Branding for a cafe, restaurant or bar: the complete guide, from logo to menu

First: what kind of place you are

The speciality coffee shop, the neighbourhood bistro, the fine-dining restaurant, the cocktail bar and the fast-casual place sell different things with the same ingredients, and the brand has to say which you are in the first second. Before any drawing, write one sentence: “We are the place where [who] comes for [what], not for [what not]”. “The place where people from the neighbourhood come in the morning for a coffee made well and fast, not for a two-hour brunch” already rules out half the design options.

The rest of the strategy (the audience as a situation, the promise, the tone) is in the brand strategy; for a venue it fits on one page.

A venue's logo: what it has to do

• Read from 10 metres, on the sign, and from 30 centimetres, on the cup. That means a simple mark and a name set in clear letters; an elaborate high-contrast wordmark disappears on an illuminated sign.
• Work in a single colour: the stamp on the paper bag, the engraving on the glass, the print on the napkin are all monochrome.
• Have a round or square version for the Instagram avatar and for the sticker on the cup.
• Avoid the category's cliche: the coffee bean, the steaming cup, the fork and knife, the cocktail with the umbrella. Everyone else in town already has them.

The marks that work well in hospitality: a well-drawn monogram (the venue's initials), a symbol that belongs to the story rather than the category (a cat, a lighthouse, a house), or a wordmark with the personality put into the letters of the name. The complete process is in how to design a logo.

Colours: the temperature of the place

In a venue, the brand colours do not sit on a screen, they sit on walls, on wood, on tiles, under real light. Choose the palette by looking at the space: a cafe with light wood and natural light calls for warm, earthy tones with one accent; a night bar can carry a dark background with an electric accent; a fine-dining restaurant works with neutrals and a single colour, used sparingly.

Check every colour printed on kraft paper (the bag, the box, the label): pastels and light yellow vanish on kraft. How a palette with roles is built, with the contrast checked, is in the colour palette; what each colour communicates, in colour psychology.

Type: a menu is read in low light

The heading typeface can have personality (a warm script for a patisserie, a classic serif for a restaurant with ambitions, a wide sans for a neighbourhood bar). The menu typeface, though, has to read at 12 points, by candlelight, to a 60-year-old customer. For the menu choose a face with a large x-height and no strong contrast. The complete guide, with verified pairings, is in brand typography.

The materials that matter, in the order the customer sees them

1. 01The sign and the window. First contact. The mark alone, the name large, one colour on the glass. Check it at night, with the light on.
2. 02The Instagram account. For most venues it is the real shop window: the avatar (the mark alone), a consistent photographic style, two or three post templates in the brand's typeface and colours.
3. 03The menu. The venue's most-read document. Clear hierarchy (categories, dishes, descriptions, prices), a legible text face, no stock photographs. A good menu is read in 20 seconds.
4. 04The takeaway packaging: the cup, the lid, the bag, the box, the label. Here the brand leaves the venue and is seen on the street. A stamp with the logo on a kraft bag costs €20 and is worth an advert.
5. 05The uniform and the small objects: the apron, the badge, the business card, the bill, the Wi-Fi password nicely written. The details returning customers notice.

The mistakes in every town

• The logo with the cup and the steam. It belongs to the category, not to you.
• Seven typefaces on the menu, because “it looks livelier”. It reads harder and looks cheap.
• Stock photographs of food that is not yours. The customer sees it, then receives the plate.
• Colours chosen on a screen, untested on kraft, on tiles and under the venue's light.
• An Instagram with a different logo from the sign. The customer who looks you up after walking past cannot find you.
• No guidelines: after the designer leaves, every post is different.

What it costs and how to do it

A studio does the identity of a venue for €1,200–4,000, in three to six weeks, with the menu and the first materials included. A freelancer, for €300–1,200. On your own, with a tool that produces the complete system (a logo with variants, a tested palette, licensed typefaces, guidelines), in a day: the brief of a speciality coffee shop is one of the templates RHAM starts from, and the logo, the menu template and the materials come out ready for the printer.

The full price bands are in how much does a logo cost, and the document you keep everything in is the brand guidelines.