Branding a one-off restaurant is a very different process to branding a chain. In the below, we look at our work branding a new Georgian restaurant in London, Bani & Gani.
A fundamental aspect of restaurant branding – as with all branding – is deeply understanding your audience, and crafting a unique identity which intersects what you want to convey and what will hit the right note for your customers.
Understanding the customers, and competing restaurants, is the first part of our research process that we undergo for all new client briefs.
After researching the market and competitors, we are looking at elements listed above. If the brand were a person, what would their name be? Their sense of style? Their voice? We can ask this question based on the appearance of the man illustrated above.
When we built the visual identity for Bani Gani Georgian Diner, a Georgian restaurant chain based in London, we ended up incorporating the Georgian alphabet into its branding, creating a distinctive and culturally rich identity that reflects many of the fascinating things about Georgia.
Why? In our research we found plenty of restaurants out there with spicy sounding Georgian names (as well as Anglicised versions). We wanted to create something different.
Something to stand out from both the traditional restaurant, and the street food stand. Something accessible to everyone. And something that reflects the soul of the fast food idea.
One question we keep coming back to for our clients in the branding process
In the case of Bani & Gani, we examined the Georgian alphabet, Mkhedruli, and the names of the first three letters, jumped out from the page — it all added up, Ani, Bani, Gani — the ABCs of Georgian cuisine. Then we got rid of the A to make it shorter but who cares, right? So long as the food is tasty.
As restaurants are fundamentally local businesses with physical premises that the public enter, incorporating local culture significantly enhances a brand's authenticity and appeal. We chose to incorporate Georgian cultural elements into their brand identity to make more authentic and appealing to those seeking a genuine Georgian dining experience – even though the chain exists in London.
Georgian dumplings – khinkali – all over a Bani Gani van (mockup)
If you have a restaurant you're thinking about branding, get in touch for a free conversation or audit.
