The short answer
For most restaurants, Uber Eats marketing means improving your listing and using the app's own promotions first. Outside ads usually come later, if at all.
The reason is simple. The people who open Uber Eats are already hungry and already browsing restaurants. Your job there is to be chosen over the other listings on the screen. Paying to bring strangers to a delivery page is a different job, and it only makes sense once the page converts well.
A tiny search with a surprising price tag
Searches for this exact topic are rare. The whole cluster, built from a single query, adds up to about 30 a month. Over the last year the high point was 50 a month in September 2025, and the low was 20 a month in March 2026. That is too few searches to read a trend into.
The cost of advertising on it is a different story. The highest top-of-page bid advertisers pay is $25.63 per click. Part of that is agencies and software vendors competing for restaurant clients. Treat the number as a warning that clicks in this space are expensive, and not as a sign that your own ads would perform.
Fix what customers see before anything else
Your listing is the storefront. Check it as a customer would, on a phone, scrolling past competitors.
| Item | What to check | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Photos | Are the top sellers shown in clear, bright shots? | Free to low |
| Menu names and descriptions | Can a stranger tell what the dish is in one line? | Free |
| Prices | Do they cover the platform's commission and packaging? | Free |
| Hours and prep time | Are they accurate, so orders aren't late or canceled? | Free |
| Ratings and replies | Do you answer complaints quickly and politely? | Free |
Prices deserve the most thought. Delivery platforms take a cut of each order, so a dish that earns a profit in your dining room can lose money in a delivery bag. Work out the margin per item before you run any discount.
In-app promotions: test one at a time
The app offers promotions such as a discount on a first order, a free item over a minimum spend, or paid placement higher in the list. Each one costs margin or fees. Change one thing at a time and give it a few weeks. Write down your order count and your net profit per order before and after.
A promotion that raises orders but lowers profit per order did not work. Look at what you keep after the platform's fee, the discount and the food cost.
Pull customers toward your own channels
A delivery app owns the customer relationship, not you. Slip a card or a QR code into each bag that offers a reason to order direct next time, such as a small perk or a loyalty stamp. Keep the wording friendly and don't knock the app. Then track how many of those customers come back.
Knowing whether outside ads paid off
If you do run ads, say on Google or Meta, the hard part is measurement. A click that leads to an Uber Eats page often happens off your own site, where you can't see what the visitor does next. You may be left guessing which ad produced an order.
Ads pointed at your own ordering page are easier to measure. You can count orders there and compare them to ad spend. Before spending, decide the most you'd pay to win one order and what a repeat customer is worth to you. Without that figure, you can't tell a good month from a bad one.
What to do this week
Update your photos and menu text, check your prices against fees, and choose one in-app promotion to test. Put a direct-order card in the bags. Record your numbers before and after so you can see what changed.
If you decide to bring in outside help
Help can make sense when ads have to run, when you can't tell which orders came from where, or when you don't have the hours to manage it. A good analyst or agency should ask for your margins first, set up order tracking, and agree on a small test budget with you. If someone promises results before asking about your numbers, be careful. Plenty of owners do all of this themselves, and that is a fair choice.