How much should a restaurant in Saudi Arabia spend on ads?
Short answer: there is no single correct number, but there is a simple framework successful operators use: budget a percentage of monthly revenue (not a fixed amount), start small on two channels only, and measure the return of every riyal before scaling. A stable restaurant typically allocates 3% to 6% of revenue to marketing; a new or expanding one may run 8% to 10% for a defined period. What matters is not how much you spend; it is knowing what every riyal brought back.
Why a percentage of revenue beats a fixed amount
Because it scales with you. In strong seasons (Ramadan, holidays, Riyadh and Jeddah event periods) the budget rises automatically with demand; in quiet months you stop burning cash on an audience that is not ordering; and marketing becomes a clean, proportional line in your P&L, like cost of goods.
A practical framework with numbers
For a restaurant doing 150,000 SAR per month:
- Established and known in its area: 3% to 4%, meaning 4,500 to 6,000 SAR per month.
- Competing in a crowded district: 5% to 6%, meaning 7,500 to 9,000 SAR per month.
- New, or opening a new branch: 8% to 10% for a set period, meaning 12,000 to 15,000 SAR per month.
These are starting points, not laws. The framework’s real value is giving you a number to start from and then adjust by measurement, not by feel.
How should the budget split across platforms?
Start with two channels only, and master them before adding any more. First, the direct-order channel: ads that take the customer to a direct order through your website, your app, or a call; highest margin, because no middleman commission. Second, the local-presence channel: geo-targeted ads around your branches; Snap and TikTok are exceptionally strong for restaurants in Saudi Arabia. Once you know each channel’s true return, add a third. Spreading the budget across 5 platforms in month one guarantees you will never know which one worked.
The silent problem: delivery orders are off the books
Around 70% of restaurant and cafe revenue in Saudi Arabia flows through delivery apps, and those orders never appear in any ad platform’s dashboard. Your Snap ad can be filling HungerStation and Jahez with orders while Snap’s dashboard reports zero sales. Many restaurants kill winning campaigns because the effect was invisible. Before judging any budget, connect your delivery orders to your campaigns; that is exactly what MIQAS restaurant attribution does, crediting every HungerStation, Jahez, and Mrsool order to the campaign that drove it.
When do you scale? When do you stop?
One rule: budget follows proven return, not excitement. If a campaign returns 3 SAR or more per riyal, measured from your actual orders rather than the platform’s dashboard, raise its budget 20% per week and watch whether the return holds. If a campaign sits under 1.5 SAR per riyal after two weeks of optimization, pause it and move its budget to the winner. Any decision made before unifying your orders is a guess, however scientific it looks.
Questions restaurant owners ask
How much should I start with if my restaurant is small? Start with what you can afford to lose for two months without damage, even 2,000 SAR; the point is measuring from day one. A small measured budget beats a large blind one.
Do promoted placements inside delivery apps count in the percentage? Yes, count them in the marketing budget and measure their return like any channel. They are often effective for in-app visibility but compete for a customer who already decided to order.
How fast should I expect results? Give every campaign at least two weeks before judging it, provided measurement from your actual orders is in place from day one.