The Best Social Media Agencies for Restaurants in the UK (2026)

Most lists of the best restaurant social media agencies are written by agencies about themselves. This one names the field, including the agencies we lose pitches to, because you are going to find them anyway and a list of one is not a list.

The short version. For social, PR and paid running as one campaign across a group, MeMo. For PR heritage with social attached, Sauce Communications. For trackable performance on a smaller budget, SideDish Media. For luxury lifestyle work that reaches beyond hospitality, Bacchus. The rest of this is how we got there.

Who actually does restaurant social media in the UK

MeMo

Us. London and the UAE, 40-plus people, 14 years in. Four teams under one roof: strategy, social and content, PR and influencer, digital. In-house content creators, three graphic designers, platform specialists for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Clients include GAIL’s, Pizza Pilgrims, Jamie Oliver, Bancone, Eggslut, Appalachia, The Dusty Knuckle, Big Green Egg and The Pig hotel group. Strongest when organic, paid and press all need to pull in the same direction. Probably more agency than a single site needs.

Sauce Communications

Founded 2001, with long-standing PR credentials in this category. Named UK’s Leading Food & Drink PR Agency by PR Week and Social Media Agency of the Year by The Caterer. Launched Shake Shack’s UK channels. Client list runs from Jason Atherton to D&D London. Worth a look if critic and editor relationships are the priority and social sits alongside that.

SideDish Media

Soho Square, open since 2016, a team of seven. Local SEO, Google Ads, Meta and social management, with a stated focus on trackable spend. Suits an independent or small group that wants performance run tightly and reported plainly.

Bacchus

A creative communications agency running for more than 25 years, with offices in London, the Gulf and the US. Independent and female-founded, working across hospitality and food and drink alongside fashion, beauty, design and travel. Co-founder Anouschka Menzies has topped PRWeek UK’s luxury hospitality, food and drink agency list. Relevant if your brand sits in luxury lifestyle as much as it sits in hospitality.

Also worth a look depending on the brief: Mason Circle, Blackstone Media and Restaurant Genie.

How to pick between them

Start with what is actually broken.

Quiet midweek and full weekends is a demand problem. Paid social with a proper retargeting setup will move it faster than a content refresh.

Good food and nobody talking about it is a press and creator problem. Social on its own will not fix it.

Busy but not profitable is usually a channel mix and booking flow problem, and the agency you want is the one that asks to see your website before it asks to see your grid.

A new opening needs all three inside the same fortnight, which is where an integrated team earns its keep and a single-channel specialist starts quietly subcontracting.

What to ask on the call

Ask who makes the content. A surprising number of social agencies brief a freelancer they have never met, in a city they have never visited, and then send you the invoice. Ask to meet the person who will be standing in your venue with a camera.

Ask what happens when a post does well. Good agencies have a plan ready: boost it, cut it into paid, send it to the creators, put it in the press pitch. Weaker ones screenshot it for the monthly report.

Ask for three months of numbers from a client who looks like you. Followers are the easiest number to grow and the least connected to covers. Saves, shares, profile visits and click-throughs to the booking engine are the ones that move a Tuesday.

Does TikTok actually work for restaurants

Yes, and more reliably than Instagram for discovery, because the feed still shows content to people who do not follow you. Instagram has become closer to a shopfront. People check it after they have heard about you, and it decides whether they book.

In practice that means TikTok for reach, Instagram for conversion, and one shoot feeding both. Any agency quoting separately for the two is selling you the same day twice.

What we would tell you if you were not a prospect

One site, a strong local following, a tight budget. You do not need us. You need a good freelance creator two days a month and someone competent running your paid. That is a few hundred pounds, not a retainer.

An agency starts paying for itself around the second site, or the first time press, social and paid have to land in the same week and nobody internally has the hours to coordinate it. Before that you are buying capacity you will not use.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the best social media agency for restaurants in the UK?

It depends on the problem. MeMo for integrated social, PR and paid across a group. Sauce Communications for PR-led social with critic relationships. SideDish Media for trackable performance on a smaller budget. Bacchus for luxury lifestyle brands whose audience sits beyond hospitality.

How much does a restaurant social media agency cost?

Freelance creator support starts in the hundreds per month. Specialist agency retainers typically start in the low thousands. Integrated programmes covering social, PR and paid for a group sit well above that. Any agency quoting before it has asked about your covers and your booking system is guessing.

Should I hire a hospitality specialist or a general social media agency?

Hospitality has quirks a generalist learns on your budget. Shoot days that work around service, food styling under kitchen lights, and the fact that a viral post is worth very little if it lands on a Monday when you are closed.

Do restaurants need TikTok and Instagram, or just one?

Both, from one shoot. TikTok finds people who have not heard of you. Instagram converts the ones who have.

How do I measure whether restaurant social media is working?

Track covers and booking-engine click-throughs alongside saves and shares. Follower count is the number an agency reaches for when the others are flat.

Where MeMo fits

MeMo runs social media, PR and influencer and digital marketing for hospitality brands from London and the UAE.

We have just put three competitors in front of you on our own website. If one of them fits your brief better, go and talk to them. If you want the whole thing running from one table, get in touch.