If you run a restaurant in Leeds (or anywhere in the UK), you’ll know how competitive the hospitality scene is right now. Great food and strong reviews matter - but if you want to increase footfall, drive bookings and hit sales targets consistently, you also need smart, strategic restaurant PR.
Here’s how we helped Maki & Ramen Leeds boost awareness, secure national media coverage and start hitting targets week on week - all through one bold, well-timed campaign.
The Brief: Boost Reach and Drive Revenue
In summer 2025, Maki & Ramen Leeds appointed Aubergine as their Leeds-based food and hospitality PR agency. The objective was clear:
Increase brand awareness in Leeds
Generate regional and national press coverage
Strengthen social media reach
Support month-on-month sales growth
Like many independent restaurants and multi-site operators, they didn’t just want “noise”. They wanted measurable results.
The Strategy: Creative Restaurant PR That Cuts Through
Leeds has a thriving food scene. Standing out requires more than a standard press release - it takes a campaign with a genuine hook.
Within two weeks of being commissioned, we developed a quick-turnaround restaurant PR and social media strategy built around Yorkshire Day.
Working alongside Executive Chef Sophie Wang, we created a limited-edition mash-up menu blending Japanese flavours with Yorkshire favourites:
Yorkshire Tea Iced Matcha
Sunday Roast Ramen (complete with a Yorkshire pudding for dipping)
Builder’s Brew Crème Brûlée
Iced Yorkshire Tea Matcha - created by Maki & Ramen with Aubergine PR
It was playful, unexpected and highly visual -perfect for media coverage and social sharing.
As former broadcast journalists, we approach food and drink PR differently. We think in headlines. We design campaigns with producers, editors and content creators in mind from day one. Find out more about what we created in this blog.
The Results: 30 Pieces of Coverage and 3.2 Million Reach
The Yorkshire Day campaign secured coverage across regional and national media, including:
A live studio appearance on BBC Radio Leeds
A viral Instagram video and blog feature from The Hoot Leeds
Print and online coverage in The Yorkshire Post
Wider digital pick-up including MSN
In total, the campaign generated:
30 pieces of media coverage
3.2 million combined reach
More importantly, the Leeds site began hitting its sales targets.
As our co-founder Emma Gardner puts it: “When it comes to standing out in Leeds’ bustling food scene, sometimes it takes a bold, playful PR idea to really capture the media’s attention. I’m really proud that with our journalistic ‘nose for news’ we managed to come up with something really unique that turned journalists’ heads — and ultimately, translated into an increase in people visiting Maki & Ramen.”
For us, that perfectly sums up what effective restaurant PR in Leeds should do: spark conversation, secure meaningful media coverage and, most importantly, drive real customers through the door.
If you’re looking for restaurant PR that drives results and bookings - get in touch. We’d love to chat!