Why Your Food Business Needs a Restaurant Branding Agency
It's no secret that the restaurant industry is booming. With new cafés, bistros, and gastropubs popping up everywhere you look, you might be asking yourself how your own restaurant can stand out in a sea of sameness.
The answer? Branding.
Menu design for The Anderson restaurant and bar by Omit Studios.
But you need more than just a logo and color palette. A top-notch restaurant branding agency will develop a brand strategy that will transform everything from your signage to your menu design, marketing collateral (think: website and social media assets), and even the ambiance of your spot, all with the end goal of attracting and maintaining your ideal customer.
Ready to learn how a restaurant branding company can help your restaurant succeed? Keep scrolling for a taste.
The history of the restaurant
Restaurants are not a new concept. In fact, they have been around for almost as long as humans have needed to eat, gather, and socialize.
Eating establishments similar to restaurants were recorded in 512 BC, and ancient Romans and Greeks used to pick up ready-to-eat food and beverages from their local thermopolia.
But food purveyors most similar to what we call restaurants today began in the epicenter of all things gastronomical: Paris. The first modern-format restaurant was established in the City of Lights around 1765.
France is also where the term restaurant originated. The roots can be traced back to the French word restaurer, which means to provide food for or restore.
A menu from Coffee and Lunch House, 1887, San Francisco.
Source: Jim Heimann, Steven Heller, and John Mariani. Menu Design In America. Taschen, 2011.
How branding agencies help restaurants
So if restaurants have been around for so long, why is restaurant branding – a concept that is relatively new – so important?
The answer is this: there are more restaurants today than ever. There were over 650,000 restaurants in the United States in 2021, and that number will keep increasing. A unified approach to design, strategy, restaurant marketing, and production that speaks to your ideal patron is crucial, and a restaurant marketing agency can help you.
The restaurant branding process
Think of branding as the appetizer and your restaurant as the main course. Good branding can lure your customers in, charm them, and give them a taste of what's to come.
A not-so-great appetizer, on the other hand, can throw off your whole meal – just like a storefront sign that's hard to read or a website that's difficult to navigate can turn customers off before they even walk through your door.
Omit Studios' restaurant branding process is rooted in strategy, experience, and results.
1. Discovery and audit
The first phase involves getting to know everything about your business, customers, and competitors.
By learning who your target consumer is, we can begin to visualize the type of visual direction or brand aesthetic that will stop them in their tracks and make them open up the Resy app to grab the first available reservation.
Next up, we identify who your competitors are, how they win, and where they fall short.
We then bridge these two things. What do your customers want that your competitors aren't providing? This is the space where you can win.
An example of a client with a large amount of menus, sizes, and offerings. A comprehensive audit and visual representation of their current menus helped us (and our client) understand the breadth of a menu redesign project.
2. Strategy, goals, and objectives
Our next step is taking the information gleaned during the discovery and audit phase and using it to identify the "why" behind your restaurant. This is what makes your hospitality company unique.
With that in mind, we establish a relevant brand personality and identify the exact brand collateral you'll need to bring that personality to life.
In addition, we identify goals that will help us measure the success of the project. This can be data-driven, tangible goals like increased revenue, or less tangible goals like brand awareness.
3. Design iteration
Now the fun part: design. How your brand looks is a huge part of what will draw new customers in and make established customers come back again and again. We create a compelling look and feel that can be cohesively woven throughout your branding.
We use these aesthetic elements to design your logo, signage, menu, uniforms, website, social media assets, and more.
4. Production
Restaurant branding agencies will not only design every element of your branding, they can also help you produce these assets. Omit Studios works with the best in the business to translate our designs into high-quality food and beverage products, including signs, takeout containers, menus, business cards, aprons, tableware, and more.
A cocktail menu for The Bay Club in Miami, Florida. Designed by Omit Studios.
The restaurant branding deliverables
As restaurant branding consultants, it's our job to create a custom, cohesive, and compelling visual identity for your brand. Every project is different, but below you'll find a menu of items that this can include.
Logos and a responsive design system
Your logo should be displayed in some way or form across all of your branding. We deliver a logo along with visual guidelines on how it can (and shouldn't) be applied.
Menus (digital and print)
In addition to designing the layout and look and feel of both your printed and digital menus, we can work with your chef to come up with new menu titles and categories.
For a taste of what this can look like, check out the menus we designed for The Roost, a restaurant concept in the Portland airport.
Wayfinding and signage
It's important that every touchpoint is reflective of your brand. From your actual storefront sign to sandwich boards outside advertising happy hour specials to accessible and legible exit signs, a cohesive look and feel will make customers smile and keep them coming back for more.
“It takes a lot of hard work to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions.”
-Steve Jobs
Website
Your restaurant's visual identity and personality will then be translated into a completely custom website. We use dynamic layouts and beautiful imagery to create an engaging and user-friendly experience that is easy to navigate on desktop and mobile devices.
A thoughtful and strategic restaurant website should not be overlooked as this is typically the first touch point a customer experiences before visiting the physical location.
Take a look at the custom website we created for Taquiza, a Miami-based taco restaurant.
Social media assets
We'll create scroll-stopping, on-brand social media graphics to promote special events, new food items, limited-edition menu offerings, and more.
For The Betsy, we created assets that were a natural extension of this Miami-based boutique hotel's rich heritage.
Takeout packaging
Make sure your restaurant experience extends to those who are dining at home with takeout packaging that is a reflection of your brand's aesthetic. Bags, containers, and even deli paper can all be customized to include your restaurant's logo and color palette.
Uniforms
The way your employees are dressed is an extension of your branding. From aprons to caps to dinner jackets, a restaurant branding agency will help you choose and design the best uniform.
Interior design
We'll work with your interior design and architecture team to ensure the dining experience is reflective of your restaurant's branding aesthetic.
The Roost, a restaurant concept branded by Omit Studios.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are some of the questions we're asked most often when it comes to restaurant branding strategy.
How to increase brand awareness for a restaurant?
Thoughtful, compelling, and consistent branding will connect with your customer and increase brand awareness for your restaurant.
Omit Studios' strategy-backed approach ensures that your restaurant will stand out from the competition.
How to choose the best restaurant branding agency?
There are many hospitality branding agencies to choose from. To select the one that's right for you, make sure you look for a restaurant branding agency that will keep your values and vision in mind.
Check out their previous work and set up a call. Ensuring you have a good connection with the team you'll be working with is key to a smooth and productive branding process.
What's next?
Ready to take your restaurant to the next level with profit-boosting branding that connects with your customers? We're ready to help. Get in touch with Omit Studios today.