How to build a strong, memorable restaurant brand identity

It’s easy to overlook the importance of having a strong brand identity for your restaurant without meaning to. Often, the focus is on excellent customer service and producing tasty, high-quality meals for the customers.

This often results in less time and focus going into the restaurant’s brand identity. However, this is an essential part of the process, and can make or break your restaurant. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at restaurant branding, why it’s important, and how to build your own.

What is a brand identity? 

A brand identity is the sum of the qualities that help to define a company or product. When you get to know a person, you call the sum of their unique personality, values, and characteristics their personality or identity. 

For a restaurant or business, it’s essentially the same, but it’s carefully cultivated to portray how that restaurant wants to be perceived by its target audience. In short, it is the things that set the restaurant apart from its peers. 

Why is a strong restaurant brand identity important?

There are many different reasons why having a strong brand identity is essential. That’s why there are so many brand identity agencies. Some of the ways in which it contributes to your business success include the following:

• A strong brand identity can help create an emotional connection with your customers. This has several potential consequences, including inspiring loyalty and encouraging customers to recommend your restaurant to others.
• Having a cohesive brand identity can help make your restaurant more memorable by helping it to stand out of the crowd.
• Having built a brand identity that’s unique and memorable can help with brand recognition. When customers recognise a brand, and what it stands for, they’re more likely to visit it.
• A strong brand image can also help to build trust and credibility with customers and potential customers. When people learn to associate a specific brand with trustworthiness and credibility, they’ll often keep trusting that brand until they encounter evidence to the contrary. This makes them more likely to choose your restaurant over those of competitors.
• By helping you to create a strong, cohesive, image and message, a strong brand identity can even help to improve your restaurant marketing efforts. By creating a clear and consistent message, it’s easier to resonate with your target audience. 
• Having a well-formulated brand image can even help with employee relations by helping employees to feel more connected to the restaurant and its mission. Oftentimes, this will lead to increased job satisfaction and performance as employees feel like part of something bigger than themselves.

Creating a strong restaurant brand identity

Now that we understand why it's important, let's take a closer look at how to create a strong restaurant brand identity. 

We’ll start right at the beginning, with the basics you’ll need to help define your brand’s identity. Then, we’ll move on to discussing the various elements that form the expression of your brand identity. 

Finally, we’ll discuss how to develop a consistent tone of voice for your brand, and implement your new brand identity to the best effect.

Define your brand identity

Building a strong brand identity starts with defining your brand. You need to pinpoint the things that make your restaurant unique. What is its mission, what does it stand for (its values), what kind of unique value does it offer to potential clients, and are there any other defining aspects that make your restaurant stand out?

Below, we’ll take a more comprehensive look at some of these elements and how you can use them to define your brand.

What is your mission statement?

Your mission statement is a massive part of your restaurant’s identity. You need to articulate your restaurant’s goals and what you want to accomplish. 

The first thing you need to ask yourself here is, “Why does your restaurant exist?” In other words, what inspired you to open a restaurant? While wanting to earn money is an excellent thing, it isn’t really inspiring. Try to probe for deeper thoughts and motivations that can help build your brand image.

The next thing you need to do is establish, and articulate, exactly what your restaurant wishes to accomplish. Try to break them into both a set of long-term, ultimate goals, as well as things you’d like to accomplish in the short term.

For instance, if you have a Mexican restaurant, you may have a short-term goal like “introducing at least 50 regular customers to the joys of authentic, wholesome, Mexicana.” A longer-term goal may be, “To create an atmosphere where Mexicana-lovers can form a community.” These may not be at all what you’re inclined towards, but they serve as a good example. 

What are your restaurant’s values?

Once you’ve determined what your restaurant aims to accomplish, it’s time to look into the values and core principles that define how your restaurant is going to accomplish those goals.

Here are a few things to bear in mind, that can help you establish your store’s values:

1. How important is sustainability to you? Many restaurants have sustainable sourcing as one of their main tenets. This may take the form of sourcing locally, or not using GMO products.
2. Are you more concerned about affordability or quality? There’s no real shame in either option, but it will help to sculpt your brand image. If you’re going for the quality of free-range organic produce, you’ll definitely target a different audience than if you’re simply going for affordable and tasty.
3. How important is inclusivity to you? Some restaurants make their mark by being as inclusive as possible. This may take the form of having a full vegan, vegetarian, and pescetarian menu to accommodate all customers. It can also mean taking a no-nonsense approach to discrimination, or paying special attention to hiring people from often-overlooked minorities. You get to decide what that looks like, or how inclusive you’re going to be (within limits, of course).

