to work well when you are representing a bigger brand with more locations.

So that should keep you busy putting out video content. These are just a handful of ideas, I bet you can come up with twice as much if you put your mind to it.

If this list is not enough for you here’s another one of 31 video content ideas for online businesses. And here’s another for creating intro videos for your brand.

Maybe you can borrow something from there as well.

Short-Form Video Is Mandatory

If you take only one thing from this article:

Short-form vertical video is the most powerful marketing format for restaurants.

Platforms to prioritize:

• Instagram Reels
• TikTok
• YouTube Shorts
• Facebook Reels

These platforms push local discovery aggressively — which benefits restaurants massively.

Video Marketing Tips For Restaurants

Ok, now that we’ve talked about video content ideas let’s look at some video marketing tips.

Tell a story

People love stories, and if you want your video to be engaging you need to focus on telling a story with it.

Something fun and emotional tends to have a bigger impact on viewers so try making your video either funny or emotional. Or both at the same time if you can.

Maybe you can find a topic that your viewers can relate to and touch a little bit on that in your video.

Make it catchy

People have a really low attention span when they are online browsing on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram.

You probably know this for yourself. We keep scrolling and scrolling and we rarely stop to watch a video, right? It has to be super interesting and catchy right from the first second.

You have about 2–3 seconds to stop the scroll.

Start with:

• Fire hitting the pan
• A dramatic food close-up
• A bold text hook

Skip long intros completely.

Keep it short

Getting them hooked right from the start of the video is just a small part of the job though.

Once you’ve done that, you want to keep your video short and to the point.

The audience retention rates tend to drop as the video gets longer.

Now aim for:

• 15–45 seconds for discovery content
• 60–90 seconds for storytelling
• Longer only for YouTube or website embeds

Retention matters more than length.

This way more people will watch it until the end, when you will have your call to action message.

Speaking of the call to action…

Call to action

Each of your videos should have a purpose or a call to action as marketers call it.

What do you want to achieve with that video?

Most people will say that they want more sales, more customers, and generate more revenue.

And I completely agree.

But you don’t want to make your video sound like a sales pitch. Not even the call to action.

So messages like “Call us now” or “Get your reservation now” are not exactly your best choice.

Instead, you should try doing something that is not as aggressive. You should be selling without selling.

Try:

• “Check the link in bio for tonight’s specials.”
• “Tag someone you’d bring here.”
• “Save this for your next date night.”
• “Follow us for weekly specials.”

Engagement-based CTAs boost algorithm reach.

That way people will be more likely to interact more with you and you can easily convert them into customers later on.

How To Edit Your Restaurant Videos (2026 Tools & Workflow)

You can still hire professionals.

But today you can also produce high-quality content in-house.

Or, if you are a smaller business and don’t have the budget for it, you can film some shots yourself using your iPhone or a consumer-grade camera.

But what do you do with all that raw footage after that? How do you go about putting together a nice video montage that looks professional and it’s ready to go on social media?

Video editing software

First and foremost you want to get your hands on video editing software.

Free & Beginner:

• CapCut (Mobile & Desktop)
• DaVinci Resolve (Free desktop)

Professional:

• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• DaVinci Resolve Studio

Mobile-first restaurants can edit entirely on their phone now.

It doesn’t matter that much what software you are going to use, is more about how you use it.

Organizing everything

The first thing you want to do is to organize all the different files you will work with.

You will have raw footage that may be coming from different cameras. Maybe you have some B-roll in there.

Then you will have the project files, the audio, and the renders.

I like to have different folders for each of those file types. It helps you organize everything better and find something when you need it.

It looks kind of like this.

But now also:

Keep vertical and horizontal versions organized separately.

Pick the soundtrack

Back up to cloud storage

It may sound a bit counter-intuitive, but I like to start all my edits by picking the background music first.

The reason I recommend doing this is because it will dictate the rhythm and the pace of the video. You want your video to match the beat or the style of the music and have everything somehow in sync.

Now consider:

• Trending sounds
• Platform-native audio
• Royalty-free libraries for ads

Music dictates pacing.

Cutting & stitching

The next thing is to go through all the footage and start picking the scenes that will make it to the final cut.

Select shots that look good, where there’s no camera shake and no blur.

For restaurants, in particular, tight shots tend to work well because you want to capture as many details as possible.

So first you need to make sure you or your camera guy captures plenty of tight, zoomed-in shots. This kind of shot creates those mouthwatering videos that will have your viewers want to taste your food.

Choose:

• Sharp, tight food shots
• Fast cuts
• No dead space

Restaurants benefit massively from close-up detail shots.

Transitions

Next, you need to put it all together.

Most of the time I simply cut away from one scene to another without actually applying a transition effect and I think this approach works well for restaurants as well.

Alternatively, you can use a wide variety of transition effects that are built-in in your software, as long as they don’t look too lame. Or you can do your own transition effects if you feel like experimenting.

Slow motion

As I said in a previous post, I love slow-motion shots.

Slow-mo is an easy way to make your video look more professional.

And I think it works well for restaurant videos because it allows you to kind of draw the viewer’s attention to particular scenes.

You may have a slow-mo scene with your chef seasoning the food, or while he is cooking with fire doing a “flambe”.

Film at:

• 60fps minimum
• 120fps for dramatic slow-mo

Use it for:

• Sauce pouring
• Fire flaring
• Drinks splashing

Just don’t overdo it.

Color Grading (Now Easier With LUTs)

Color grading is what separates amateur from professional.

• Use LUT presets
• Boost warmth for food
• Increase contrast slightly
• Avoid oversaturation

Warm tones make food look more appetizing.

Final Thoughts (2026)

Video marketing for restaurants isn’t just important anymore.

It’s essential.

• Short-form vertical video dominates.
• Authentic content beats overproduced ads.
• Community and UGC drive growth.
• Consistency wins over perfection.

You don’t need a massive production budget.

You need:

• A phone
• Good lighting
• Consistency
• Smart editing
• A clear content strategy

Start small.

Post regularly.

Test what works.

Double down on what performs.

And if you don’t have the time to do it yourself — send us the footage and we’ll handle the editing for you.