The Challenge
Blaze Gourmet Burgers, a local player in a highly competitive Canadian food market, faced the following challenges:
- Low brand recognition among locals
- Insufficient foot traffic to their flagship location in Vancouver
- Intense competition from chain fast-food restaurants
- A need for a stable stream of new, engaged customers
Goal
To drive real-world engagement — restaurant visits and Google Maps interactions — by launching a highly targeted local Google Ads campaign focused on Store Visits and Get Directions.
Target Audience & Strategy
- Audience: Students, young professionals, and office workers actively searching for fast food nearby
- Competitors: Major fast-food chains & local burger spots
- Tool of choice: Google Ads — Local Campaigns for Google Maps
Campaign Implementation
Campaign #1 – Vancouver (Flagship Location)
Objective: Boost physical visits to the main restaurant and improve visibility in Mount Pleasant.
We launched a Google Local campaign targeting the Mount Pleasant neighborhood with a broad, unrestricted audience to test performance at scale. We applied a CPA bidding model with a maximum bid of CA$1. The campaign focused on real engagement actions such as:
- Get Directions
- Click-to-Call
- Location Views
Results (first 2 months):
- 810 verified store visits
- 128 users clicked “Get Directions.”
- Cost per conversion: just CA$0.46
- Conversion rate: 33%+ — one in every three clicks resulted in a meaningful action
Campaign #2 – Port Moody (Food Truck)
Objective: Increase awareness of the new mobile food truck and encourage first-time visits.
Following the success in Vancouver, we replicated the strategy for the new food truck in Port Moody, adapting the messaging to highlight the convenience of the location.
Results: The campaign achieved tangible results in the first month of operation. Thanks to precise geotargeting and relevant creative efforts, we achieved only 141 visits and 169 route planning requests in the first month. The conversion rate increased to 40.28%, indicating the high effectiveness of local coverage and audience interest in the institution’s format.
Business Impact
- Significant growth in local traffic and store visits
- Client successfully launched a second location (food truck)
- Improved brand visibility among local communities
- Local advertising became a core part of the client’s marketing strategy
What’s Next
- Expanding local coverage to nearby neighborhoods
- Implementing lifetime value & seasonality analytics
- Further optimization based on performance and external factors
Conclusion
The Google Ads local campaigns for Blaze Gourmet Burgers demonstrated exceptional effectiveness in driving in-person visits and improving brand awareness. With precise targeting, compelling ad creatives, and a cost-efficient CPA model, we achieved over 1,000 fundamental interactions in just two months. This case demonstrates that local paid search is a powerful tool for driving growth in the hospitality and restaurant (HoReCa) industry, applicable to both brick-and-mortar and mobile locations.
