Use These Restaurant Branding Tips To Create Stellar Brand Awareness For Your Restaurant

There are approximately 15,000,000 restaurants, pubs, and cafes in the world, and if you add the unorganized small-scale hotels, the numbers might cross even your imagination. So, being another restaurant in this massive hospitality galaxy, how do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? The answer lies in restaurant branding and marketing. However, restaurant branding isn’t that simple or up-front as you may think; it is way beyond deciding a catchy name and a logo. Your restaurant’s brand resonates with your customers, creating a recall value, which persuades them to keep coming back to the experience you offer. And hence, restaurant branding entitles a detailed thought process, but before we go into the specifics of designing restaurant branding strategy or answering the forever standing question of “How to brand a restaurant”, we need to know what restaurant branding is, why you need a branding strategy and what creates restaurant brand awareness in the first place.

A Brief About Restaurant Branding

Restaurant branding is the process involved in creating a unique name and image for your restaurant in the customer’s mind to differentiate you from your competition. This unique identity will not only differentiate you from the lot but establish you as a different entity which will reap results in terms of customer’s trust in your brand and brand image thus creating a loyal customer base.

There are many strategies through which you can brand your restaurant, but the most famous ways to create brand awareness for restaurants are through Logo, menu design, restaurant design, restaurant food, colors used in a restaurant, restaurant name, restaurant specialty, advertisements, and a social media presence.

Why Do You Need A Restaurant Branding Strategy?

What is unique about you as an individual? Perhaps, your eyes, height, charm, or fashion sense? Similarly, every restaurant needs a personality that defines the way it is, and restaurant branding is the way to achieve that.

Recall Value

Restaurant Branding turns you to a name to reckon with! When people recognize you as a brand and not just another food chain, they know they have come to the right place to meet their gastronomical expectations and make memorable experiences. As of today, McDonald’s is the most valuable fast food brand across the world with an estimated brand value of about 88.65 billion U.S. dollars!

Brand Identity

A brand identity ensures that you are consistent with the messages that you deliver to customers through your marketing campaigns and all other communication channels. For instance, no matter where you go in the world, Starbucks greets you with the same logo and storefront design.

Enhanced Credibility

If you have any expansion plans, having the right branding in place is worth a lot. People value goodwill and do not hesitate to venture into tried and tested waters. Barbeque Nation, with its, ‘live on the table grill’ concept, was able to create a distinct brand personality – casual, fun, and lively. Today, it has more than 70 outlets across India, has opened its overseas outlet in Dubai, and plans to open 300 more outlets by 2020.

What Creates Brand Awareness In The Restaurant Space

A brand can’t be built in one day. Nor does it have a single component. It is the years of building a perception in the mind of customers through an accumulation of various elements.

• Restaurant Name: Imagine a pizza chain with the name “pizzas from Italian firewood.” Sounds so generic and clichéd! Keep your restaurant short, crisp, simple, unique, and most importantly – easy to remember. Like Pizza Hut.
• Restaurant Logo: Your logo should be in sync with your brand’s philosophy and create a visual identity. For instance, Subway’s brand stands out in green and yellow, capturing its essence ‘eat fresh.’ This article will tell you how to create a stellar logo that would create a recall value in the minds of your customers.
• Restaurant Slogan / Tagline: A good slogan should deliver your brand promise. It should set the standard for how you want the public to perceive your brand and what they can expect.  For instance, KFC’s ‘finger-licking’ good.’
• Restaurant Colours: Have you ever wondered why Burger King or McDonald’s uses red color in their branding? There is a scientific reason behind it. Warm colors such as red are said to stimulate hunger. Orange is a color of innovation and youth. Green is the color of nature and ethics. Colors can help reflect the characteristics you want to portray for your restaurant.
• Storefront Design: How does your restaurant appear in terms of layout, location, ambiance, interiors, and hygiene? All these put together also create a brand for your restaurant. Black Pearl in Bangalore has a design of a pirate ship and reflects the lifestyle of pirates. The waiters are dressed as pirates; the rooftop lets the fresh breeze in as if you are on the sea, there is live music and more. The brand image that Black Pearl design portrays is – contemporary, cool, and out of box dining experience.
• Dress and Attire: Who would like to be served by shabbily dressed staff? Or imagine a place where you cannot differentiate between the customers and staff members. Dress and attire of the staff not only enhance the standard of your restaurant but also are vital components of your branding.

How To Brand Your Restaurant

Now that you know all the why’s and what’s of branding, let’s understand how you should do it.

1. Define Your Brand

Defining your brand will the foundation of your restaurant branding strategy. The moment you put the above-discussed components in place, you are almost done with defining your restaurant brand. It’s important that you take the time to define every component as they should resonate with each other and reflect your purpose, beliefs, and values.

2. Position Your Brand Correctly

Positioning is the mental space you want to occupy in the mind of customers. It is your unique value proposition and what you want customers to think about you. Chipotle, the popular American tacos and burrito restaurant, has positioned itself as someone who provides ‘food with integrity.’ It highlights Chipotle’s choice to serve naturally raised beef and pork, free of antibiotics and hormones.

3. Be Consistent With Your Brand

The absence of brand consistency can be fatal to your brand and prevent your customers from coming back. Your branding strategy should reflect in every single aspect of your restaurant, from the logo on your door to the persona of the staff, from music to décor, and from your menu to service. This consistency should also be maintained across all locations and communication channels such as social media handles, flyers, brochures, etc.

4. Tell A Story – A Good One!

The famous story about how Colonel Harland Sanders, after his retirement came up with the original chicken recipe of 11 herbs and spices and went on to become the world’s most famous cook, still interests people. Storytelling breathes life into your brand and establishes an emotional connection. If you have a story, use it to brand your restaurant.

4. Go The Extra Mile

You have done everything to attract customers, but could you do something that makes you a good brand in public? Branding is also going beyond the obvious and taking initiatives that go a long way in building your image. For instance, Pappadavada, a famous restaurant in Kerala, has placed a refrigerator outside its premises. At the end of the day, it puts all leftovers in this refrigerator for 24/7 access to needy people.

Branding evolves as your restaurant grows. It is a reputation that takes years to build. But, do remember that branding works if you have a great product and excellent services.

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