4 Essentials of Restaurant Branding
Branding tells customers who you are and what exactly you can offer them. It not only creates a personality and identity but also allows your restaurant to stand out from the crowd.
Branding can be powerful. And if done correctly, it can make your business. Conversely, if you treat branding as an afterthought, you have the potential of breaking your business.
Your restaurant’s brand encompasses its identity. It clarifies the expectations of your customers, gets to the heart of your brand, and communicates your message. Branding propels your restaurant’s success by achieving memorability. A restaurant’s brand is what makes your customers remember you. It is what brings them back.
When guests walk into your restaurant, they need to have a transformative experience. The brand of your restaurant creates a perception in the guests’ minds. Your guests may not know why your restaurant feels so inviting, but what they know is that they like it. This right here, is the magic of branding.
When every, single, little, teeny, tiny thing is aligned with every other little, teeny, tiny thing, there’s a sense of order and of cohesion. This is compelling to the human brain, and when done well, it attracts people. This is the secret of branding: consistency and cohesion. When that consistent cohesion also aligns with the core values of your restaurant, boom! A brand is born.
That said, not everyone has the budget to enlist the assistance of a top branding agency to take care of all the teeny, tiny things. However, there are four essentials of restaurant branding that should not, under any circumstances, be left to chance.
When it comes to restaurant branding, prioritize the logo, menu, business cards and website.
Restaurant Branding Essential No. 1: Restaurant Logo Design
Ok, let’s put this out here first. Your logo isn’t your brand. But, it is an important element in the creation of your brand.
A logo represents your restaurant in almost every place people interact with your restaurant. It would be tough to list all these places out, but just to name a few, your restaurant logo will appear on: your building, your website, your social profiles, your team tees, your bags, your cups, your marketing materials. You get the idea. Your logo will be everywhere, so it’s got to be good.
A restaurant logo should serve as a platform for telling your story. There should be a purpose and meaning behind it. It shouldn't just be a pretty little design. It needs to demand attention by standing out from the crowd. You want it to be memorable and instantly recognizable by customers.
PS - We've written 3 crucial logo design tips you don't want to miss.
Before creating a logo for your restaurant, it’s important you define the foundation of your restaurant’s brand, really get to the soul of the restaurant. What is your position in the market, what are your brand attributes, and what’s your overall visual direction?
Armed with this information, you, but better yet, your restaurant branding agency can properly create a logo design that starts your story.
Restaurant Branding Essential No. 2: Restaurant Menu Design
Your restaurant menu is another primary restaurant branding element that you cannot afford to leave to Microsoft Word.
A restaurant menu is often the first element that a customer will hold, touch, feel, and encounter related to your brand. In most instances, your restaurant menu will be encountered even before your team has an opportunity to interact with the customer.
First and foremost, your menu design should be easy to read. The information should be presented in a manner that draws the customer in and leads the eye through the different offerings in a simplistic format.
Additionally, the design of the restaurant menu should align with the overall visual direction of the brand. When our restaurant branding agency designs a menu, we consider the overall brand, where it fits in the customer journey, and the menu offerings of the restaurant. We then deconstruct and reconstruct the menu offerings through strategy before incorporating skillful graphic design. The result is a restaurant menu that is clear, simple to comprehend, and attention-grabbing just the right places, driving that check right up.
Restaurant Branding Essential No. 3: Restaurant Business Card
You may be thinking you don't need a business card for your restaurant, but we are here to tell you that YOU DO! A restaurant business card is essential to the restaurant brand. Just like the menu, restaurant business cards end up in the hands of customers who are actively seeking more information about the restaurant and they typically get picked up without you even noticing.
Additionally, restaurant concepts are often looking to franchise or grow, so networking is key. A professionally-designed restaurant business card will equip representatives of the restaurant to communicate with the public in a manner that’s cohesive with the overall brand.
Restaurant Branding Essential No. 4: Restaurant Website Design
Finally, the fourth essential of restaurant branding is your restaurant website.
People are visiting restaurant websites to interact with a brand and typically get specific information. Loyal guests and prospective customers will visit your website to see what’s on the menu, the hours of operation, and how to get to your restaurant. This day in age, they better be able to order online too!
The restaurant website is typically visited before the restaurant itself and it creates the first impression. A guest who has never visited your restaurant can form a perception about your restaurant the moment they look at the website. The design of your website, the tone, imagery, and language you use can form a connection between the user and your restaurant brand without you having to say a word.
It’s worthwhile to invest in a high-quality website, created by a restaurant branding agency, to aid in branding your restaurant. You need to ensure the website is able to engage the customers so that they get the information they came for.
Conclusion
So, these are the primary elements for branding your restaurant. Your logo design, your menu design, your business card, and your website will equip you with the primary branding elements to correctly convey your brand to customers.
If you want your restaurant to stand out from the competition, you need to focus on branding and hire a restaurant branding agency. If your existing branding efforts just aren’t working, Nice Branding Agency can help. Drop us a line today and let’s get your restaurant brand in order.
Review our restaurant branding work in our portfolio.
