Plan on two bills, not one. The first is ad spend, which goes to Meta, TikTok or Google. The second is the fee for whoever runs the ads. For a small Orange County account, flat management fees run about $500 to $2,000 a month, and percentage deals take 10 to 30 percent of spend. On the spend side, a two-week test costs $300 to $500. If you want a platform to learn who actually buys, most budget guides put the floor near $1,500 a month. Add $150 to $500 per video for creative.

Ad spend and the management fee are separate

Ad spend is what the platform charges you per click or per thousand views. The management fee is what an agency or freelancer charges to plan, build and watch the campaign. Ask for the two on separate lines so you can see each.

Flat fee. One Orange County consultant lists an $800 setup and $1,500 a month, with ad spend separate and “the account stays yours.” A subscription service lists $499 a month for Meta ads with no contract. A Newport Beach agency says flat retainers (a retainer is a set monthly fee) for smaller accounts “commonly run between $500 and $2,000 per month.”

Percentage of spend. The same Newport Beach agency puts the usual range at 10 to 20 percent of monthly spend and says total fees above 25 percent of spend “are worth questioning.” Another Orange County agency’s cost guide says accounts under $5,000 a month tend to pay 20 to 30 percent, and many agencies hold a $1,000 to $5,000 monthly minimum no matter what you spend.

One Google Ads firm says local businesses spending $1,000 to $5,000 a month usually pay $500 to $1,500 for management. That can equal 25 to 50 percent of the spend.

Platform minimums are tiny. Useful budgets are not.

Each platform lets you start small. TikTok requires more than $50 a day per campaign and more than $20 a day per ad group. Meta’s floor is $1 a day per ad set. Google’s budget page lists no minimum; you pick an average daily budget and “can adjust it anytime.”

The catch is learning. Each platform has a learning phase, a stretch at the start when it tests who to show your ads to. Several budget guides, one citing Meta’s help center, say an ad set (a group of ads sharing one audience) needs about 50 conversion events (leads, orders or calls) in 7 days to leave that phase. TikTok says swings in results start to calm “after about 25 campaign results or 7 days.” Google recommends judging a Target CPA campaign (one that bids toward a set cost per lead) over 30 days with at least 30 conversions.

Do the math. At $50 a day, one ad set has about $350 a week. Fifty events a week means each one has to cost about $7 or less. If a lead costs $20 instead, 50 leads a week is $1,000 a week. That is why several budget guides put the floor for a lead or order campaign at about $1,500 a month, or $50 a day, on one ad set, and why a cheaper offer learns faster. Split that money across five ad sets and none of them learns.

What a two-week test costs

You do not need $1,500 to find out if a channel works. A restaurant TikTok guide from Ion Hospitality suggests a $300 to $500 test over two weeks, aimed at a 5 to 10 mile radius around the restaurant. Run it Thursday through the next Wednesday to cover two weekend dinner rushes. That works out to about $21 to $36 a day, under TikTok’s daily campaign minimum, so set it as a lifetime budget instead. TikTok’s lifetime minimum for an ad group is $20 times the number of days, or $280 for 14 days.

Ion says a test that size is enough to get TikTok through its learning phase. What it really answers is a simpler question: does anyone nearby tap, call or order? If yes, scale toward the floor. If no, fix the offer or the video first.

What creative costs

Ads need video. For food and drink brands, Launchpoint’s rate guide puts UGC-style videos (creator-made, shot on a phone) at $150 to $500 each. A TikTok taste-test clip runs $150 to $300. A Meta recipe or usage video runs $200 to $400. Paid usage rights, which let you run the clip as an ad, often add 20 to 30 percent per month.

What the clicks cost

For reference, LocaliQ’s 2026 search benchmarks put the average Google Ads click at $5.42 across industries and $2.05 for restaurants and food. Average cost per lead was $66.69 overall and $30.57 for restaurants. Their Facebook benchmarks (2025 data) show a $27.66 average cost per lead, with restaurants and food lowest at $3.16. These are averages, not promises.

What to track

Views do not pay rent. Track what turns into money.

Business Track this Not this
Restaurant Orders, calls, reservations Video views
Product brand Purchases, add-to-carts Followers
Service business Calls, form fills, bookings Reach

Google’s conversion tracking can count website purchases, calls from ads, calls to a number on your site, and offline sales you upload. Meta and TikTok have their own tracking code (a “pixel”) for actions on your site. Set these up before the first dollar goes out.

Questions to ask an agency

  1. Who owns the ad account? On Meta, create the ad account in your own business portfolio, then give the agency partner access. One setup guide puts it plainly: “they don’t own your assets; your business portfolio does.” If the account is created inside the agency’s portfolio, it belongs to the agency. On Google, the agency links through a manager account. You approve the link, and your admins can unlink “at any time.”
  2. Is the fee flat or a percentage? Does it change when spend goes up?
  3. Is there a setup fee, and what does it cover? Tracking setup should be in it.
  4. How long is the contract? Month to month is common at this size.
  5. What do you report each week? Cost per order, call or booking, not reach.
  6. Who makes the video, and who pays for it?

What we would do

We start with tracking, not ads. Then we run a short test on one platform with a few videos we shoot ourselves, and read the cost per order or call before scaling. Our ads service page explains how. Already running ads? Book a free 20-minute audit and get three written findings within two business days.

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