Restaurant & Hospitality Marketing Agency in Australia.
Digital marketing for restaurant groups, venue owners and franchisors in Australia: ACL-compliant, ABAC-aware campaigns built for the operator, not the diner. As a franchise marketing agency for franchisors, we run the group brand and each franchisee's local campaigns as one system.
shakalakaa runs restaurant digital marketing for Australian venue groups, franchisors and hospitality operators, reviewed against the Australian Consumer Law (ACCC) and the ABAC alcohol code before launch. Campaigns are tracked to booked covers and delivery orders in AUD. Our published Australian hospitality work is supply-side: Nomad Coffee Group's Shopify Plus and B2B wholesale portal.
- Operating from 60 Martin Place, Sydney, with delivery from the Kuala Lumpur headquarters.
- USD 8.1M
- Client media spend managed
- All accounts, 2025 · RM 35M at USD 1 = RM 4.30 (Dec 2025)
- 2,400+
- Creative assets produced in-house
- All client accounts, 2025
- 70+
- Accounts under management
- As at September 2026
- 5
- Markets served
- Malaysia · Singapore · Hong Kong · Australia · Taiwan
- 4.2×
- Return on ad spend, e-commerce accounts
- E-commerce accounts, Jan–Dec 2025
- -38%
- Cost per qualified lead since onboarding
- Lead-gen accounts, first 90 days vs Dec 2025
- Last updated: July 2026
Australian hospitality advertising sits under a stack of regulatory instruments that catches campaigns imported from less-regulated markets first.
- Australian Consumer Law (opens in a new tab) (administered by the ACCC) governs menu pricing, surcharge disclosure and "free" or "complimentary" claims;
- the ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code (opens in a new tab) binds any venue advertising alcohol — including on social;
- and the AANA Food and Beverage Code (opens in a new tab) applies to food and non-alcoholic beverage claims industry-wide.
ABAC is the rule most cross-border campaigns break first — it applies to organic social content, not just paid advertising, and covers pre-approval for alcohol communications at scale. What may be posted from an unregulated market\'s venue account is not what may be posted from an Australian venue account.
More detail on this section
The audience for this page is the venue owner, group operator, or franchisor marketing lead. Never the diner. Per the standing size filter, this speaks to multi-site and group operators — single-site cafés without a dedicated marketing function are outside the scope this page addresses.
Australian platforms and groups we work with
What's different about advertising this in Australia
Compliance
Australian hospitality marketing sits under
- the federal Australian Consumer Law (misleading or deceptive conduct, price and surcharge disclosure, "free"/"complimentary" and comparison-price claims),
- the industry-set ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code (binds every venue that advertises alcohol, including on organic social),
- and the AANA Food and Beverage Advertising Code plus AANA Code of Ethics (food and beverage claims, targeting children, health and nutrition representations).
Requirements are described in practical terms — always confirm specifics against the primary instrument or your legal adviser.
The three imports from unregulated-market campaigns that fail fastest in Australian hospitality:
- alcohol promotion on organic social without ABAC alignment (which most imported venues treat as ordinary content),
- surcharge and menu-price non-disclosure on ads and landing pages (ACCC-enforceable under ACL),
- and health or nutrition claims on menu items that trigger FSANZ nutrition-content or health-claim standards.
Every AU hospitality campaign we run is reviewed against these three surfaces before publishing.
Australia benchmarks (AUD)
Australia benchmarks (AUD)
Cross-industry AUD figures, curated from published Australian industry reports (not hospitality-specific — we don't yet have a large enough managed AU hospitality sample for a dedicated vertical band, so we publish the honest general range rather than an invented one). See the full Australia cost breakdown for what we do and don't have data on more broadly.
Source: shakalakaa aggregated from managed accounts.
| Metric | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Meta CPC (cross-industry average) | A$1.47 |
| Meta CPM (cross-industry) | A$9.63–21.73 |
| Google Search CPC (cross-industry) | A$2–4 |
Cross-industry AUD figures, curated from published Australian industry reports (not hospitality-specific — we don't yet have a large enough managed AU hospitality sample for a dedicated vertical band, so we publish the honest general range rather than an invented one).
See the full Australia cost breakdown for what we do and don't have data on more broadly. — full data in the AU ad benchmarks.
How we run it
ABAC-aligned creative first for alcohol-serving
Organic social calendar and paid creative reviewed against the ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code before publishing — including images that show product, promotions, and any language around alcohol strength or consumption context.
ACL menu-price and surcharge discipline
Landing pages, promotional creative and booking flows reviewed for price-disclosure completeness under the Australian Consumer Law — including public holiday and weekend surcharges, service fees, and any "from" pricing on menus.
Multi-site and group operator focus
Campaigns built for venue groups, franchisors and multi-outlet operators — with per-location targeting layered under a group-level brand system, not a copy-paste of one venue\'s campaign across the estate.
AUD-based budgeting and reporting
Spend and targets modelled in AUD against cross-industry Australian benchmarks, reported as cost per booking or cost per delivery order — not per raw social engagement.
More detail on How we run it
- ABAC-aligned creative first for alcohol-serving venues. Organic social calendar and paid creative reviewed against the ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code before publishing — including images that show product, promotions, and any language around alcohol strength or consumption context. This is the rule imported campaigns break most consistently.
- ACL menu-price and surcharge discipline. Landing pages, promotional creative and booking flows reviewed for price-disclosure completeness under the Australian Consumer Law — including public holiday and weekend surcharges, service fees, and any "from" pricing on menus.
- Multi-site and group operator focus. Campaigns built for venue groups, franchisors and multi-outlet operators — with per-location targeting layered under a group-level brand system, not a copy-paste of one venue\'s campaign across the estate.
