Any successful restaurant has a solid brand, which means stating their promise clearly, to the right audience with certainty about how that promise is kept. By making and keeping a promise, creating positive and memorable experiences and meeting future expectations, restaurants take key steps in the development and refinement of their brand.
Here’s the big question: What does a restaurant do to separate itself from others?
First, there is nothing more important than having a well-designed, simple website that matches the brand. This ensures credibility with customers who are looking for your establishment online, as well as easy use of social media to push out any specials that may be happening for that day or week.
If the restaurant has a huge marketing budget, they can start with a multimedia ad campaign to influence the experience from outside of their doors. With the prevalence of social media platforms, there are now more ways to influence the customer expectation and actual experience.
But what can a small local restaurant do to work it’s brand?
My recommendation is that they focus on the inside, by creating a great experience while the customer is in the restaurant.
A powerhouse start to building customer loyalty begins by having a certain, specific ambiance that creates a great dining experience. The decor, music, food and staff all need to contribute to the success of the brand experience inside the restaurant.
Of these four mentioned, staff is the most important when creating a great experience.
The Staff – Branded
When hiring new staff, it’s very important not to throw them out onto the floor to start working right away. They should be carefully and simply educated on the restaurants brand. “This is
how we do things here” and then take the time to show the new staff member exactly how it’s done. They shouldn’t just be told and occasionally reminded, this should be done daily.
As for current staff, a “re-set” of expectations must be completed, meaning that they should be committed to the restaurants’ brand conceptually. If they aren’t a fan of the brand, they won’t back it with your customers.
Second, by involving staff in creating the brand experience, they are given some ownership of the brand. To achieve this, ask them for input when developing the brand experience and implement some of their ideas.
The last step is making sure that the restaurants’ brand, or logo, is visible on the staff with branded apparel (aprons, hats, shirts, etc.).
Another Differentiation Point
One more thing a restaurant should consider is how its staff interacts with customers, otherwise known as “soft-skills”. As part of ‘how we do things’, it’s good to have a specific action or catch phrase be used as it creates another differentiation point.
For example, at Chik-Fil-A, when you say thank you, their consistent response is ‘My pleasure’. At Firehouse Subs, every customer is greeted with a shout-out when they walk in the door. Surprisingly simple actions like these can go a long way to building customer loyalty.
Sum It All Up
Small restaurants can compete with larger chains by picking where to challenge them.
By using free social media, creating a specific ambiance in the restaurant, properly training and branding their staff, and using soft skills to further differentiate them from other restaurants will help them compete for customer loyalty.
Henry Blas/ Visual Branding Officer
Restaurant Black Ops
