Think about your favorite restaurant. What makes it your favorite? Delicious food is a given, as is the right price point. It might even involve the wait staff or ambiance. Whatever it is that makes your favorite the ideal place for you, it is likely based on the restaurant’s identity. Restaurants are more likely to succeed when they have and know their identity. Here are five pillars when it comes to finding your “restaurant identity”.

Know Your Strengths

It can be hard to base your restaurant identity on a factor that is lacking. When you’re honest with yourself, you can identify your true strengths and weaknesses. If you want an identity based on customer service, but if your staff fails to adhere to the vision, your identity will come across as false.

Consistency is Key

Your branding and identity must remain consistent. Customers should be able to recognize a theme between advertising, your logo, your social media presence, and more. Your identity should also be uniform for online, pick-up customers and those that dine in. The food quality and ordering experience must also remain constant.

Know Your Customers

The ideal customer is the repeat customer. A restaurant that fails to have repeat customers will be one that struggles to stay afloat. To retain repeat customers, you must know them and understand what they want. You must pay attention to reviews and guest comments, the demographic of repeat customers, the times they dine, and what they order.

Hire for Values

Creating a strong restaurant identity requires establishing known values. Those values might look like this:

1. Customer experience is the main priority.
2. Only food that meets the highest standards will be served.
3. All people – staff and customers – are to be treated with respect.

While these values are just a quick example, it is vital to ensure that hired staff understand and wholeheartedly agree with them. A hostess who does not care for customer experience will not share in the restaurant identity nor put forth a genuine effort to provide the experience.

Social Media is Vital

Social media is a massive component of sharing your restaurant identity and is essential in creating the right presence. You might be limited in time with customers in the restaurant, but the ability to connect with them when they are not in-house is a benefit. It is also a great form of free advertising! Use social media to its fullest extent to develop a relationship with customers and reinforce your identity.

Professional Restaurant Consulting

Avery Restaurant Consulting offers professional restaurant expertise across the New England region. If your restaurant needs help finding its identity, we would love to help out! Contact us today to get started!