- AUD-based budgeting and reporting. Spend and targets modelled in AUD against cross-industry Australian benchmarks, reported as cost per booking or cost per delivery order — not per raw social engagement.
- Operator-readable reporting. Reporting written for the venue owner or group marketing director — attribution to bookings, covers, delivery orders and repeat-visit signals, not to reach and impression vanity.
Hospitality marketing agency Sydney: our Martin Place office
Our Australian office is at 60 Martin Place, so Sydney restaurant groups, venue operators and franchisors can brief us in person. Campaigns run in AEST and are checked against the ACL and ABAC before launch.
Hospitality marketing agency Melbourne: served from Sydney
We have no Melbourne office. Melbourne venue groups and franchisors are served from Sydney and our Kuala Lumpur headquarters, with the same ABAC and ACL review and per-venue reporting. For search work in Victoria, see SEO for Melbourne businesses.
Restaurant social media marketing under the ABAC code
For restaurant groups, social media is where most alcohol and menu-price breaches happen, because venue teams post every day. We set up one content calendar for the group, with venue-level posts drawn from an approved bank of claims, offers and imagery checked against ABAC and the ACL.
Paid social runs per venue under the group brand and is reported as bookings and delivery orders, not reach.
Hotels, resorts and tourism operators
For hotels and resorts, the aim is more direct bookings and less OTA commission: hotel SEO for room, location and experience pages, Google Ads for brand and destination searches, Meta for destination demand, and tracking through to the booking engine so every channel is judged on booked revenue.
For tourism operators and destinations, a tourism marketing agency has to plan around seasons: campaigns and creative are produced ahead of each peak, then measured in enquiries and bookings.
More detail on Hotels, resorts and tourism operators
We work as a hospitality digital marketing agency for venues, groups and operators. Our published Australian hospitality work is on the supply side — a specialty coffee group’s Shopify Plus store and B2B wholesale portal, shown below. We have not yet published an Australian hotel or tourism case.
Related: the Australia practice overview, the Malaysia Hospitality & Restaurant Marketing marketing programme, the AU benchmarks — plus all the Australia market guides.
Sources
- Australian Consumer Law (ACL) — misleading or deceptive conduct in advertising — Federal instrument administered by the ACCC; applies to menu-price disclosure, surcharge disclosure and "free"/"complimentary" claims in hospitality advertising. (verified 2026-09-12)
- ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code (opens in a new tab) — Industry self-regulation code binding on any venue or brand advertising alcohol in Australia, including organic social content. Pre-vetting service available for alcohol communications. (verified 2026-09-12)
- AANA Food and Beverage Advertising Code (opens in a new tab) — Australian Association of National Advertisers code covering food and non-alcoholic beverage claims, targeting children, health and nutrition representations. Complements AANA Code of Ethics. (verified 2026-09-12)
- FSANZ — Food Standards Australia New Zealand nutrition & health claims — Nutrition-content and health-claim standards under Standard 1.2.7 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code; binding on any menu-item or product claim about nutrition or health properties. (verified 2026-09-12)
Marketing a hospitality operator, venue or restaurant group in Australia?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ABAC and does it apply to my venue's social posts?
ABAC is the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code — Australia's industry-set responsible alcohol marketing standard. It binds any venue or brand advertising alcohol, including organic social posts, not just paid campaigns. If your Instagram feed shows product bottles, promotional pricing, drink imagery in consumption contexts, or language about strength or "session" drinking, it is inside ABAC scope.
Imported campaigns from less-regulated markets are the pattern most likely to breach ABAC without realising it.
What does the ACL require for menu-price disclosure?
The Australian Consumer Law (administered by the ACCC) requires that advertised prices and menu prices reflect what a customer will actually be charged, including all mandatory surcharges (weekend, public holiday, card, service).
"From $X" pricing must be honest — the lowest-priced menu item at $X must actually be available. Non-disclosure of surcharges on ads and landing pages is enforced with real penalties.
Can I make health or nutrition claims on menu items?
Only within the FSANZ nutrition-content and health-claim standards (Standard 1.2.7 of the Food Standards Code). Nutrition-content claims (e.g. "low fat", "high fibre") and general-level health claims are permitted with conditions; high-level health claims (e.g. serious disease reduction) are permitted only for pre-approved claim relationships.
"Fresh", "natural" and similar descriptors carry their own AANA and ACL scrutiny — assume nothing is safe by default.
What does a hospitality customer acquisition cost in Australia?
We don't yet have a large enough managed Australian hospitality sample to publish a dedicated cost-per-booking or cost-per-cover band. Cross-industry Australian benchmarks are around A$1.47 Meta CPC and A$9.63–21.73 Meta CPM — useful directional context, not a hospitality-specific figure.
The number that matters for a venue or group operator is cost per booking or cost per delivery order, which we report in AUD once a campaign has run long enough to measure.
Do you work with single-venue cafés or restaurants?
The page is scoped to multi-site operators, franchisors and venue groups — where a dedicated marketing or corporate-communications function exists. Single-venue operators without a dedicated marketing lead are outside the pattern this page describes. If you're a single venue and want to talk, get in touch — the answer might still be yes, but the shape is different.
Do you target diners directly?
No — this page is for hospitality operators. Campaigns we run reach diners as the client's target audience, but the account is owned by the operator and reporting is calibrated to what the venue owner or group marketing director reviews. We don't sell to end consumers.
More questions (1)
Do you work with hotels and tourism operators?
Yes — hotel SEO, Google and Meta campaigns and booking-engine tracking for hotels and resorts, and seasonal campaigns for tourism operators, measured in bookings and enquiries. Our published Australian hospitality case is a specialty coffee group’s Shopify Plus and wholesale work; we have not yet published an Australian hotel case.