Highlights Delivery service contributed to the sales of restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Casual and fast casual dining restaurants had more benefit from delivery service than fine dining ones after COVID-19 restrictions were eased. Discount options failed to increase sales during the pandemic. Brand effects on restaurant financial performance were stronger after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Purpose Crowdfunding can be an effective fundraising vehicle to independent restaurants to overcome fundraising limitations due to its small-size and high risk. A few studies have identified contents of communication for successful crowdfunding, yet missing is on how to say. The purpose of this paper is to investigate linguistics styles that are effective in pitches in restaurant crowdfunding. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzed 500 restaurant crowdfunding projects listed on Kickstarter.com that is one of the most popular crowdfunding platforms with sizable restaurant projects. By text analysis, this study identifies four linguistic categories – concrete, precise, interactive and language with low psychological distancing – from the project descriptions. A binominal linear regression analysis identified effective language styles that increases success of restaurant crowdfunding. Findings Drawing on the language expectancy theory and uncertainty reduction theory, this study found that project descriptions that are concrete and delivering stories with fewer usage of first person pronouns are likely to succeed in restaurant fundraising. Interactive style was counter-effective while preciseness of language did not affect funding success significantly. Findings further reveal the roles of non-linguistic attributes shown in the project pitches. Research limitations/implications Despite the increasing practice of restaurant crowdfunding and good matches with small- and medium-sized restaurants’ needs, scant research has been conducted. Notably absent from the research is work on linguistic styles that are effective in restaurant crowdfunding. This study extends the prior literature by investigating how restaurant entrepreneurs should communicate with potential crowdfunders to make crowdfunding successful in the restaurant context. Simply knowing what are important does not provide holistic help to restaurant entrepreneurs; they also should know how to communicate well. Practical implications The findings of this study are important for restaurant entrepreneurs who need to present their projects and communicate effectively with potential investors online. Based on the study’s findings, crowdfunding platforms could enhance their project posting systems by developing algorithm that automatically measures language cues embedded in a project description and providing suggestions to improve persuasiveness of languages to maximize funding success for restaurant projects. Originality/value Scant research has been conducted in the restaurant crowdfunding; prior crowdfunding literature has focused on the projects other than restaurants such as technology, design and film. This study is the first that uncovers the role of the linguistic styles for the specific context of restaurant crowdfunding. This study sheds the light on the critical communication strategies used by small-sized restaurant entrepreneurs on crowdfunding platform.

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