Best Email Marketing for Restaurants (2026): Email, SMS and Guest Lists

If you run Square, its marketing tools are the obvious first choice because the list builds itself. Square Customer Directory, the free CRM inside the POS, creates a customer profile from each sale, syncs across channels and locations, and lets you group guests by purchase habits. Square Marketing then sends one-time or automated email and text campaigns to those groups, and tracks attributed sales and coupon redemptions.

The automations cover what most restaurants need: a welcome message for new customers, a birthday offer, a nudge to customers who have not been back in a while, and an automatic request for a Google review after a sale. Square also lists customized receipts that carry a coupon or event invitation.

Which plan to pick: Square Plus at $49 a month per location. It includes unlimited email campaigns, 500 texts a month, a loyalty program, staff management and lower card processing fees. Premium at $149 per location is worth it only if you also want 24/7 phone support, advanced reporting, 2,500 texts and the lowest processing rates.

Watch out for: you cannot buy the marketing tools on Square’s free plan; Square’s marketing FAQ says email and text marketing need Square Plus or Premium. Also note the plan fee applies to each location you run.

Toast Email Marketing is the Toast equivalent: it uses guest and ordering data from Toast POS and Toast Online Ordering, so there is no exporting and importing of email lists. You build lists for different guest types, such as VIPs, birthdays and retention, and switch on automated campaigns that welcome first-time guests, win back lapsed guests and thank regulars and big spenders.

Toast also suggests campaigns that change ordering behavior, such as encouraging guests who have only ordered online to visit in person, or the reverse. An AI writing assistant drafts the copy for you to review, and performance is reported inside Toast.

Which plan to pick: Toast does not publish a price for Email Marketing on its product page or its pricing page. It is sold as part of the Toast Marketing Suite, so ask your Toast representative for the monthly price per location, what is included for SMS, and whether a bundle saves money.

Watch out for: getting the price in writing before you switch it on, and confirming how text message consent is collected and stored.

Constant Contact is a good stand-alone choice for restaurants whose POS has no marketing tool or a weak one. Every plan includes a drag-and-drop editor, templates, an AI copy generator, sign-up forms, social posting and, unusually, live phone and chat support. The event tools let you sell tickets to a wine dinner or cooking class and take payment in the same system.

For texts, Lite and Standard customers can add SMS from $10 a month for up to 500 messages, with text-to-join for building your list. Premium includes 500 messages a month. SMS is available to paid US customers only.

Which plan to pick: Standard at $35 a month for most restaurants. It adds 3 users, scheduling, subject line testing, automatic resend to non-openers, 3 automation templates and 10 custom segments. Prices rise with the number of contacts, and prepaying 12 months saves up to 15%.

Watch out for: getting POS contacts in. Check whether your POS, online ordering or reservation system integrates with Constant Contact before you buy, or plan a regular import.

Brevo prices by the number of emails you send rather than the size of your list, which suits a restaurant with a large list of past guests that it emails once or twice a month. The free plan allows 300 emails a day with no time limit, enough to trial a newsletter to a small list.

Starter, from $9 a month for 5,000 emails, adds unlimited segments and branded sign-up forms. Standard, from $18 a month, adds unlimited automated workflows (welcome, birthday, win-back), A/B testing and removes the Brevo footer.

Which plan to pick: Standard if you want automations; Starter if you only send campaigns. Texts are bought as credits, so check Brevo’s SMS rates for your volume.

Watch out for: POS data. Brevo lists custom POS data connectors on its Enterprise plan; on the lower plans, plan on imports or a third-party connector to get guests in.