These are just a few of the many things you can build your set of values around, and it ultimately comes down to your vision and goals for the restaurant.

Which unique aspects does your restaurant have?

After defining your restaurant's mission, vision,  and values, it’s time to start looking at the elements that make your restaurant unique.

First, start by defining your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). This is the one thing that makes your restaurant different, sets it apart, and indicates why customers should choose you over your competitors. 

Do you offer a family-friendly environment in a type of restaurant that’s typically stiff and formal? That’s your UVP. 

Maybe you use only organic, sustainably-sourced products while your competitors are using mainstream products loaded with artificial chemicals and preservatives. That can be your UVP.

It can be any number of things, but it’s essential to find the one thing that sets your restaurant apart. You may also want to list any secondary aspects that distinguish your restaurant from others, as these can also be a critical part of your brand identity.

Position your restaurant

Once you have a clear brand identity, It’s time to start positioning your restaurant in the market. But how do you do that? The short version is that you need to identify your target audience, and discover how your unique brand identity appeals to them.

This involves a fair bit of brand research, and trying to determine things like:

• Your target demographic (this may include ages, salary ranges, and more besides)
• The digital marketing platforms and content types that your target audience prefers
• The area where your target audience resides
• Your audience’s flavour and decor preferences

There are many different ways to find this information, including researching the techniques of your successful competitors, using analytics tools on digital platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, or even hiring marketing specialists to help you find the information you need.

Once you’ve discovered the information you need, use it to define your marketing strategy and position your restaurant appropriately.  

Develop a consistent tone of voice

Before you start implementing your restaurant’s branding, it’s essential to develop a consistent tone of voice for your brand. Your restaurant’s tone is how you communicate with your customers, and should reflect your brand's personality and be consistent across all your communication platforms.

Your restaurants tone should do two things:

1. It should reflect your restaurant's personality - Look at the definition of your restaurant. Is it friendly and approachable? Is it sophisticated and refined? Your tone should reflect the character of your restaurant’s brand.‍
2. It should be consistent across all touchpoints - Once you’ve established a brand persona, you need to ensure that the tone remains consistent on all platforms. Whether that’s your website, social media platforms, or print media, it should form a cohesive whole.

Create a compelling visual identity

Once you’ve created a cohesive restaurant brand identity, you also need to decide what that unique brand persona looks like, visually. In fact, visual elements play a crucial role in creating a memorable brand identity.

There are a few types of visual elements that you need to prioritise in this regard. They include the following:

• The restaurant logo: Your logo reflects the essence of your restaurant. It should be visually appealing, memorable, and match the colour palette and design style you’ve chosen for the rest of your brand.
• Colour palette: You should be careful to choose colours that evoke the desired emotions and align with your brand's personality. Don’t choose bright, out-of-place colours for a more demure formal restaurant, for instance.
• Font: Select fonts that are easy to read, complement your logo, and reflect your brand's style.
• Website design: Create a website that is visually appealing, user-friendly, and aligns with your brand's overall aesthetic.

Implementing restaurant branding

Once you have all the elements of a restaurant brand identity, you’re ready to start implementing them and creating a cohesive image for your restaurant.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. Apply your branding across all aspects of the business - Everything should match the identity you’ve built for your restaurant. From decor and ambience to the logo, the theme of the employee dress code, and even the menu design. You are gradually creating the image that people will see when they look at your business.
2. Ensure brand consistency across all platforms: Irrespective of whether you’re doing print-based advertising, or posting on social media, you need to maintain the same tone and visual elements across all channels. This makes it easier for customers and potential customers to recognize and support your brand.
3. Leveraging tools for consistent communication - One thing that is non-negotiable is the quality of good customer service. Whether it’s online or via phone, ensure that you leverage tools like chatbots and call centres to ensure efficient communication across all platforms. Also ensure that the various tools are instructed to use the tone and brand identity associated with your restaurant.

Conclusion

We hope that this article has helped you to discover the wonders of having a strong brand identity for your restaurant. While there are many moving parts to this type of process, it generally comes down to understanding the type of image you want to display to the world.

From the unique products and services that you offer (which help to set you apart from your competitors, to your mission and values as a business, every unique element helps to give your restaurant a unique voice and identity. 

It’s also essential to create a consistent tone of voice and visual identity that people can recognise as that of your brand. If you can manage to do all these things, you’re well on your way to creating a strong brand identity with a cohesive appearance and mission.

If you don’t feel confident in your ability to formulate a strong restaurant brand identity by yourself, reach out to Boost Media. Our brand identity team would love to help your restaurant build a unique identity that will last for generations to come.