A Guide to Using LinkedIn for Restaurant & Hospitality Groups

Introduction

LinkedIn isn’t just for B2B technology companies anymore. LinkedIn for restaurants and LinkedIn for hospitality groups have also been increasingly powerful in building strategic partnerships in the industry and increasing franchise growth. Not to mention, LinkedIn was also ranked the #1 platform for influencing B2B decision-makers, and 98% of Fortune 500 CEOs use the platform as their primary or only social media platform.

In this guide, we show how restaurant and hospitality groups like yours can build a strong LinkedIn presence and scale using tools like Ordinal - a LinkedIn first content platform - to manage your expanding network with confidence.

Why LinkedIn Matters for Restaurant & Hospitality Groups

So, how do you grow a restaurant franchise with LinkedIn, and why does this platform matter?

While Instagram and TikTok remain essential in showcasing your culinary creations to diners, LinkedIn serves a different purpose.

It’s not just about scale, it’s about the professional mindset. People go to LinkedIn with intent. It functions as a “professional marketplace” to connect with decision makers who can help you scale - potential franchisees, real estate developers, investors, and industry partners. With over 65 million decision makers who use the platform, a LinkedIn marketing strategy for restaurants becomes essential.

Benefits of using LinkedIn for restaurants and hospitality groups:

• Attract qualified franchisees and investors. 80% of B2B leads from social media come from LinkedIn. Unlike Instagram followers who just admire your food photos, LinkedIn users are professionals actively seeking investment opportunities and business partnerships.
• Network with Decision Makers. The platform gives you direct access to C-suite executives and business owners who have the capital and expertise to become franchise partners.
• Showcase Growth Trajectory and Success Stories. LinkedIn still stands as the top-performing platform for B2B marketers. 82% report that they achieve success here than on other social platforms. This makes it the perfect venue for you to highlight your franchise success stories, new location openings, and expansion into new markets.
• Build Brand Credibility through thought leadership. Position yourself and your brand as authorities in the hospital space by sharing insights, operation wins, sustainability initiatives, and even industry innovations.

How To Build a Powerful LinkedIn Presence

Building a powerful hospitality and restaurant branding on LinkedIn relies heavily on LinkedIn company page optimization as well as optimization for personal pages. You can also learn more about LinkedIn Premium Company Pages here.

While we have a complete guide for founders on how to optimize their LinkedIn profile and company pages, here’s a quick look at what you can do to build a powerful LinkedIn presence as part of the restaurant and hospitality group.

For Personal Pages (Founders & Executives)

• Position your founders and executives as thought leaders within the hospitality space. Sharing insights about operations, leadership, and brand vision builds trust with prospective partners and industry peers.
• Share insights and lessons from building the brand - e.g., “How we scaled from one location to 50 in three years.” These stories resonate with potential franchisees by demonstrating business acumen and sustainable growth.
• Pin success stories and testimonials to your personal page’s Featured section. Highlighting key wins provides social proof and keeps your most compelling narratives visible to visitors.
• Use personal storytelling to humanize your franchise journey — not just menus, but people, culture, and growth. Audiences connect more with genuine, behind-the-scenes posts that reveal the brand’s human side and leadership values.

For Company Pages

• Add franchise-related CTAs - for example: “Explore franchising opportunities.” Include a clear, action-oriented line in your company headline or About section that directs potential partners to learn more or inquire about franchising.
• Showcase branches or franchise locations using LinkedIn’s “Locations” feature. This helps your brand appear more established and trustworthy by showing physical reach — especially for multi-location hospitality groups.
• Post updates about new store openings, awards, and sustainability wins. Regular updates reinforce brand momentum and credibility, showing potential investors and franchisees that your concept continues to grow and innovate.
• Craft your banner and “About” sections to emphasize growth, franchise opportunity, and brand trajectory. Treat these as prime real estate to communicate what your brand stands for, its expansion goals, and the success of your franchise network.

LinkedIn Content Ideas for Restaurant and Hospitality Groups

Posting activity on LinkedIn has grown by over 41% in the past three years. This just shows how valuable consistent content has become. When it comes to content strategy for Restaurant and hospitality brands, those that post regularly about industry trends, product highlights, and success stories at least 3–5 times per week, see far greater traction and engagement. Ultimately, it’s consistency and a clear content strategy that separate thriving LinkedIn pages from those that go dormant.

So what should you post about? Here are some LinkedIn post ideas for restaurant business.

• Franchise success stories: These are the most powerful content pieces. Include specific metrics where possible. Examples:
  • “How Our Dallas Franchisee Reached Breakeven in 8 Months”
  • “Our Chicago Franchise Just Hit $2M in Annual Revenue-Here's How”

✅ Pro-tip: Real success stories with real metrics build trust. This also helps them envision their own success within your system.

