Pull Up a Chair

A six-month, $500-a-month plan to get Gen Z through the door of a family restaurant that has fed its neighborhood for 30+ years.

Delivery brings food. Bella's saves you a seat.

NextWave Media · Phoenix Challenge 2026

Spaghetti and meatballs, printed in red and green ink
The kind of close-up we'd film
An old diner booth on a checkered floor, printed in two inks
The kind of booth Study Hall fills
An old postcard of the Sandhill Cafe, printed in two inks
An old cafe postcard, Candor, N.C.

Through the glass: Gather point clouds of a stock diner booth, a family dinner from around 1920 and a plate of spaghetti. None of it is Bella's.

The whole plan in two minutes

Chains outspend Bella's, and apps beat it on speed. So the family goes on camera, and every post ends with an invitation to sit down.

01The situation

Regulars love the food. Young diners just haven't found it yet.

65 of every 100 guests, today Each dashed chair used to be filled.

We know the two ends. The slide between them is drawn straight.

−35% guests in two years

<500 followers, total

$500 a month to fix it

What gets them to try a place [1]

Social media55%
Discounts29%

Bella's tried discounts. No change.

Working against it

  • ~40% search TikTok or Instagram for lunch [2]
  • Chain ad budgets, delivery-app speed
  • 3–5% margins [3], so discounts hurt

Working for it

  • 30+ years of stories, loyal regulars
  • Handmade food that films well
  • A family to film, real tables

Has to work for: the family (4 h a week), regulars, staff, Gen Z, neighbors. If sales keep falling, the owners may have to cut hours or close.

02Who we're feeding

Gen Z, 16–29, within 5 miles. They find food on their phones and trust people over ads.

03Where we post

Make it for TikTok, reuse it everywhere, keep Google current.

TikTok 4 a week

#1 way Gen Z finds food (38%) [4]

58% of users visited a place they saw [5]

It shows videos to non-followers, so a small account can reach locals.

Instagram

Same video. 8 in 10 aged 18–29 use it [6]

YouTube Shorts

Same video, free reach

Google profile

The last check before a visit: +70% visits when it's complete [7]

We skip

  • X, Pinterest, Snapchatno food discovery
  • Delivery promosa 15–30% fee [8]
  • Couponsour one perk is a tracked dessert
  • Big influencersnot local

04What we post

Four series starring the family, shot on a phone. A month's 16 videos:

  • 6 · Family Recipedishes made for decades

  • 5 · Meet the Familyowners answer comments

  • 3 · Regularsa 30-year regular and a first-timer

  • 2 · Dropswhat's coming next

Video #1

  1. What $15 gets you here

    0–2 sthe hook, over the menu board

  2. 3–25 sthe plate, the sauce story

  3. Show this: free dessert

    Last 3 sthe offer, pinned too

Each video: 15–45 s, captions, original audio, location tag.

Partners: 2 local creators a month, 2K–10K followers. Small ones get 9–12% engagement vs ~7% [9]. Plus school clubs and teams.

Talking back: replies once a day, comments vote on each Vault Drop, a LIVE once TikTok passes 1,000 followers.

05 Four reasons to come in

Only Bella's has its old recipes and 30 years of regulars. Month 2: Vault Drop, the Wall. Month 3: Supper, Study Hall.

$50/mo

The Vault Drop

An old-menu dish back for 14 days, dine-in only. Comments pick the next.

81% of Gen Z want limited-time items [10]

Try it: which old menu should the next drop come from?

Your vote stays in this browser. For real, the comments decide.

$1/photo

Wall of Family

Fifth visit: your photo joins decades of regulars. Signed release, a parent's under 18.

Five visits makes a habit.

Family Card: no visits yet.

$18 seat

Sunday Supper

Monthly, prepaid, one 10-seat family-style table. Solo is fine.

24% of under-30s feel lonely daily [11]

0 of 10 seats taken.

$10 combo

Study Hall

Tue and Wed, 2–5 pm, while open anyway. Wi-Fi, refills. Cleared for dinner at 5.

Fills the slow 2–5 pm hours.

06From feed to table

Every post points at a table. Every step has a number we count.

  1. count: views

  2. count: profile visits

  3. count: desserts claimed

  4. count: second visits

  5. count: tags, then back to Scroll

Scroll. Boosts go only to posts already beating our usual views.

07The $500

Every dollar buys something we can count. Boosts are the line we turn up or down.

Bella's Family Kitchen
The $500, every month

Months 2 to 6

Local creators$1502 visits, a $50 fee + the meal each
Boosts$150Posts already doing well. TikTok 18–24, Instagram 18–29 in 5 mi. No ads to under-18s
Family Cards, Wall film$75+ a campus ambassador's meals
Vault Drop test batches$50
Tools and printing$50Canva Pro, table tents, a decal
Club and team night flyers$25+ Sunday Supper setup
Total a month$500
Over six months$3,000

# = $5
Show a Bella's video when you order: free first-visit dessert

Outside the $500: desserts and club give-backs come out of guests' checks.

