Meta and Systeme.io building a free guide pipeline and direct eBook revenue for chefs learning the business side of the kitchen
2 min read · 12 slides
Chef's Office Academy was founded by Ricardo Calderini, an executive chef in Perth who spent twenty years learning both sides of the kitchen and the business. The Academy teaches chefs the financial framework they never get given: food cost, labour, menu strategy, and what it actually takes to move up.
The goal was to build a qualified lead list and drive direct eBook sales across cold, lookalike, and retargeting audiences on Meta, with Systeme.io handling delivery and follow-up on the backend.
Meta ads drove chefs to the offer. Systeme.io handled everything after the click: delivering the free guide, capturing the lead, routing buyers to the paid eBooks, and running the email sequence that kept the relationship alive. Two tools, one connected flow.
Chefs carry a strong professional identity and respond to content written at their level, for their career. The campaign architecture reflected that: three audience tiers, each doing a specific job, targeting working chefs in Australia at every stage of their relationship with the brand.
Chefs who gave their email to receive "Unlock Your Kitchen's Profit Potential," Ricardo's free guide, at no cost. They entered a Systeme.io nurture sequence built to move them toward the paid eBooks and the $97 Assessment.
Chefs who purchased one of the paid guides directly: The Business Minded Chef, Menu Engineering, Leadership, or Kitchen Intelligence ($9.97 to $24.97). Higher intent, already spending. These are also on the list.
Both paths from the same creative and the same budget. The 77 purchases brought revenue back into the account before the campaign closed. The 192 opt-ins compound through email as the relationship builds.
Systeme.io handled everything after the Meta click. Landing pages for the free guide and the paid eBooks each delivered content instantly at opt-in or checkout. Automated sequences fired based on which path each chef took.
Buyers were routed toward Ricardo's $97 Assessment. Free opt-ins went into a trust-building sequence leading toward the paid guides. Every chef who came through the campaign had a clear next step waiting for them.
cost per lead.
192 leads. ~$527 spent.
Working chefs carry a strong professional identity and very few paid advertisers target it specifically. A campaign built around their craft, their career pressures, and the financial gaps in their training produced a cost per lead that reflects how underserved the audience is.
77 chefs purchased a guide directly: The Business Minded Chef, Menu Engineering, or one of the others. That revenue came back into the budget while the campaign was still running. The spend built a lead list and generated returns simultaneously.
The 192 who downloaded the free guide went into a Systeme.io nurture sequence built to bring them toward the paid eBooks and Ricardo's $97 Assessment. Two groups, two distinct journeys, one campaign funding both.
Meta driving demand. Systeme.io capturing and nurturing it. One eBook. 192 leads. 77 purchases.
Chefs carry a strong professional identity and very few advertisers target it specifically. Low competition and high intent, combined with creative built around their craft, produces cost per lead that broader verticals rarely achieve.
Chefs get promoted for cooking, then left to figure out food cost, labour, and margins alone. Ricardo's free guide addresses a real gap. A useful free offer in the right niche compounds into paid buyers.
Cold, lookalike, and retargeting each served a distinct stage of the buying journey. Every dollar was allocated to the audience most likely to act on it at that moment.
Systeme.io captured every lead, delivered the guide or eBook instantly, and fired the right follow-up sequence automatically. Every click was accounted for from landing page through to the next offer.
Chefs arrive at different stages of readiness. The campaign was built to serve both ends of that spectrum.
The 77 who purchased a guide immediately generated revenue that came back into the budget while the campaign was still live. That revenue covered a portion of the spend before the campaign even closed, making the list cheaper to build than the raw CPL suggests.
The 192 who took the free guide entered a Systeme.io sequence designed to bring them to Ricardo's paid eBooks and $97 Assessment over time. At $2.74 per lead, that pipeline grows on its own.
We build the full acquisition engine: Meta campaigns that speak your audience's language, a free entry offer that builds the list, paid products that offset the spend, and a Systeme.io backend that nurtures every contact toward the next step automatically.
streetwiseconsultancy.com · Dublin, Ireland