Lunya Serves Customer Experience From Table to Tablet

Peter Kinsella always dreamed of opening a restaurant and making a career out of his passion for cooking and delicious food. His inspiration for Lunya sparked in one amazing lunch outing in March of 1998. While in Barcelona, Peter tried Catalan-style cuisine for the first time, and decided then and there that he’d open a restaurant with his wife Elaine Kinsella one day to share his newfound love for Spanish and Catalan-inspired cuisine.

More than just a dining and deli spot, employee-owned Lunya in Liverpool ONE quickly became a community favourite, thanks to Peter and Elaine’s commitment to authentic and intentional customer experiences. 

“Financially, we are an enormous restaurant with a small deli, but the deli gives us our identity and our incredible range of products, which means as a restaurant, we can have the most incredible range of products going into our menu and producing sensational stuff,” he said.

He fosters that small business identity and community by sending email newsletters filled with stories instead of sales, an idea that came from his previous experiences using Constant Contact.

“When we first opened in 2010, we started to use Constant Contact. I had started to use it in my last business to mail out to our customer base, and I knew that with a restaurant, making that connection was going to be incredibly important,” Peter shared.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Peter faced the challenge of keeping the restaurant in business during global shutdowns. He leveraged Constant Contact’s online marketing tools to stay connected with his loyal supporters, ensuring every interaction was genuine and caring. 

This approach not only helped Lunya survive but also thrive, as the restaurant introduced innovative menu items and embraced an employee-ownership model. From table to tablet, Lunya continues to serve up exceptional experiences.

Sending emails filled with stories, not sales

Peter’s emails to customers created a sense of community and belonging. He understood that personal connections were the key to building a loyal customer base, and this approach helped them maintain strong relationships, even during challenging times.

Using a storytelling approach, they shared the stories behind their menu items, the inspiration for their dishes, and their business journey. These narratives resonated with customers, making them feel more connected, informed, and engaged with the Lunya brand.

“Very early on, I think from our first newsletter, we realised when we could send something direct to people who knew us and liked us, they came to us, and if they came in, as long as what you were doing was good, they would buy from you. And that was such an important lesson,” he shared.

Building and managing an email list as a restaurant and deli business

Peter considers using email marketing as a channel to keep customers engaged with a business, an essential part of business growth. As a small business, continuing to manage and grow the email list is important to Lunya’s success.

“I would say it’s priceless,” he said of Lunya’s customer email list. “It’s so valuable that the business would fail without it.”

Peter reaches customers using marketing emails to share:

• Online deli menu offers 
• Information about upcoming events
• Restaurant updates
• Behind-the-scenes stories
• Featured stories about trips to suppliers and wholesalers who produce the Spanish products and ingredients they use and sell at Lunya.

Email list growth strategies 

At Lunya, there are four main ways to join their email list. From Peter’s perspective, the best and most successful method is in-person.

1. In-person feedback cards

When customers visit Lunya to dine at the restaurant or pick up items from the deli, they receive a feedback card with a 10% discount incentive. The card lets customers leave their names and email addresses to share feedback.

Their list-building efforts have resulted in over 70,000 email contacts over the last 12 years of being a Constant Contact customer.

“It just became really apparent early on, our ability to communicate directly with our customers at incredibly low cost was really important to us because the alternative back in 2010 was to either pay for the traditional media because that was still around and still significant in 2010, or to try what was the emerging social media,” Peter said.

2. Free WiFi access for customers 

Lunya has a WiFi system that allows customers to use Lunya’s Wifi for free by either logging into their Facebook account or sharing their email address. They then upload the contacts into their Constant Contact account to share updates about Lunya.  

3. Email newsletter digital sign-up form

They also use the Constant Contact sign-up form throughout the Lunya website. Having a digital email newsletter sign-up form ensures they never miss a chance to build customer connections with Lunya’s website visitors. To date, 2,330 sign-ups have come from the website’s sign-up form.

