Buon Cibo’s emails made $6,000+ in 30 days.
Seven emails to people who already know the deli, and every one of them sold something. If your list isn’t hearing from you every week, that’s money you’re leaving on the table.
Written and sent at Buon Cibo by Ezra Gonzalez, with Tom Tarantino
- You own the list
- No cut of your sales
- Every sale counted
This week at Buon CiboFriday night is handled.This week’s Dinner for Two is Beef Shank Osso Buco, slow-braised in a rich wine-and-tomato sauce, with creamy garlic mashed potatoes. It’s packed hot, so all you do is pick it up, get home and eat.
Every email it sends makes money.
Buon Cibo emails its list once or twice a week, and each email sells one thing: this week’s dinner, a meal plan, an event night. Here’s what that brought in over the last 30 days.
- $6,000+generated from 7 emails in 30 days
So: From people who already know you, with no ad to pay for.
- $870+in sales from each email, on average
So: At two emails a week that adds up fast, and few sales cost less to make.
- $1,500+in event tickets from a single email
So: Seats sold weeks ahead, from one send.
62%of the list opens each email. Six in ten customers hear about this week’s dinner, every time.
$3.60+in sales for every person on the list, in 30 days. That’s what each new signup is worth.
Source: Shopify’s report for each of Buon Cibo’s emails in the last 30 days
A list of real, local customers. Not a bought one.
Growing the list is half the work. Buon Cibo’s started months before the doors opened, and every name on it asked to hear from the deli.
Built from a signup page and a following of about 3,000 on social media, so opening week had customers waiting.
Customers look for it every week, because it’s how they hear this week’s special, what’s new on the menu and what’s coming up. That’s why so many open it. They keep opening because every email is worth reading, and they buy because every offer is well presented.
- Built with ads, offers and opening-day buzz, never bought
- Local customers who asked to hear from us
- Fully compliant: the sender, the store’s address and a one-click unsubscribe in every email
- Fewer than 1% unsubscribe
Every email sells one thing, with a date.
Here is every email from the last 30 days, with what each one sold. A dinner, a meal plan, an event night: one offer, one button, and a reason to order this week.
- The $35 Friday night dinner for twoPreorder dinnerOpened by 65%Sales: $600+
- Lasagna Sunday, chicken parm Friday, and Heat & EatPreorder dinners and meal plansOpened by 63%Sales: $600+
- Chicken parm for two this FridayPreorder dinnerOpened by 60%Sales: $900+
- Introducing Gourmet Heat & EatMeal plansOpened by 61%Sales: $500+
- This week’s Friday dinner for twoPreorder dinnerOpened by 62%Sales: $1,300+
- Chicken saltimbocca, this week onlyPreorder dinnerOpened by 60%Sales: $400+
- A seated dinner night, two datesEvent ticketsOpened by 61%Sales: $1,500+
Source: Shopify’s report for each of Buon Cibo’s emails in the last 30 days. Sales are what Shopify credits to each email, rounded down.
What every one of them has.
None of this is clever. It’s the same four things, every week, and it’s what a lot of restaurant emails leave out.
- 01One offer, named in the subject
The dish and the price go in the subject line, so someone who never opens it still knows what’s for sale.
At Buon Cibo“This week’s Friday dinner for two: $35. No cooking.” - 02A reason to act this week
Every email sells something with a date on it. Nothing in it is “anytime”, so nothing in it waits.
At Buon CiboThis Friday’s dinner, this Sunday’s lasagna, two nights for one event. - 03The dish, not the restaurant
A photo of what they’ll actually take home, and two lines on it: the sauce, the sides, how it’s packed.
At Buon Cibo“It’s packed hot, so all you do is pick it up, get home and eat.” - 04One button, straight to the order
The button opens the order page with the pickup times, not the homepage. Nobody has to go looking.
At Buon CiboMost clicks in Buon Cibo’s reports land on a dinner or ticket page.
Your list is the cheapest sale you have. If it only hears from you on holidays, you’re leaving money on the table every week.
Book a callWe build the list, write the emails and count the sales.
Your list stays in your store’s account, not ours. If you stop working with us, it stays with you.
- 01The list
A signup on every page of your website, each one tagged by what the visitor was looking at. If you’re opening, we start before the doors do.
- 02The calendar
One or two emails a week, planned with the kitchen around what’s open: this week’s dinner, the next event, a new meal plan.
- 03The emails
We write each one around a single offer, with photos of the actual dish, and you approve it before it goes out.
- 04The count
What each email sold, from your store’s own orders, read every week, so the next email sells what the last one proved.
Email works best on a store that can count what each one sold, so it often starts alongside a website or ads. If your store already does that, it can run on its own. Either way, the scope and the price are in writing before anything starts.
What owners ask about email
Ask yours on a call- Tom TarantinoAward-winning restaurant owner, 30+ years in San Diego food
- Ezra GonzalezBuilds the store, runs the ads, emails and tracking
Buon Cibo sends one or two emails a week, and each one has something to buy. Fewer than 1% unsubscribed from any of the last seven.
With a signup on every page of your website and a reason to join. Buon Cibo had 1,500 people on its list before it opened, and we’ve written up how in the Journal.
Yes, when they asked to hear from you. We only email people who signed up or said yes at checkout, never a bought list, and every email carries your store’s address and a one-click unsubscribe, as the CAN-SPAM Act requires.
No, but your store has to be able to tell you what each email sold. Buon Cibo’s first emails went out from Squarespace, which showed opens and clicks but not sales. Moving to Shopify is what let us count every sale back to its email.
Ezra writes and sends them, with Tom on what the kitchen can make and how many. You approve each one before it goes out.
It depends on how often we send and whether we’re also building your website or running your ads. You get the scope and the price in writing before anything starts.
No. We report what each email sold, from your own store’s orders, and change what isn’t working.
Let’s see what your list could sell.
30 minutes to an hour with Tom and Ezra, on a call or in person. Bring your last few emails if you have them, and we’ll tell you what we’d change first.
- 01What does your business do today?
- 02Where is it doing well?
- 03Where would you like help?
- 04What have you already tried?
View sources and how we counted
- $6,000+ in 30 days is sales from Buon Cibo’s seven campaign emails sent September 28 to October 19, 2026, counted to October 21, from Shopify’s report for each email. Sales are what Shopify credits to each email, rounded down; they aren’t profit.
- $870+ is those sales divided by the seven emails, and $1,500+ is the single email for a seated event night, in event tickets.
- $3.60+ per person is the $6,000+ in 30 days divided by everyone the newest email went to, rounded down. 62% is the average open rate of the seven.
- Open rates include emails Apple Mail opens on its own. The unsubscribe rate on each email was 0.1% to 0.6%. 1,500 is the email list on opening day, and about 3,000 followed Buon Cibo on social media before it opened.
These are one business’s results, not a promise of what any other business will see.