The single most important hour of restaurant marketing is Sunday between 6 and 8 PM — when diners plan their week. The Weekly Specials Blast automation lands your week-ahead promo across SMS, email, and Instagram inside that window, segmented by which diner eats lunch versus dinner versus brunch, with A/B-tested subject lines and a one-tap reservation CTA. Monday’s prep sheet reflects Sunday night’s outreach.
What it ships with
- GHL workflows:
Specials – Build,Specials – Segment,Specials – Send SMS,Specials – Send Email,Specials – Instagram Post - Pre-built daypart segments: brunch (Sat/Sun 10a-2p), lunch (Mon-Fri 11a-2p), dinner (Mon-Sun 5p-9p), late-night (Thu-Sat 9p+)
- A/B subject-line tester (two variants, 20% sample, 80% to winner)
- Instagram Graph API integration for auto-post + Story
- Click-to-reserve CTA with pre-filled daypart and party-size hint
- Custom fields:
preferred_daypart,last_specials_open_at,last_specials_click_at,specials_opt_out
The flow (step-by-step)
1. Build the week’s specials
GM enters the week’s specials in a single GHL form Sunday afternoon: dish name, price, daypart applicability, photo upload. The form populates SMS copy, email HTML, and Instagram caption automatically.
2. Segment the list
The send list splits by preferred_daypart. A lunch regular gets the Tuesday lunch special. A dinner regular gets the Wednesday osso buco. A brunch-only diner gets the Saturday and Sunday menu. No one gets a midnight-menu push who has never ordered after 9 PM.
3. A/B subject test (email)
Two subject lines fire to a 20% sample at 6 PM Sunday. At 7 PM the winner is selected by open rate. The remaining 80% gets the winning subject at 7:30 PM. Same logic, lighter version, applies to SMS preheader.
4. SMS + email send
SMS lands first (highest urgency, highest read rate). Email follows 30 minutes later for diners who also opted into email. Both carry the same click-to-reserve CTA with daypart and recommended party size pre-filled.
5. Instagram cross-post
At 7 PM Sunday, the same creative auto-posts to the restaurant’s Instagram feed and Story via the Graph API. Story includes a “reserve now” sticker that links to the same CTA.
6. Click-to-reserve
The CTA opens the reservation form with daypart pre-selected. Diner picks the day and time. The booking flows through the standard Reservation Management automation — deposit hold, confirmation cadence, the works.
What you can expect
Operators typically see Monday-Wednesday cover counts climb 15-30% within the first 90 days as slow-night promos get in front of the right diners on Sunday evening. SMS click-through hovers around 8-14% — well above email — and roughly 35-50% of clickers complete a reservation in the same session. Instagram posts driven by the same creative get organic engagement (regulars commenting and tagging friends) at higher rates than ad-hoc content because they’re timed to peak audience hours.
Setup & customization
Pre-built: the daypart segments, the A/B tester, the Instagram integration, every workflow, and the click-to-reserve CTA.
What you tweak in 10 minutes: the send time (Sunday 6 PM default), the daypart definitions, the A/B sample size, the segments included or excluded, and the Instagram caption template.
Compliance notes
All marketing SMS runs on a 10DLC-registered campaign with explicit opt-in captured at reservation, POS, or web form. Every Specials Blast SMS includes the “Reply STOP to opt out” footer per CTIA guidance for ongoing marketing programs. Opt-out removes the contact from Specials, Birthday, Win-Back, and any other marketing-classified workflow simultaneously. Email send respects CAN-SPAM with physical mailing address and one-click unsubscribe. Instagram posts are standard organic content — no platform compliance issues — but auto-posting respects Meta’s API rate limits to avoid throttling.
Stop guessing what to post on Sunday night. Install the Restaurant Snapshot for $997 full or $997 lite — 30-day money-back guarantee. Buy now or book a walkthrough to see the Sunday blast queue up.