4. Adding Ecommerce customers to the email list

The Lunya website’s online shop sells Spanish items and deli meats, such as olives, sauces, and chuletón (steak), to people near and far from Liverpool. The company also builds its email list by adding online customers from their WooCommerce account to the online shop’s mailing list in Constant Contact.

Using two separate email lists, they are able to manage their customer contacts by recent and repeat customers.

Cleaning their email list

Having a restaurant in a tourist destination means some people sign up for the email list and may never revisit Lunya. Using Constant Contact’s email reports, they analysed the open rates for their emails to find and remove the email addresses of customers who hadn’t opened their emails in over one year or had email addresses that bounced.

“It’s interesting, we culled half our database of people who had no connection for over a year,” he said. “It’s not affected at all our responses. In fact, our opens have gone up.”

Rewarding repeat customers with coupons

They reward their loyal customers who have signed up to receive emails with a 10% off offer to use at the deli as a thank you for their support of the business year-round. 

“We want to say thanks for supporting us all year round, come and get something for less now,” he said.

Creating a community built on customer loyalty

When Liverpool was subject to quarantine lockdowns, Peter had to find a way to serve Lunya’s customers and support his vendors to keep the business running. Based on storytelling, Peter’s email marketing strategy became the foundation that helped Lunya survive the hardships the pandemic caused many small businesses. 

“Storytelling and being honest about our situation never came hard. I think we both came into this business knowing you didn’t dress anything up,” he shared his and Elaine’s outlook on business.

Enhanced digital presence

Lunya’s digital presence became a lifeline. By leveraging email marketing and social media, they shared behind-the-scenes content, recipes, and special promotions. This strategy helped build a loyal following and kept the brand at the forefront of customers’ minds who were looking for a quality dining experience.

Lunya’s customers becoming loyal supporters allowed Peter to continue sharing an authentic lens into how the business needed their support during the challenging times.

Going beyond the inbox and sharing on social media

While Lunya focuses mainly on promoting the business through email marketing, they also use social media. One way they use social media to market Lunya is by sharing their email newsletters on social media using Constant Contact’s sharing feature. They share their email newsletters on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

The email share menu gives him the option to summarise the email using AI. Playing with the inputs he gets from Constant Contact’s AI feature, Peter takes what the tool has created and edits it to sound closer to his own writing style and Lunya’s brand voice and tone.

“We’ll use that and it’s brilliant,” he said. “It’s interesting because when you’ve written something, sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees of how to digest, and it’s interesting what some of those AI options focus down on really well, and some say, well, I want is that right? But we give it a go, and you know they seem to work.”

Lunya is also actively sharing other content on social media, like photos, short-form videos, and promotional graphics, that follow the same themes as the email newsletters, namely storytelling and community-building around the Lunya brand.

Reaching out to customers for support during challenging times

Continuing with an authentic approach to email marketing, Peter used emails and social media to keep customers updated on how Lunya was doing during the pandemic and to share ideas on how they could consider supporting the business.

Asking for continued support through online purchases

In one email newsletter sent to their email subscribers during the pandemic to tell them about the challenges Lunya was facing because of the quarantine lockdowns and how they needed their support to continue the business and pay their suppliers, Lunya saw a remarkable return on investment. 

As a result of the email, Peter said Lunya experienced:

• A growth of 1,400% in online sales 
• Selling out of 100,000 pounds worth of their stock.

The heat map feature in Constant Contact shows exactly where customers engaged with the email by clicking on links on the website. Customers showed their interest in supporting Lunya’s online shop, reading Peter’s letter to the prime minister, checking out a promotion, and visiting their Instagram profile.

Partnering with Spanish beer wholesalers

On the Lunya menu, there are about 11 Spanish beers available. Peter partnered with a Spanish beer wholesaler he was closest to and made a deal to purchase beer at cost. Using email marketing, he shared the story of the beer’s origin and details about the product. It was a hit with customers.

“We went from selling probably about 100 bottles a week when the restaurant’s open to selling two pallets a week online,” he said. “Two pallets are probably about 160 cases of 24 bottles.”


