We all have a massive craving for fast food, relishing the sumptuous cuisines inside beautiful restaurants or food-chain outlets. Just like delicious cuisine, its incredible flavours, aroma, and a great combination of special ingredients offer you a sweet experience. Similarly, strong food branding is a mixture of brand ingredients, including logo, tagline, creative design and decor. There are millions of fast-food restaurants; however, only a few have occupied a place in people’s hearts offering a sublime dining experience.
So, the reason behind the success of popular fast-food chains such as KFC, Burger King, Dominos, and Al Farooj Fresh is creative food branding. It is equally successful for retail outlets, QSR, restaurants, food & beverages related services. Let’s delve deep into the critical aspect of food branding and how it can make the right impression on the target audience.
Questions To Ask Yourself Before Creating Effective Food Branding
This needs thorough analysis, getting reliable answers to specific questions, and duly serving the purpose of the food brand. So, it would be best if you asked a few questions about your business, acknowledging the various internal and external factors that influence the branding tactics that suit the business. Let’s check out these queries that will take you to the core of the business and assist in creating strategies:
What is your product, and who are the buyers?
The primary question is about your products or what kind of foods you are going to serve for the audience. Who will be your target customer and what they prefer- their food habits, tastes, cultural influence, demographics and more? It is rightly said, branding is all about knowing your customer and acknowledging their wants. So, the better you understand, the more you can offer.
How would you portray your brand image?
The brand image connects with people’s emotions and influences them to avail the services offered by the intended brand. Therefore, how you describe your business and its essence in the mainstream is directly related to the success of the food brand. Your branding style must be creative, precise and easily recognisable. Portray your brand’s character eloquently, making it attractive, inviting and authentic.
What makes you unique and separates you from other food brands?
The following aspect is your brand’s value proposition and how it makes you different from rival brands. Discovering your unique selling point (USP) is one of the indispensable aspects of successful branding, creating a notable presence in the market. Do extensive research regarding their problems and how your food outlet can offer the best alternative options.
Once you discover the optimum answer for these critical questions, you can commence working on effective brand strategies that will form the strong foundation of your marketing. So, what does successful food branding implies?
Elements That Create Impactful Food Branding & Marketing
Branding is persistent activity to build a unique and valuable perception of the brand in the mind of associated stakeholders, including customers, employees, corporates and more. It cannot be built in one day; the process involves accumulating years of resourceful branding to create a positive and credible impression in the market. Let’s check out some essential components that influence food branding & marketing in your restaurant or food outlet space:
Name
Your brand’s name should be crisp, simple, energetic, and appealing so that customers can recall it easily. Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Al Farooj Fresh, KFC, and Subway are leading fast-food restaurants with a worldwide presence. Just take a glance at their name, nothing too generic or old cliched.
Tagline/ Slogan
Your brand slogan should impressively depict the brand’s voice, promise, proposition and character. Notably, the tagline is simply the way you want your business to perceive in the audience’s eyes. It should be catchy, tempting and connect with the customer’s emotions in the first impression. For instance, McDonald’s – “I’m Lovin’ It”, SubWay- “Eat Fresh”, and KFC – “It’s finger-lickin’ good”. You can witness all the taglines are simple and yet powerful, attracting audience attention in one go.
Logo
The logo is the simplest visual design that portrays your brand offering a persuasive and rhetorical appeal in the mainstream. It is well synchronised with the brand’s promise creating a unique identity in the market. The logo should be minimalist and perfectly capture the business essence, enhancing brand recognition.
Colours
The aspect of colour and emotion is closely linked, and depending on human psychology; it cultivates specific feelings. For instance, green portrays nature; red stimulates intense emotions like anger, passionately hungry, danger or more. Similarly, yellow and oranges depict warm feelings of appetite, innovation, etc.
Retail Design and Decor
The location and layout of the restaurant also make a significant impact on the customer choice and culinary journey. In addition, the attractive storefront design, interior decor, alluring ambience, and proper sanitation adds immense value to the food brand. Depending on the restaurant’s location, the style and interior layout differ and align with the nature of the surroundings i.e. the creative interior, and exterior furnishing will be different for beachside restaurants and hilly side outlets.
However, if your brand has specific interior decor, it turns into a brand image and will be almost identical for every branch, like McDonald’s. You will witness the McDonald’s mascot at each of its fast-food chain restaurants.
Unique Attire and Essentials
Dress and attire also play an essential role in creating a unique identity. The workers wear similar dresses that perfectly align with the brand image. For instance, the KFC dress code comprises a combination of black pants and a red t-shirt. Essentially, the dress code differentiates staff members from customers and is also a valuable aspect of branding.
You can connect with customers using an assorted branding arsenal extending from logo design to brand colour in the store. These can be imprinted on the packaging, tables, chairs, shelves, mugs, cups, napkins, etc.
Social Media Presence
It is nearly impossible to run a business without a robust social presence in this digital world. The conventional advertising methods are still very much effective such as attractive banners, billboards, and ads; however, having a solid digital presence gives your food brand a competitive edge over your rivals. Using social media, you reach thousands of audiences and interact with them. So, connect with your customer by uploading photos, food videos, ads, public reviews and more.
Create Your Own Successful Food Story With VOWELS
Developing a solid brand perception is a continuous aspiration for excellence and needs a substantial period. Nothing happens overnight; it is the result of persistent endeavour with practical food branding strategies. So, if you are looking to turn your dream into reality, connect with VOWELS. We are a team of experienced and highly-trained professionals offering unique food branding services compatible with your food brand.
