Restaurant Branding: Overview of Essentials

What is restaurant branding?

Putting together a branding strategy for your restaurant can feel like an uphill battle because you want to make sure every aspect of your establishment is represented in a uniform style with no inconsistencies present. In other words, branding should demonstrate your business’s values, image, voice, positioning and more in a single narrative.

Providing outstanding food is excellent, an absolute must-have, but the effort might be in vain if partons simply don’t know who you are and can’t distinctly recognize you among a multiplicity of other choices in the sector. Luckily, losing customers in such a way is preventable and not a nail in the coffin.

You are capable of asking for the help of restaurant branding consultants to pinpoint exactly what kind of story you want your establishment to tell, what kind of experience you want to deliver to the visitors, going a step ahead of designing the menu and the appliances. Like a gust of wind, branding reaches the design of the interior, website appeal, social media presence, even the uniform the staff wears.

All of these components make up the personality of the business, connecting with patrons on a deeper level and selling the experience you can offer, not just good dishes.

Where to start with restaurant brand design? Consider one of the most crucial points of how customers can find you and get a glimpse into your image — social media. A survey by MGH reveals that 45% of diners have tried a restaurant because of a post they have seen on social media.

Another strategy to dip your toes into with branding services is creating an appealing and user-friendly website since other respondents say they always visit the site first to check out whether the establishment is worth their attention.

In any case, a comprehensive approach is the best way to go about branding, not putting all of your eggs in one basket in a single channel of outreach and awareness. Why is that so important? Let’s get on the same page about it in the next section.

Importance of branding for restaurant

It would be highly unlikely in case a topic is buzzing around the industry and yet serves no importance to the business. The same can be said about branding efforts around the restaurant sector as there won’t be endless articles and service providers putting on blast how valuable it is to have a strategy.

Still, we should be putting money where our mouth is, finally crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s regarding what you can get in return for tirelessly building your branding from the ground up or improving on the existing foundation. So below are the five reasons why it is a smart move not to neglect branding.

A wake up call kind of information is that one in three restaurants do not survive their first year of operations, as reported by Toast, and there are many explanations for that, including failing to break through the competition. It is that one Achilles heel that most establishments face and one of the solutions branding provides for business owners.

When working with restaurant branding experts you should have all hands on deck to concoct the perfect approach to putting your name on the map that can stand proudly among already established companies. Tying all of the aspects of the brand identity we have mentioned before in a pretty ribbon is one of the fool-proof methods of achieving actual results.

Have you ever wondered if the quantity of customers you reach at this point is the maximum amount? Well, it could be the case that you only entertain a small portion of the potential patrons because the rest of the party is simply not aware of your existence. For example, you wish to cater to a more hipster-like audience, but your branding is not up to the part enough.

In that situation, getting brand consulting services can help you unlock new ways to set up your campaigns that would convey your value at first glance and captivate customers you haven’t been able to reach before.

The base of loyal customers is the bread and butter of any kind of business as these would be the people who trust you and stick by you no matter how tumultuous the situation you find yourself in. There are a variety of ways to turn first-time visitors into devoted regulars, one of the popular methods being loyalty programs and such.

With that being said, carefully crafted branding that positions a high-quality experience at the forefront can do the trick in a more subtle and less budget-draining manner. Looking at some of the most recognizable food chains we can see that people tend to go for them to obtain some kind of feeling and emotional enjoyment, rather than get their stomachs full.

Restaurant branding design is one of the first things that the audiences see and remember you buy and so leaving a positive, lasting impression on the first try is akin to hitting a jackpot. Perfecting your logo, naming, color schemes and other visual elements can strike the right balance between witnessing something new and not letting it drift away from the memory immediately.

On top of that, brand awareness propels one of the tried-and-true marketing methods — word of mouth. It is possibly the most organic way to attract fresh customers to the restaurant by having patrons recommend your establishment to others.

While not everyone has to create a five-year plan and think ahead decades, especially considering that the first year is the most troublesome, it is still an added bonus to branding that you can grow and expand on its basis over the course of your operations. The first example that comes to mind is that the more well-known your business is, the more you can start spiking up the prices for your services.

Ultimately it becomes a never-ending cycle — you generate more revenue and put that money into sustaining your brand to then further increase your income. In addition, if you ever wish to expand your restaurant and offer new things, it is astronomically easier to do it with a recognizable brand.

Inspiring restaurant branding examples

Now that we have illustrated the vast importance of branding for your restaurant, we find it only right to prove our point further by demonstrating the true belles of the ball in the UK proximity. The five restaurants we want to discuss put their best foot forward in terms of building a solid, consistent brand around their establishment, standing their ground solidly in the face of cut-throat competition.

Pulling our brand design experts together, we have analyzed what makes them stand out and what you get to grasp from their experiences being representatives of some of the best restaurant branding specimens. Who are these brands? Let’s start one by one.

