flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

The Importance of Pre-Launch Branding for Restaurant Startups

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Food & Beverage Company Business Capability Model (1-page PDF document). A business capability model for a food and beverage company. To be used as a core document for Enterprise Architects and EA work. Also very valuable to Business Architects and Business Architecture projects/programmes. The Food & Beverage Company Business Capability Model is an essential tool for [read more]

* * * *

Branding is something that many startups aren’t using in their pre-launch marketing strategies, and they really should be. It is, in fact, vitally important when targeting the audience that you will be catering to in your restaurant. If you reach them in the very beginning, even before you open your doors for business, you will find a much higher percentage of satisfied diners because they will come prepared for your cuisine, ambiance and the customer service that sets you apart from the competition.

That’s what branding is all about, setting you apart from other restaurants in your area. Restaurant branding is actually defined long before you even begin interior design and construction. Everything you do from the moment your restaurant was conceptualized will be your brand and the foundation upon which you build.

Branding as a Foundation – An Allegory

Consider for a moment the importance of a foundation when building a home. Unless you lay the foundation just right, the home is likely to collapse even before construction is completed. A poorly laid foundation cannot support the weight of the materials used in the structure. So it is with restaurant branding as the foundation of your new eating establishment.

Your brand is meant to support all that you do in terms of food and service and so the brand you create is meant to support the weight of the Customer Experience, CX. Your design which is being laid on that foundation (brand) is the CX and if you tell them what to expect and are able to follow through with that, your brand is established and your patrons are left with a pleasant taste in their mouth, no pun intended.

Elements within Restaurant Branding

So then, what are the elements you will focus on when creating your own unique brand? Bear in mind that most of the complaints and negative reviews you will often hear are in terms of poor customer service. There are times when a meal wasn’t cooked to their liking or perhaps a menu item was unavailable, but for the most part, you will read reviews on how they were treated by employees. This means that ways in which you can provide excellent service should be highlighted when building brand within pre-launch marketing.

It is also important to be able to clearly define how you will provide excellence in service. Therefore, the type and level of customer service will be specific to the type of restaurant you are launching. If you will be a full-service establishment with the bulk of your business being dinner hours, then speed is not going to be as important as ambiance and attentive servers. On the other hand, if your restaurant is busiest during lunch hours where your customers are on a limited time frame, highlight your efforts to get them in and out timely with few delays.

This is where you may want to provide kiosks so that your lunch crowd can pre-order upon arrival so that when they are seated, their meal is already being prepared. This will eliminate many of the complaints about not being served timely and you just may find that your restaurant becomes a community favorite for this reason only.

Pre-Launch Marketing

Now that you understand that CX is going to be key to your success, pre-launch marketing should discuss how your brand deals with:

  1. Prompt delivery of meals – mention kiosks to highlight this!
  2. Professional customer service – their importance to your brand.
  3. Special orders when required – food allergies taken seriously.

If you will be launching a fine dining, full-service restaurant then you might want to highlight features such as:

  • Fine wines with a professional sommelier on staff
  • Candlelit tables with linens
  • Meals cooked to order

And any other services you would like to promote. It’s all about your brand based on what customers expect when dining with you and that is how you will promote your brand even before setting a launch date.

Customers ARE Your Bottom Line

Once again, a successful restaurant brand is built on customer expectations. There are probably dozens of restaurants in your locale, but will they cater to their customers like you will? That is your brand. Remember to define your audience by demographics when strategizing a pre-launch marketing campaign because your audience is your brand when you are in the service industry. That’s where so many startups get it wrong.

For example, what do customers expect when they go to fast food restaurants like McDonald’s or Burger King? You’ve got it! They expect to get in and out in mere minutes and that is because that’s how they’ve branded themselves. While you may not be building on that business model, you get the point. Fast food is their brand and they’ve marketed that to the max. Learn from them and you can be successful as well. It’s all about understanding that the Customer Experience, customer service is your brand and that’s the bottom line.

Excel workbook
PURPOSE OF MODEL This Excel model is a highly adaptable and user-friendly tool for creating a 10-year rolling 3-statement financial projection (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement) with a monthly timeline. It is designed for a startup or existing Coffee Shop [read more]

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on Restaurant Industry and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


Excel workbook
Financial Model providing an advanced 5-year financial plan for an All Day Restaurant & Bar. Suitable for either a startup or an operating company, the model is a flexible tool for owners to calculate financial and operational activities, manage payroll, inventory, operating expenses, capital [read more]


 
148-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
Excel workbook

About Shane Avron

Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.


Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  

The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.
  


OUR CORE OFFERINGS
Flevy Marketplace: Top 100
· Strategy & Transformation
· Digital Transformation
· Operational Excellence
· Organization & Change
· Financial Models
· Consulting Frameworks
· PowerPoint Templates
FlevyPro (Subscription Service)
KPI Library
Streams (Functional Bundles)
Flevy Executive Learning (FEL)
PowerPoint Services

FREE Resources

About Flevy
Management Topics
Marcus (AI-Powered Consultant)
Partner Program
LinkedIn Influencer Marketing
FAQ / Terms / Privacy / Blog
Contact Us: support@flevy.com



CONNECT WITH US!
       
TOP 100 TRENDING TOPICS
Acquisition Strategy
Agile
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Balanced Scorecard
Best Practices
Big Data
Breakout Strategy
Business Continuity Planning
Business Plan Financial Model
Business Transformation
CMMI
COBIT
Change Management
Cloud
Communications Strategy
Company Financial Model
Competitive Advantage
Competitive Analysis
Consulting Frameworks
Continuous Improvement
Core Competencies
Corporate Culture
Cost Reduction Assessment
Customer Experience

BROWSE BY FUNCTION
Strategy, Transformation, & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Operational Excellence and LSS
Organization, Change, & HR
Management Consulting

Customer Journey
Customer Service
Cyber Security
Data Privacy
Decision Making
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation Strategy
Due Diligence
ESG
Employee Engagement
Employee Training
Enterprise Architecture
Growth Strategy
HR Strategy
Hiring
Hoshin Kanri
ISO 27001
ITIL
Information Technology
Innovation Management
Integrated Financial Model
Kaizen
Kanban
Key Performance Indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Business Strategy Frameworks
Case Studies
Consulting Training Guides
COVID-19 Trend Data
Digital Transformation
Financial Advising Services (FAS)

Knowledge Management
Leadership
Lean
Lean Manufacturing
Logistics
M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)
Manufacturing
Market Research
Marketing Plan Development
Maturity Model
McKinsey PowerPoint
McKinsey Templates
Operational Excellence
Organizational Change
Organizational Design
Performance Management
Post-merger Integration
Pricing Strategy
Process Improvement
Process Maps
Procurement Strategy
Product Launch Strategy
Product Strategy
Project Management
Quality Management


Free Resources
KPI Library
Lean Management
Lean Six Sigma Training Guides
Marcus Insights
Operational Excellence

Real Estate
Remote Work
Restructuring
Risk Management
Robotic Process Automation
SWOT
SaaS
Sales
Scrum
Service Design
Six Sigma Project
Social Media Strategy
Strategic Planning
Strategic Thinking
Strategy Development
Supply Chain Analysis
Sustainability
Target Operating Model
Team Management
Total Productive Maintenance
Value Chain Analysis
Value Creation
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Workplace
Workplace Safety


Product Strategy
Small Business Owner
Startup Resources
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning Process
Value Innovation Strategy


© 2012-2024 Copyright. Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.