• New Location Openings and Expansion Announcements:  Every new location opening is proof of concept. This shows momentum to potential franchisees and also showcases your brand to local business communities. Announce new territories, investor meeting snaps, or franchise-owner highlights.
• Video and behind-the-scenes content: Videos tend to drive higher engagement on LinkedIn. Give prospects a peek at what makes your franchise system successful. Behind the scenes of culinary teams, local partnerships, and staff milestones.
• Company Culture and Team Spotlights: Do not forget the human element. Share testimonials, staff spotlights, or community event stories. These demonstrate that your franchise system is not just about transactions but building a community that supports each other.
• Employee advocacy: Encourage UGC and resharing by franchise teams and staff, boosting reach.
• Thought Leadership and Industry Insights: Position your executives as experts. Do this by sharing perspectives on:
  • Marketing analysis for franchise expansion.
  • Industry trends affecting restaurant and hospitality groups
  • Lessons learned from building a franchise system

How to Find Franchise Partners on LinkedIn

When it comes to restaurant franchise marketing, you can use LinkedIn’s advanced search tools, join relevant franchising and hospitality groups, and consistently post franchise-focused content to find franchise partners or attract high-quality leads.

• Use LinkedIn Search and Sales Navigator to find business owners or investors interested in F&B. Use filters to target business owners, investors, or hospitality professionals in specific regions.
• Join and engage in LinkedIn groups related to franchising, restaurants, and entrepreneurship.
• Post franchise opportunity content like those mentioned above and link back to landing pages.

Tips on how to attract Franchisees

• Create franchise-specific content ideas. Examples:
  • "What It Takes to Become a Successful Franchisee" series
  • Video interviews with happy franchisees
• Use LinkedIn Article feature. you can create long-form content that positions you as authority. With it, you can write comprehensive guides like:
  • "The Complete Guide to Opening Your First Restaurant Franchise”
  • "How We Select Franchise Partners: Inside Our Evaluation Process”
• Use LinkedIn Polls to Engage. Polls are highly engaging and they provide valuable market research. Examples:
  • "Which market would you most like to see us expand into next?"
  • "What type of support is most valuable from a franchisor?"
• Share Performance Metrics (strategically)
  • Customer satisfaction scores
  • Same-store sales increases
  • Franchisee satisfaction survey results
• Highlight your Support Infrastructure.
  • Ongoing operational support
  • Marketing assistance and national campaigns
  • Technology platforms that provide real-time business intelligence. This is where Ordinal shines!

How Ordinal Simplifies LinkedIn for Restaurant Groups

Ordinal is more than just a LinkedIn scheduler. It’s the most powerful LinkedIn management tool for restaurants and hospitality groups to draft, plan, and schedule social media content.

With its LinkedIn-first features, this easily makes it your end-to-end solution for scaling and simplifying how you expand franchises and find more franchisees.

Key LinkedIn Features of Ordinal

✅ Smart LinkedIn Post Editor: Draft and format posts easily using bold and italics, right inside Ordinal’s clean editor - built to mirror how content appears natively on LinkedIn.

✅ Bold & italics formatting: Bold and italics are natively supported for your posts - no need to paste in formatted text.

✅ Video & PDF support: Attach videos, PDF (carousels), or images to your LinkedIn post.

✅ Realistic Post Preview: See exactly how your content will look before it goes live, including where your “See more” cut-off appears. Perfect for crafting hooks that grab attention.

✅ LinkedIn Poll Scheduling: Schedule and publish polls straight from Ordinal to encourage audience participation, gather insights, or engage franchise communities.

✅ Auto-Engagement: Automatically leave likes, comments, or reposts from any connected LinkedIn account.

✅ One-click cross-posting: Easily cross-post to any major social channel in just a click - Ordinal will automatically sync across the content.

✅ Analytics Dashboard: Monitor post performance on LinkedIn and other social media platforms with unified metrics for reach, engagement, and consistency.

Success on LinkedIn is about having great content and posting consistently. Having the right tool will simplify that process so you get great results that franchisees can talk about! Try Ordinal today.

Conclusion

LinkedIn for franchise growth is thriving. According to the International Franchise Association, franchise growth exceeded projections for 2024, and is set for continued upward momentum. This means the competition for quality franchise partners has never been fiercer.

LinkedIn gives you direct access to the business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs who are actively seeking their next investment opportunity. So, without the right content strategy and the right tool to execute it, you get left behind. Platforms like Ordinal make it easier to stay visible, consistent, and effective across all locations and teams.

It’s not just about posting menus - it’s about telling the story of growth, leadership and opportunity.

The restaurant franchising opportunity is massive in 2025. Make sure your next franchise partner can find you where they're looking: on LinkedIn.