The Restaurant Industry today is going through changes, constantly re-inventing itself to compete for its customers' business. One major issue affecting some type of restaurant chains today is the current diet trends, which force certain restaurants to alter their menus in order to accomodate popular demand, as well as add or eliminate ingredients to soften the effects of such trends. Another hurdle for a starting restaurant is competition, especially from multi-national fast food chains, which are also changing their menus, as well as head-office based restaurants, which own and operate thousands of restaurants within a specific theme or food style (i.e. lobster restaurants, steakhouses, etc etc). For Small and Starting Restaurants, besides location, restaurant logo design and corporate identity plays an important role in the success or failure of the restaurant. Here are a few important factors to help create a successful logo design for a coffeehouse, bar, pub, or food-related service company.


Freshness through Color and Style
Just like your ingredients for a meal, the logo should give an appearance of freshness. More and more customers today are concerned with the quality of their meal, as well as the freshness of the ingredients. Freshness within a logo also demonstrates the service and unique experience you want your customers to feel. How is freshness demonstrated within the logo? First and foremost, a technique using certain color patterns, carefully chosen and placed together, side by side demonstrates this. The colors chosen to highlight the "freshness" factor in your logo should coincide with your cuisine, location and type of restaurant you run. Another way to emphasize freshness is by choosing a symbol, that is easily recognizable, and tweak it creatively to add some visual flair. A head of lettuce for example can show some of its leaves slightly offset, demonstrating "constant preparation" and higher volume.

A restaurant visit vs A Restaurant Experience
No matter what type of restaurant you run, remember that in the eyes and minds of your customers, the visit is an experience. If you can maximize the gastronomical experience, through careful attention to detail, both consciously and subconsciously, that will certainly boost referrals and give great reviews. To emphasize the experience factor within the logo for a restaurant, think about and choose carefully a key factor in your dining cuisine or experience. Then, demonstrate this chosen item or idea within the logo design. We call this the focal point. For example, a logo for a seafood restaurant by the bay, may want to emphasize within the logo design, the bayside views the restaurant has to offer, as well as the delicasies of the sea.

Consistent and Proper Use of the Logo
Keep in mind, that in the overall integration and application of the logo, the menu, as well as interior and exterior signage, has to maintain a certain level of consistency. This is crucial to the success of the visual identity of the restaurant. A magazine ad featuring your logo and other marketing images or photos, should clearly represent your restaurant, and all ads should be uniform, so as to create instant recognition within the community. For example, if your sign in front of the restaurant is centrally positioned, maintain the same effect within your print ads, and your television ads, and in any of your marketing for the restaurant.

Fonts that Flow
As we highlighted in a previous section, constant and ongoing preparation can show the idea of "motion". Free flowing, cool fonts (or also known as type), centrally, or otherwise positioned, can make a major statement in the look and feel of the logo design for the restaurant. However, choose your fonts carefully. What is crucial to a restaurant logo design is the ability for your logo and signage to be recognized and seen from a distance. If a restaurant sign is too difficult to read or locate when driving, for example, then either the chosen font is incorrect for that application, or the sign is not properly positioned. Either way, if you already have a restaurant logo, reassessing these points is important in the evaluation and modernization of your brand.