Call a restaurant between the lunch rush and dinner prep, ask for the owner or the person who orders, and make one ask that costs them a minute: let you compare their last invoice on the five items they buy most. That ask works because it puts a real price in front of a person who is always watching costs. Below are the best call windows, a 20-second opener, answers to four objections, a voicemail, a walk-in version, and a rule that matters if you sell cleaning or paper supplies: the FTC treats those business calls differently from other business calls.
The script is for suppliers: produce and meat distributors, paper and cleaning supply companies, linen and uniform services, grease collection, pest control, equipment repair, payment terminals and delivery marketing. It does not suit someone selling a website to restaurants, which is a different conversation. For the broader approach, see how to sell to restaurants.
When a restaurant picks up the phone
Restaurants run in four blocks, and only one is good for a call. The times below are a common pattern, not a fact about your market. Log your own answered calls for two weeks and use what you see.
| Block | Typical hours | Who is free | Call? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning prep and deliveries | 7 to 10 a.m. | Chef or kitchen manager is receiving orders | Only if you are a supplier they already expect |
| Lunch service | 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Nobody | No |
| Afternoon lull | 2 to 4:30 p.m. | Owner or manager, often doing orders and paperwork | Yes, this is the window |
| Dinner prep and service | 4:30 p.m. to close | Nobody | No |
Many independent restaurants are closed on Mondays or have short hours that day, so check the posted hours first. Calling a closed restaurant gets you a voicemail box that nobody empties.
Find a reason to call that is not "I sell paper"
Three reasons that are easy to verify:
- The restaurant opened in the last three months. New places are building their supplier list. A newly opened restaurant shows up on map listings and local news sites. Many city and county health departments publish inspection results and permits online, so check what yours posts.
- The place changed its menu or hours, which you can see on its page. A new menu means new items to buy.
- A competitor nearby just closed or changed hands, and its suppliers are looking for volume.
Write the name of the owner or manager if you can find it. If you cannot, ask for "whoever handles ordering."
The 20-second opener
Alder Supply is a made-up paper-goods and cleaning-supplies distributor. Marguerite, one of its reps, calls a diner that opened in September.
Hi, is this Tomas? Marguerite at Alder Supply, we deliver paper goods and cleaning supplies to places around Fenner Street. I know it's the middle of the day. Do you have one minute, or should I call at four?
If he says "go ahead," the next sentence is the whole pitch:
Easy ask. Take a photo of your last invoice for paper and cleaning and text or email it to me. I'll mark the five items you buy most and show you what we charge, side by side, by tomorrow. If we're not cheaper, you've lost nothing. What's the best email?
It asks permission for the time, names the product and the area, and requests the one thing she needs, an invoice. It does not ask for a meeting, which a restaurant owner will not give to a stranger.
Four objections, four answers
"I'm slammed right now."
I figured. When is a better time, this afternoon at four or tomorrow? I'll call then and it'll take a minute.
Write down the time and make the second call. Owners respect the one who calls back as promised.
"I already have a rep."
Good, then you know what you pay. A second price on your five biggest items is just a check on that. Would you mind if I compared one invoice? If my price is worse, I'll tell you.
"Just email me your prices."
Our list has 900 items, so it isn't useful. A comparison on your five items is. If you send me a photo of an invoice, I'll turn it around by tomorrow.
"We just signed a contract."
Understood. When does it end? I'll check in two months before that.
The voicemail, and the walk-in
Hi Tomas, Marguerite at Alder Supply, 555-0155. I'd like to compare your last paper and cleaning invoice with our prices on your five biggest items. Takes you one photo. I'll try again at four tomorrow, and I'll drop a card by.
Restaurants are one of the few buyers where a walk-in at 3 p.m. beats a call. Bring a one-page sample price sheet for five items and a card. Ask for the person who orders, leave the sheet and go. A walk-in near a restaurant you have already called is a reminder, not a second pitch.
The rule for cleaning and paper supplies
This is a general summary, not legal advice. The FTC's guide to the Telemarketing Sales Rule says most phone calls between a telemarketer and a business are exempt from the rule. It then lists exceptions, and one is aimed at sellers like Alder: calls to businesses to induce the retail sale of nondurable office or cleaning supplies are not exempt. Those sellers must follow the rule, with an exemption from its recordkeeping requirements and from the National Do Not Call Registry provisions. The rule prohibits false or misleading statements to induce a payment, and its calling-hours limit (no calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.) is written for calls to a person's home, but it is a sensible limit for any call. The practical advice for cleaning and paper sellers is simple. Call between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the restaurant's time zone, tell the truth about who you are and what you sell, and keep a record of what you said.
For other products, such as produce or linens, the FTC's Do Not Call Q&A says most calls to a business made to solicit sales from that business are exempt from the registry. State rules differ on registration and calling hours, so check your state attorney general's consumer pages before dialing a large list. If you record calls, say so at the start; California Penal Code section 632 makes recording a confidential communication without the consent of all parties a crime with a fine of up to $2,500 per violation, and is it legal to record business calls covers the other states.
The sheet to keep for restaurant calls
Write the owner's name, the best time to call, the product they buy most, the supplier they use now and when their contract ends, and whether they sent an invoice. A sheet with those columns tells you in a week which block of the day gives you answers. For ideas on what to say if a call turns into an email thread, see how to sell produce to restaurants.
Rocketship, which we make, handles the email side of the same plan. Describe the restaurants you want, for example "owners of independent restaurants in Tulsa," and it finds the people, reads each restaurant's own website, emails them from your Gmail, follows up and books the call on your calendar. It also makes AI phone calls on Launch and up, and says on the call that it is an AI assistant. Try the 7-day trial (card required) or see the plans.