How to make a restaurant video ad that fills tables

A restaurant video ad that brings people in is 15–30 seconds long and vertical (9:16). It opens on your best-looking dish in the first two seconds, then shows the food being made and people enjoying it, and ends with one clear action: book a table or order, with your hours. The food carries the ad. In a 2022 survey of 1,139 US TikTok users, 38% had visited or ordered from a restaurant after seeing it on TikTok, and 72% of them said the reason was appetizing-looking food. Below is the shot list to film in one evening, the right length for each platform, what to put on screen, and a real 20-second Reel made from 18 kitchen and dining-room clips.

18 clips of a kitchen and a dining room became a 20-second Instagram and Facebook ad, then a 30-second YouTube version. Sped up. Phone-size version.

What a restaurant ad needs

• A dish in the first 2 seconds. On Reels and TikTok people decide in a swipe. Open on the plate, not your logo or the outside of the building.
• Food being made. A pan, a knife, a sauce going on. Movement beats a still plate, and it shows the food is made in your kitchen.
• People enjoying it. A toast, a first bite, a full table. This is what makes a viewer picture themselves there.
• One message. "Made from scratch every night", "New brunch menu" or "Tuesday is half-price pasta". One per ad.
• One action, with the facts. Book or order, your hours, and where to do it. A viewer who has to search for your hours is gone.
• Music, plus text that works on mute. TikTok calls sound essential, but plenty of people scroll with it off, so the message has to read in the text alone.

Length and format by platform

Make the vertical version first. It's where most restaurant discovery happens now, and a 16:9 version is one request away. Editing for Instagram → · Editing for TikTok →

The 8 shots to film (one evening, one phone)

Film during a normal service, not an empty room. Shoot 5–10 seconds of each, more takes than you think you need. 15–20 clips is plenty for a 20-second ad.

1. The hero plate. Your best-looking dish, on the pass or the table, lit from a window or the pass lights. This is your opening shot.
2. The sizzle. Something hitting a hot pan or grill.
3. Knife work. Herbs, tomatoes, bread. Close in on the hands.
4. Plating. A sauce, a garnish, the last touch.
5. The hand-off. A server picking up or setting down a plate.
6. Guests reacting. A first bite, a laugh, glasses clinking. Ask regulars or staff, and get their OK to appear in an ad.
7. The room. One wide shot of the dining room when it's busy.
8. Overhead table. A full table shot from above.

Hold the phone steady with both hands or lean it on something, wipe the lens, and turn off the overhead fluorescents if you can. Shoot vertically for Reels and TikTok. Shoot a few clips horizontally too if you also want a YouTube version, but a good editor can crop either way.

What to put on screen

Keep every line large and in the middle of the frame. Leave prices and offers out of the hook, and put them on the end card where the action is.

The example: a 20-second Reel for a restaurant

We uploaded 18 clips from a restaurant kitchen and dining room, most of them horizontal, to Novacut. The restaurant name and details are made up. We wrote:

Make a 20-second vertical video ad for Instagram Reels and Facebook for our restaurant, Ember Street Kitchen. Open on the most appetizing finished plate with the text "Made from scratch, every night" in the first two seconds. Then quick cuts of the chefs cooking (knife work, the pan, plating) on the beat of an upbeat instrumental, then guests sharing dinner and clinking glasses. End on a card: "Ember Street Kitchen" with "Tue-Sun 5-10pm · Book a table at emberstreet.com" underneath. Keep most shots under 2 seconds, give every horizontal shot its own crop on the food or the people so it fills the 9:16 frame with no black bars, and keep text large and in the middle of the frame, clear of the app buttons.

Novacut picked the plated steak for the opening, cut the cooking shots to the beat of a library instrumental, moved to the toast and the dinner table, and ended on the card. It also checked its own frames and said two pan shots were cropped mostly to the cook's apron, not the food. We replied "Yes, re-crop those two pan shots on the food" and it fixed them before we exported.

Then one more message made the version for YouTube and the Facebook feed: "Make a 30-second horizontal 16:9 version for YouTube and the Facebook feed: the same story with a few more kitchen shots, and the end card for 3 seconds."

Running it as a paid ad

• Boost or Ads Manager. Boosting a Reel from Instagram is fine for a first test. Ads Manager gives you more control over the audience, for example people within 5–10 miles who are 25 and older.
• Give it a week. Meta's delivery system needs about 50 results in 7 days to settle (the "learning phase"). Don't judge an ad after one day.
• Test the opening, not the whole ad. Make two versions with different first shots and hooks, and keep the winner.
• Post it everywhere for free too. The same file goes on your Instagram and Facebook pages, TikTok and Google Business Profile.

Mistakes that waste the budget

• A logo or exterior first. The plate goes first. The name goes at the end.
• Black bars. A horizontal clip shrunk into a vertical frame looks like a mistake. Crop each shot to fill the frame.
• Too much text. Three lines at most, each readable in a second. If you want words throughout, use captions rather than stacked titles.
• No hours or way to book. "Book at…" and your days and hours belong on the end card.
• Stock-looking food. Your own plates, your own room. People are deciding whether to come to your restaurant.

FAQ

How long should a restaurant video ad be?

15–30 seconds for Instagram and Facebook Reels, 21–34 seconds for TikTok in-feed ads (TikTok's recommendation), and 10–15 seconds for Stories. Put the dish in the first two seconds whatever the length.

Can I make a restaurant ad with just my phone?

Yes. Every shot in the example is a short handheld or tripod clip, the kind a phone shoots well. What matters most is light and steadiness: film near a window or the pass lights, hold the phone with both hands, and shoot 5–10 seconds of each shot.

What music can I use in a restaurant ad?

Use music you have the rights to use in an ad. Trending songs in the TikTok and Instagram apps are often cleared for personal posts but not paid ads, and business accounts are limited to commercially licensed sounds. Novacut picks a track from its built-in library to fit the cut, or you can upload a track you've licensed. More on music →

Should a restaurant ad have a voiceover?

It doesn't need one. Most restaurant ads work with music and three short lines of text. A voiceover helps if you have a story to tell, like the owner explaining a family recipe, and then it should be your own voice.

How much does a restaurant video ad cost?

Filming it yourself and editing in Novacut costs the subscription after the 7-day free trial. A local videographer typically charges $75–$200 an hour, and a half-day shoot plus editing usually runs into the hundreds or low thousands. What editors charge →

Sources: MGH survey of 1,139 US TikTok users on restaurant visits, October 2022; TikTok, top creative tips (21–34 s in-feed length, sound); BrightLocal on Google Business Profile video limits; Vidico on videographer rates. Checked November 2026.

Footage: cottonbro studio and Jep Gambardella on Pexels (Pexels License). The restaurant is fictional; the people shown don't endorse Novacut.