No TikTok Ads Manager: its minimums beat our budget [13].

Spaghetti and meatballs, printed in two inks
A plate of spaghetti

Pays for itself at about two extra guests a day

$15Gen Z check [12]

− $4.50food cost, 30% [3]

− $1.50free dessert

= $9left per new guest

Change the numbers to test it.

new guests a month

$500 ÷ $9 ≈ 56

One chalk mark per new guest

Month 6 target, 300 guests: ~$2,700 after food cost, 5× the spend.

08Six months

A steady weekly routine. Any viral hit is extra.

Setup, 12 videos bankedmonth 1 4 posts a weekmonths 2 to 5 Creators + boostsmonths 2 to 6 Vault Drop + the Wallmonths 2 to 6 Supper + Study Hallmonths 3 to 6 Club nights + LIVEmonths 4 to 6 Family takes overmonth 6

Month 1 · Set up

Accounts, Google profile, the Wall and cards. 12 videos banked before the first post.

4 hours a week

  • Shoot 2 h
  • Edit 75 min
  • Replies 30 min
  • Scoreboard 15 min

How we decide

  • Boost a post at 2× usual views.
  • Cut a series under ½ usual views after 6 posts.
  • Drop creators who bring fewer than 10 guests.

09 The scoreboard

Eight numbers, every Monday.

GoalWhat we countNow
ReachViews a month~0
EngagementVs the food median [14]–
FollowersAll accounts<500
VisitsVs month 1–
New guestsDesserts claimed0
RepeatBack within 60 days–
PromotionsVault Drop dishes a run–
ReturnOn the $500–

A dash means not counted yet. Assumes ~40 guests a day, a $15 check, 30% food cost (checked in month 1). Food medians: TikTok 2.04%, Instagram 0.40%. +25% ≈ 300 visits a month, half the loss back.

10It's worked before

10×

Lee's Noodle House Santa Rosa

customers after a daughter's 7-second video [15]

10 → 100s

Nico's Salt Lake City

guests overnight after one TikTok by the owner's son [16]

3×

Izola's Georgia

sales, then it closed short-staffed. Hence the hour cap [17]

~2×

Chipotle a chain

quesadillas after it made a fan's hack real. Same idea as the Vault vote [18]

11If this happens

A video blows up
Short menu, extra prep, a text waitlist. One review took a Chicago spot from 25 to 190 arancini a day [19].
Regulars feel crowded
Their tables stay theirs, and they star in The Regulars.
The family burns out
The 4-hour cap holds, filming stays batched, the captain role rotates.
Mean comments
Answer kindly. Never delete honest criticism.
Flat by month 3
Cut the weakest series, move the money to boosts.

Sources and credits

  1. Belle Communication survey of Gen Z and millennial diners, via Nation's Restaurant News, May 2025. nrn.com
  2. Prabhakar Raghavan (Google), via TechCrunch, Jul 2022 (Google survey of US users 18–24). techcrunch.com
  3. US Foods (food cost 28–32%); Restaurant365 (full-service margins 3–5%). usfoods.com · restaurant365.com
  4. Toast, "How guests discover new restaurants," diner survey, Oct 2025. pos.toasttab.com
  5. MGH survey of 1,142 TikTok users, Nov 2024. mghus.com
  6. Pew Research Center, Nov 2025. pewresearch.org
  7. Google Business Profile Help. support.google.com
  8. DoorDash Merchant pricing (15%, 25%, 30% plans). merchants.doordash.com
  9. HypeAuditor, State of Influencer Marketing 2026, via Net Influencer. netinfluencer.com
  10. TouchBistro and The Harris Poll, 2025 American Diner Trends report (n = 1,500). silicon.co.uk
  11. Gallup, Apr 2023 (n = 5,167). news.gallup.com
  12. Our estimate, below the $19–24 per person in Darden Restaurants' FY2025 10-K (Olive Garden about $24, Cheddar's about $19). sec.gov
  13. TikTok Ads Manager budget rules; TikTok Promote pricing via Sprout Social, 2025. ads.tiktok.com · sproutsocial.com
  14. Rival IQ, 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report (Food & Beverage). get.rivaliq.com
  15. CBS News Bay Area, Feb 2023. cbsnews.com
  16. Utah Public Radio, Jun 2022. upr.org
  17. WSAV, 2021; WTOC, Nov 2023. wsav.com · wtoc.com
  18. Tubefilter, Apr 2023 (Chipotle Q1 earnings call). tubefilter.com
  19. CBS Chicago, Jul 2024. cbsnews.com

Credits. A Phoenix Challenge 2026 entry by NextWave Media for Bella's Family Kitchen, a fictional restaurant.

Window point clouds: Gather · 聚 by DAO. Photos: rawpixel (CC0), Wikimedia Commons and UNC Libraries (public domain); none of them show Bella's. Steam: ascii-magic-art (MIT, licence). Fonts: Caprasimo, Libre Franklin, Courier Prime (OFL).

Download the poster (PDF)