Sketch

Sketch is a London-based restaurant and bakery that propels the art of branding with an image that catches the eye at first glance. Selecting pastel pink as their primary color in the scheme, it continues throughout all of their elements, from the interior design and website to the color of their deserts.

Speaking of a website, the first thing you notice once you land on their page are animations, all of which act as stand-ins for the five salons they provide, completed in the cohesive brand image. This also reflects a carefully curated social media presence with themed posts in adjoined layouts that paint a complete picture of their attitude and set the stage for a joyful emotion.

There remains no doubt that Sketch’s approach to branding is well-thought-out and works effectively for their audiences.

Meraki

Meraki is a Greek-Mediterranean restaurant with a more sophisticated tone of its identity, pioneering dark wood tones and light beige colors as well as a luxury dining experience, all the while maintaining a minimalistic approach toward typography and logo. The social media paints a picture of a restaurant that is dedicated to delivering exceptional dishes and nurturing a selling point of service worthy of celebrities.

It is one of the leading restaurant branding ideas for establishments catering to such patrons, with the website following the same structure and tone. At a glance, Meraki balances a fine line between a dinner-date spot and a business-casual place with a dim-lights atmosphere engulfed by refined themes.

It makes perfect sense why their popularity is being exemplified and their success drives them to open more establishments around the globe.

Cahoots

Cahoots is a network of cocktail bars in London that embraces the old-timey theme of English pubs while seamlessly merging it with modern bar esthetics. The feeling of the interior design of one of the bars is palpable, cultivating an underground train station and decorated in the last century style, while other locations continue the theme with a ticket station and a postal office.

The website of the Cahoots is a perfect representation of the image they are going for, immersing the users in the experience followed by muted but bright colors with old-fashioned typography and pictures.

This restaurant undeniably put all hands on deck to compile such a cohesive identity across all of their spots and outreach channels, making them a do-no-miss example of outstanding branding.

Hot trends in restaurant brand design

Drawing a full breath of inspo, you may now be wondering, ‘How can I implement some of the best tactics of branding into my own strategy and what exactly is hot right now?”. Considering you are familiar with the greatest ideas for crafting your identity, it is time to sort through the current trends buzzing in the industry to give you a perspective of what you can incorporate for yourself.

• Minimalism instead of overdoing it.

Looking at the prominent brands in the restaurant sector you may have noticed a shift from the over-crowded and stuffed branding of the last decade toward a minimalist approach, stripping away unnecessary elements and leaving the core idea at the forefront. Even global brands like Pepsi went back to their roots, turning back the tide to a straightforward and easy-on-the-eyes logo.

Collaborating with some of the finest restaurant branding consultants, you can brainstorm how to set up a naming and logo that would stick around in the memory of the audience without being heavily overloaded with seemingly unique components.

• A combination of themes.

Out with the old, in with the new, or is it? The trend of mix and matching themes has become a new interest of the consumers, combining some core characteristics from one area and a polar opposite in a seamless tandem. Pulling back to our example with Cahoots, a large portion of their success is surely laid in their ability to merge new and old, creating something completely refreshed.

While this trend is hard to ride and requires a particularly meticulous thinking, we have seen brands incorporate two different ideas into a never-before-seen look that is sure to separate them from others on the market. The main issue, though, is avoiding to create a Frankenstein monster no one would find appealing.

• Storytelling over shallowness.

The modern market in the state that it is today is fairly overfilled with uncountable establishments competing for the hearts of patrons which means creating a restaurant branding solely around the esthetics is no longer enough to race in the game.

Businesses that propel to the front their authenticity and storytelling wrapped around an emotional connection with audiences are the ones to outpace restaurants surrounded by shallowness.

• Sustainability angle.

Eco-consciousness and planet-friendly angles have been around for more than a decade, however, rising to the popularity of demand only in recent years. In fact, some customers are saying outright that they won’t be supporting brands that totally neglect the climate of our planet within their operations.

A few simple steps to take initially are akin to the ways Starbucks has shifted its stance on sustainability — offering biodegradable packaging for to-go orders. On top of that, you can consider energy saving in your restaurant as well as donating to foundations that work toward the cause, pushing the messaging ahead.

The trends we have talked about so far are only the tip of an iceberg and by working with proficient restaurant branding agencies, you are capable of digging gold with your strategy.

Finalizing thoughts

With all of the knowledge we have passed to you so far, the idea of putting together a robust strategy should be at the top of your priorities. Gathering insights into the value of branding, scooping some inspirational ideas and wrapping your head around emerging trends, there should be no roadblocks when it comes to partnering with the right restaurant branding firm and taking your concept to the next level.

Talking about firms, consider visiting our platform to help you find the most adequate and reliable agency for your specific niche within our exhaustive lists.