SMS Marketing for Takeaways

SMS is immediate, personal and interruption-heavy. Use it for a narrow purpose, a lawful audience and an offer the takeaway can fulfil without creating avoidable pressure.

Separate service texts from marketing

Build a valid audience

For unsolicited marketing texts to individual subscribers, use valid consent or a soft opt-in only when all requirements are satisfied. Record the customer relationship, initial opt-out, message scope and every later opt-out. Do not use marketplace numbers as an owned SMS list without a valid route.

Plan the campaign

• One clear reason to contact the customer.
• Important terms visible in the text or immediately accessible.
• A working landing page.
• Kitchen and delivery capacity approved.
• Sender identity clear.
• Simple opt-out instruction.
• Suppression applied before send.
• Stop rule for complaints or operational pressure.

Control message length and cost

Accented characters, symbols and long links can affect encoding and segment count. Test the final message through the actual provider rather than estimating from character count alone. Track delivered segments, not only contact count.

Measure value and harm

Calculate successful incremental orders and contribution after message, incentive, payment, delivery and support costs. Review opt-outs, complaints and wrong-number responses. A campaign with high revenue but high complaint or failure cost is not healthy.

Use a supplier checklist

Practical next step

Classify every existing text template as service or marketing and remove mixed-purpose wording. Then audit the evidence for the marketing audience.

Test the full opt-out path

Send a test marketing message, reply with supported opt-out keywords and verify the number reaches the central suppression list and every campaign platform. Test the confirmation response and ensure it contains no promotion.

Control timing by local operation

Use the customer’s relevant location and the takeaway’s opening pattern. Avoid late-night promotional messages and sending an offer after a location has stopped accepting orders. Scheduled campaigns need a final operational check.

Keep a campaign evidence pack

Store the final text, audience criteria, permission source, suppression count, send time, provider log, landing page and outcome. This supports complaint investigation and prevents a later team from repeating a campaign without understanding its restrictions.

Review wrong-number risk

Phone numbers are reassigned and shared. Provide clear identity and a simple opt-out, avoid exposing account or order details in promotional texts, and remove invalid numbers when recipients say the message is not for them.

Control automated triggers

Test that a refund, account deletion or location closure stops relevant marketing automation. Keep triggers documented and assign an expiry or review date so obsolete rules do not continue sending.

Related guides

• Restaurant Marketing and Customer Retention — the main guide for the wider topic.
• Restaurant SMS Marketing Rules — a detailed next step for putting this guidance into practice.
• SMS Campaign Types — a detailed next step for putting this guidance into practice.
• Reviews and Reputation — a closely related operational control to review alongside this page.
• Customer Acquisition — a closely related operational control to review alongside this page.

Sources and date checked

Guidance checked: 24 July 2026. Recheck current ICO, supplier and advertising guidance before acting.

• ICO guidance on direct marketing using electronic mail
• ICO: plan direct marketing
• ICO: respect people’s direct-marketing preferences