The Beginner's Guide to Brand Pillars

The food service business is a cutthroat and highly competitive business. Thus, so many small restaurant and coffee shop owners are highly concerned about gaining more customers and retaining the old ones. However, there is a way that small food establishment can breed customer loyalty and attract more customers and that’s through branding and marketing.

Most small restaurant owners usually believe that branding is usually reserved for the big chain restaurants. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. A good restaurant brand helps to communicate what your restaurant is about and makes it more memorable to your customers. It can be the deciding factor determining whether your restaurant is successful or not.

Thus knowing how important restaurant branding is for your small restaurant business, let us look at a few tips to help you create a brand for your restaurant.

Pick a Niche

Your small restaurant’s niche is about more than just choosing your cuisine. When you are trying to figure out your restaurant’s niche you need to ask yourself how you want to be perceived and what sort of clientele you wish to attract.

Choosing your niche is all about figuring out your restaurant’s identity. You want to think about, whether you want to be perceived as modern, vintage, elegant, upscale, affordable, fun, quirky, or homely. Furthermore, you want to consider, which clientele you wish to serve be it couples, business people, or college students.

Once you figure this out, every aspect of your business needs to help promote this identity. Figuring out your restaurant’s identity is very important in helping to create your brand as it helps your customers understand how to perceive you and whether you are what they are looking for.

Create A Mission Statement

Developing a mission statement will help focus your brand. It is one of the first steps a small restaurant should take when developing its brand. Your mission statement will be your guide as you navigate the ups and downs of owning a restaurant. Thus to effectively develop a well-rounded mission statement, ask yourself the following questions:

•​Who are you?

•​What do you do?

•​Why do you do what you do?

•​What are your core values and beliefs?

•​What do you wish to accomplish?

•​What is the plan to help you achieve your goals?

•​What makes you special.

Once you have figured out the answers to these questions, then you will be on the right path in creating your brand. Having a clear mission statement makes you aware of who are and what you intend to accomplish with your restaurant.

Position your Brand In the Market

How you position your brand in the market is very important. Your brand positioning is all about differentiating yourself from your competitors. Your brand positioning in the market will d determine how your customers view you in relation to your competitors. Think of it this way your brand positioning will help your customers answer the question, “Why your restaurant?”

Thus when thinking of positioning your brand, you should be thinking in the terms of the price of your food, the food available in your menu, how you will be promoting your restaurant, and its location.

You should also strive to be aware of your competitors and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. Consider how they compare to yours.

Design and Customize the Overall Look of your Brand

This includes everything that can be used to represent your brand, from the physical restaurant to the logo. Your online presence is one of the first places you want to customize to represent your brand. Most people today use the internet to find restaurants. Thus you want to ensure that your website and social media accounts clearly represent who you are as a brand.

The next thing you want to consider is your restaurant. The exterior and interior of your restaurant are especially critical as they need to represent your brand loud and clear.

Thus, you need to be cautious of the colors used, the design of the menus, the signage used, how the staff is dressed, and how the room is arranged all these need to reflect your brand. The colors you choose for your brand need to be carefully thought out, as color does make people feel a certain type of way. Hence, you want to ensure the emotions your color palette is triggering in your customers are in line with your brand.

Your logo and tagline are also key tools in representing your small restaurant’s brand. These two are the most visible parts of your restaurant’s branding. They are usually plastered on everything that has to do with your restaurant. Thus you want to make certain they are spreading the correct message.

Do not forget to include your take-away merchandise in your brand. Your take-away merchandise is a great way to keep promoting your brand to your customers and any other people they may interact with while with your merchandise.

Be Consistent

Consistency is key. This rings true when it comes to restaurant and coffee shops branding. Figure out your brand strategy, then every aspect of your business should reflect this strategy. From your logo paper cups, custom plastic cups, shop sign and right down to the uniform your staff wears.

You should not have a case where your restaurant brand is represented one way in one category and differently in another. This will confuse your customers and may lead to mistrust from them. Thus, you want to ensure what is being represented about your brand in your restaurant, is also what is being represented in your social media accounts, and on your website. Any inconsistencies can prove quite fatal to your brand.

Train Your Staff To Adhere To Your Brand Expectations

Remember, your employees are simply an extension of your brand. Thus you want to ensure they have the proper knowledge and training to effectively represent your brand.

Your staff is a key element of your brand, and if they do not represent it well, it can cause your business to suffer. Take, for example, your restaurant’s brand identity is to promote an elegant, upscale eating place. However, you have rude waiters. If this goes on unchecked, soon enough, your brand will be established as a restaurant with rude waiters. You may quickly find you no longer have customers.

Nonetheless, if your staff is well-trained in promoting upscale, elegance. Then your restaurant’s brand identity is maintained, and your customers are happy.

Participate In Your Local Community

Your local community is your goldmine. They are the ones most likely to eat at your restaurant and promote your brand. Thus it is a wise idea to share some of your brand values with your local community. You could donate some of your food to the soup kitchen or support a specific charity in your community.

This way, your local community will recognize your restaurant as a reliable force in the community and will put your restaurant‘s brand in a positive light.

Invest in Marketing Merchandise

Once you have your brand well established, you need to get it in other people’s faces. This means using elements that represent your brand, such as your logo and tag line or slogan plastered on as many advertising platforms as you can afford. I am talking billboards, TV commercials, flyers, social media, logo paper cups, custom logo plastic cups, cars. The fact is, the more visible your brand becomes, the better it will help you in promoting your small restaurant, and retaining customer loyalty.

Conclusion

With the sheer number of restaurants available in today’s market, restaurant branding is what will set you apart from the rest.

Do not leave restaurant branding to be used only by the big chain restaurants. If you have good food and excellent service. Then good restaurant service will help take your restaurant to a whole new level.