What separates a Reel that fills tables from one that just gets views

The first three seconds decide everything else

Nobody watches a video that opens with a slow pan across an empty room. The opening needs movement, a face, or something that does not make sense yet: the pour, the knife going in, the door opening onto the view.

If a venue has one thing that looks unlike anywhere else, that is the first shot. Not the logo, not the sign, not the establishing wide.

B-roll is what makes it feel real

The middle of the video is where the place either becomes specific or stays generic. Hands, steam, the light at that hour, somebody who works there doing the thing they do well. Detail is what a viewer remembers, and it is what separates your restaurant from every other restaurant with good food.

This is also the part most briefs forget to ask for, and the part a creator will happily shoot if they know it matters.

Let them talk in their own voice

A voice-over that sounds like somebody reading your marketing copy performs worse than one that sounds like a person telling a friend. The audience can hear the difference immediately, and the whole reason their audience trusts them is that they usually do not sound like an advert.

Give the creator the point you want made. Do not give them the sentence.

Ask for one thing at the end

The strongest ending is usually not "book now". It is a reason to save the video, because a save is somebody planning to come and it keeps the video circulating.

Pick one: save this for your next trip, send it to whoever you would bring, or the address if the point is that it is hard to find.

What belongs in the brief, and what does not

The useful brief is short and specific about outcomes rather than shots.

• Worth specifying: the format, the deliverable, the deadline, the one dish or room that has to appear, and any usage rights you want.
• Worth leaving alone: the script, the music, the edit, the order of the shots and the caption.