SLAMMED Magazine
Sept/Oct issue, 2004
Beyond Buzz
Four Tips for Cooking Up a Sizzling Brand
By Morgan Lynch
President and CEO of LogoWorks
Sometimes a new eater opens to an earful of buzz based on who's in charge, who's in the kitchen and what's on the menu. More often than not, however, a restaurant opens with minimal fanfare. Restaurateurs heave to work hard to create an identity for their budding bistros. How can they communication their own vision with their customers before anyone even sets foot inside? As the president of a design firm that specializes in logos and corporate identity, I'd like to share a little bit of what I've learned when it comes to branding a restaurant. Here are four quick tips:
1. Know Thyself
Too frequently, restaurants don't even know why they're in business. They don't know what it is that sets them apart from all the others. There has to be more than good food. It needs a well-defined identity that can be used as a selling point to coax diners through the doors. When restaurateurs know why they are in business and what space they are filling, that clarity of vision can be more easily communicated and the tables more easily filled. Think about it. If the owner doesn't even know what is special, how will diners be able to explain it to their friends?
2. Know Thy Neighbor
A new restaurant should try to occupy an unfilled niche, not mimic what others in the area are already doing. The same principle applies when designing a corporate identity, and it's ineffective to design a new restaurant's brand elements in a way that will match or remind anyone of somebody else, or suggest another style or image. This means it's probably best to avoid using golden arches in any form unless the goal is to remind people of McDonald's.
3. Align Key Messages
Harmony and congruency in this regard are essential. Everything a restaurateur does sends a message, from how the restaurant's name is displayed to what appears in the windows and how the spaces by the doors are used. All the various messages can either distract from or enhance the image. When put in an extreme context it's silly, but you've probably never walked into a restaurant with juggling clowns on the logo and brightly colored paint on its window glass, only to find waiters in tuxedos and tables dressed with fine linens and crystal on the inside. There's nothing wrong with clowns and window paint, but a restaurant must align the messages it sends in order to not contradict its image in customers' minds.
4. Sweat the Small Stuff
Consider something as simple as a logo. A new restaurant's logo can suggest that it is trendy and upscale or family-friendly and budget-conscious. It can imply a certain ethnicity, style or culture. But beneath its surface it represents more: value, quality, service or even the time one might wait for a table. Based on past experience, the glimpse of an established logo can stimulate salivary glands, provoke indifference or possibly even trigger the gag reflex. It becomes inseparably connected to the brand and image, and is not something to be taken lightly. And the good news is a little online searching can turn up some great options for affordable, high-quality designs.
What it all comes down to is that although food, service, selection and atmosphere are important, they really can't do anything but turn first-time customers into repeat customers. Winning the the first-timer is what is truly difficult, as people judge a restaurant before they ever walk through its doors. A well-defined corporate identity can help coax customers inside for that invaluable first experience.
<< Logoworks in the news
See the
LogoWorks article at www.startupjournal.com
See the
LogoWorks article at ries.typepad.com
See the
LogoWorks article at www.statesman.com
See the
LogoWorks article at www.benchmark.com
See the
LogoWorks article at www.usatoday.com
See the
LogoWorks article at www.constantcontact.com
