Google Expands Local Visibility: “What’s Happening” Feature Now Available for Multi-Location Restaurants

Google has expanded its What’s Happening feature across multi-location restaurants and bars in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, enabling coordinated real-time promotion visibility across multiple venues. Originally launched in May for single-location businesses, the feature enables restaurants to highlight events, specials, and daily deals directly within Google Business Profiles without requiring location-specific management overhead. This expansion provides hospitality marketers unprecedented ability to surface timely offers like “Happy Hour” or “Taco Tuesday” to customers actively searching location-based dining alternatives.

The multi-location functionality addresses persistent franchise management challenges by enabling coordinated promotional visibility while maintaining location-specific customization flexibility for regional specials and local demand variations. Enhanced integration with Google’s local search algorithms ensures featured promotions receive prominent placement in Business Profile sections appearing alongside review aggregations, photos, and contact information during peak search inquiry times. Industry analysis emphasizes that early testing and rapid optimization of promotional calendars will capture disproportionate foot traffic from localized search visibility compared to competitors delaying adoption or maintaining inconsistent promotional messaging.

Google Business Profile local discovery enhancements include:

• Multi-location What’s Happening feature coordinating promotional visibility across franchise chains and regional operations
• Real-time event and special visibility within Business Profile prominence areas during active customer search periods
• Location-specific customization maintaining promotional flexibility while enabling coordinated branding and messaging consistency
• Integration with review ratings and visual content creating comprehensive local business presentation strategies
• Enhanced local search algorithm placement rewarding timely, accurate promotional information with increased visibility prominence

The expansion positions Google Business Profile as essential local search infrastructure for hospitality and food service brands seeking competitive visibility in dynamic location-based discovery landscapes where promotional timing and accuracy directly influence customer foot traffic and revenue outcomes.