Most independent venues budget marketing as a fixed dollar amount per month. That treats it like rent. It isn’t — it’s a cost of revenue. Treating it as such changes how you think about growth.
The reframe
Pick a marketing % of revenue target (3–5% is normal in hospitality). Spend that percentage every month. When revenue grows, marketing grows. When you have a quiet month, you spend less but you don’t panic-cut.
Why this matters
Fixed-cap marketing budgets are the reason most operators feel like growth is risky. If marketing scales with revenue, growth funds itself. You stop seeing a marketing spend as a sunk cost and start seeing it as a variable margin line.