There is no percent of revenue that fits every restaurant. Owners ask whether marketing should be about 2 to 3 percent of sales, and we do not publish that as a rule because we could not verify it for independent restaurants. What we can verify is Brinker International, which spent 2.75 percent of company sales on advertising in the year ended June 25, 2025.
Published November 1, 2026 · Updated November 2, 2026
Brinker, which operates Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy, reported advertising expense of $146.6 million on company sales of $5,335.3 million that year. 146.6 divided by 5,335.3 is 2.75 percent. The year before, advertising expense was $130.2 million on company sales of $4,371.1 million, or 2.98 percent. Both figures are in Brinker's Form 10-K. Franchise advertising contributions of $6.5 million in fiscal 2025 were recorded in franchise revenue.
Advertising expense in one public filing
146.6 divided by 5,335.3, and 130.2 divided by 4,371.1. Brinker Form 10-K, year ended June 25, 2025.
Owners talk about a range near those two years. Brinker buys national advertising for Chili's and Maggiano's. Start from your last twelve months of sales. If the restaurant is new, use a cautious month and say so. Decide the work first. The percent is the share of sales that work costs.
Brinker records advertising when it runs. A manager's hours, photography, and delivery or reservation fees may sit outside that line. Write down media, a partner, photos, and offers. Leave platform commissions alone. Getting found nearby, filling Monday through Wednesday, and booking private dining are different lines. See the Maps and reviews guide, the weeknight guide, and the private dining guide. For several addresses, our multi-location guide gives each restaurant its own line.
Write the result before the first dollar. Count reservations you can trace, sales on the nights you meant to fill, and direction requests. A direction request is a request for directions. Our profile guide defines those actions. For events, keep a sent inquiry, a date that fit, and a booking in separate columns. Our reporting approach keeps views out of the reservation count.
Toast's 2025 survey found the reasons guests named for visiting a new restaurant: price and value 55 percent, food quality 51 percent, menu variety 43 percent, and location 43 percent. The ad has to point at those. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking, so a Google Ads investment does not buy the free Maps pin.
No percent fits every restaurant. Brinker International's advertising expense was about 2.75 percent of company sales in fiscal 2025, and about 2.98 percent the year before. Use that large-company figure as context, then set your number from your own sales and a result you can count.
The Brinker figure is advertising inside restaurant expenses. It leaves out a manager's hours, photography, and fees paid to a delivery or reservation platform. Write down what your percent includes.
A new restaurant usually needs more of its early sales pointed at being found. A full Saturday does not need a larger share. Tie the money to first-time reservations or direction requests.
A shared pool drifts toward the restaurant that already gets the searches. Give each location its own line and review it against that location's reservations, direction requests, or event inquiries.
Bring the last year of sales and the nights you cannot fill. If you want to partner with us, request an introduction. Scope stays in that conversation.
Published by Jay Street Media. Public figures above are cited to the source. Nothing on this page promises a sales outcome.