This became a new campaign for Lunya during the pandemic. By giving wholesalers an opportunity to make their sales during the pandemic when restaurants were closed and unable to purchase from them and promoting them using online marketing, Lunya was able to give the wholesalers business and keep the Lunya business going.

“Through our mailing list, we became very popular with our wholesalers because we gave them a channel,” he said. “When we had money coming through, we could pay our staff who were working, (and) we could pay all of our suppliers. We escaped lockdown in a much better financial position than we went in.”

Increasing email open rates and sales by sharing relatable updates

Peter and Elaine were among many in the community who took on the responsibility of a “lockdown puppy.” Peter shared a story about how they came to add their furry family member to their household as part of a Lunya email newsletter, and people loved hearing about it and seeing a photo of their dog, Churros, a cute Cockapoo dog. 

He began including a photo of their dog in social media posts and email newsletters, which generated engagement from Lunya fans. The candid storytelling approach increased email open rates and sales for the business.

This sparked the idea of inviting the Liverpool community to bring their furry friends to Lunya with them.

“We learned something new. Cute photos of pets have more likes and food. We had more opens with a photo of a little cute puppy,” he said.


Adding to Lunya’s email marketing strategy for future success

Thanks to the success of that email announcing their food delivery, online shop, and other options on how the community could support Lunya, they survived the pandemic challenges and added more experiences to the business for customers. 

Adding virtual and in-person events to the Lunya experience

They began to host virtual wine tasting events and eventually in-person events, too. By sending emails to promote upcoming events to their subscribers, they can reach their target audience of people who want to experience Spanish cuisine. Each event has an allotted number of spots, filled up from the email promotions. Using email marketing gives their customers an easy way to RSVP or register for events by clicking call to action links in the emails.

“The challenge is you can put on a great event, and it could be brilliant, but if people don’t know about it, no one ever goes, and that’s the beauty of Constant Contact for us,” he said.

They now run three to four monthly events and are using Constant Contact to help them promote and manage them. They send emails sharing information about the events with a call to action link to purchase event tickets. For their 2024 Christmas Deli Showcase, they received 30 registration forms, with 59 people reserving a free ticket to the event.

Email templates

Lunya uses a standard email template in Constant Contact to create their emails. Email newsletters were sent to Lunya’s email list once a month before the pandemic, but since then, the business has evolved to include events, and they send one email every week, except when they are away on holiday.

“Constant Contact is 90% of all of our marketing,” Peter said.

Innovative menu items

Peter shared the stories of his vendors who produce the ingredients, beverages, and deli meats Lunya offers in its restaurant and deli. They introduced special takeout and delivery options, and their emails focused on ensuring safety and quality. 

To keep customers excited and coming back, Lunya introduced special menu items. These unique offerings provided a fresh dining experience and helped generate buzz and maintain interest during a time when many were cooking at home more often.

Supporting local communities

During the pandemic, Lunya also focused on supporting local communities. They partnered with local suppliers and charities, which helped strengthen community ties and resonated with customers who valued businesses that give back.

Throughout the pandemic, Lunya continued to share its story, keeping its brand alive in the minds of its customers. By highlighting the resilience and creativity of its team, it maintained a positive and inspiring presence, further solidifying its loyal customer base.

Building small business resilience

Through diversification and adaptability, Lunya not only survived the pandemic but thrived. Their proactive approach to online marketing and innovative business practices ensured that they remained a beloved and relevant brand, despite unprecedented challenges.

Lunya’s lasting impact on Liverpool

As the team at Lunya continues to serve curated Spanish cuisine and deli items, they remain true to Peter and Elaine’s vision of being an honest and open business to its employees, patrons, and community. With the help of Constant Contact, the connection to their audience stays strong as they continue to run their small business.

“It’s lovely that people, in effect, humanise a business and make friends with the business, and want to keep in touch, so we make sure they keep in touch,” Peter said.