Let Your Identity Shine

Food Aficionado Smart Brief: Volume 16

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Welcome back to another edition of The Food Aficionado Smart Brief! Happy Monday! Hopefully, you enjoyed your Super Bowl weekend and are ready to kick-off another successful week! Often, it's easy for customers to see through the veil of a restaurant and into the owner's true personality. Essentially, if the founder's identity doesn't match the restaurant's, there is a lack of authenticity that customers despise.

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Why Your Restaurant's Identity Matters 1. Customer's Want Authenticity The identity of your restaurant should be a direct correlation to your own identity. We stand by this statement because it shows authenticity, something customers can pick up on as soon as they walk in the door. In this case, we aren't talking about “authentic Mexican food” or any other form of saying this is a true dish from this location. For us, this authenticity is about you, the restaurant owner. If you love pizza and everything about the gluttony that can revolve around it, focus on that niche, not a healthy juice bar. On the other hand, if you are a health fanatic, focus on making the most nutritious restaurant possible. Not only will you enjoy yourself much more, but the customers will be able to feel and see the authentic you. This carries a ton of weight in general for business. It's super easy to rip off a restaurant's style and do it for yourself, but that will only lead to failure. Drawing inspiration is perfectly understandable, but if you don't relate to the concept and are just in it for the quick money, it will surely lead to customers feeling like your heart isn't in it. Being transparent and allowing customers to see you for who you are will keep them coming back for more.

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2. Find Your Niche It may seem obvious, but many restaurants fail to find that target customer base that applies to them directly. This goes hand-in-hand with being authentic, as you want to aline yourself with similar people who are going to relate to your identity. Finding your niche is extremely important for launching your restaurant, but it is also one of the most beneficial factors for long-term success. Without a core group of followers, it is going to be extremely difficult to keep business thriving for years to come. That niche is going to support you for you, not because they want to try something new. Eventually, you can grow and expand outside of that original customer base, however, never forget who you relate to the most.

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3. Don't Be Afraid of Evolving Your Restaurant Alongside Yourself Bouncing off of the last point, you shouldn't be afraid of evolving. As time moves forward, we are all constantly changing and growing for ourselves. In fact, your restaurant should feel like it is a piece of you and it should evolve right alongside yourself. Maybe shy away from massive or drastic changes like changing your doughnut shop into a vegan brunch location, but keep in mind that you need subtle additions to keep up with your personal identity. This could simply be a new style of music that you play in the restaurant, new decor, or maybe even a small new menu item. We understand that change is difficult, especially in restaurants, but it's important to progress forward or incorporate a trendy flavor to avoid becoming stale and stagnant. It may be hard to balance your niche and trends, but try to take it easy and develop a plan that revolves around you as a person.

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Thanks so much for reading and following along on our journey. We hope that you are finding value in our newsletters and other content. If you are interested in finding out more, check out our pages down below. We usually are uploading a Youtube video to accompany our newsletters and better explain our story or tips. Feel free to reach out if you have questions, would like to partner with us, or simply just want to chat about your restaurant!