// insights
How Much Does a Content & Social Media Agency Cost for a Restaurant?
If you're a restaurant, café or hotel owner searching this, you've probably already had a few quotes come back wildly different from each other — and no real way to tell why. Here's what actually drives the price, so you can compare quotes properly.
What changes the price
Whether it's in-house or outsourced. Agencies that shoot, edit and post everything with one team (rather than farming photography to a freelancer, editing to another, and paid ads to a third party) tend to price as a single monthly retainer rather than a stack of separate invoices — but the all-in number matters more than how many suppliers are behind it.
How much is being shot each month, and how often. A single monthly shoot day producing a batch of content is priced very differently from ongoing weekly coverage, event coverage, or a full launch package.
Whether it includes strategy, or just production. Some agencies just turn up and shoot what they're told to shoot. Others plan what to shoot and why, based on what's actually converting — that planning work is usually priced separately or bundled into a higher retainer.
Add-ons. Drone footage, paid ads management, and influencer partnerships are commonly quoted as add-ons rather than included in a base retainer.
What to actually ask for in a quote
What's included per month: number of shoot days, deliverables (reels, stills, stories), and who owns the footage. Whether strategy and planning are included or extra. Whether the same people shoot, edit and post — or whether it's handed off between people/teams. Turnaround time from shoot to published post. Whether there's a minimum contract length.
Is it worth it?
For a restaurant, the honest answer is: content and social media spend is worth it when it's tied to something you can measure — bookings, footfall on a specific night, or sales of a specific item — not just follower counts. Ask any agency you're considering to point to a result they've driven that you could roughly recreate the logic of for your own venue. See an example →
Digitalist Studio is a London-based in-house content, video and social media studio working with restaurants, hotels and F&B brands.