Effective Ideas To Find A Good Restaurant Name

 In the process of opening a restaurant, a restaurateur faces several situations where key business decisions need to be made even before the day of the inauguration. Crucial decisions regarding the development of a restaurant brand, logo creation, mission statement and core values, the kitchen layout, floor plan and restaurant menu have to be made. 

Of all these decisions, one of the most important decision that involves considerable deliberation, thoughtfulness and creativity is the restaurant naming process. So, it is definitely the hardest part in the creation of a restaurant brand. 

Before we delve into the details of naming a restaurant, it is important to own a website through which all the marketing activities of the restaurant are streamlined and channelized. Use a robust web constructor to create a restaurant website. Use a template based, DIY restaurant website builder that also allows customization of templates and content. Use the best restaurant website builder to enable online food ordering and digital payments. Keep your website updated with information that hungry diners are always in search of. 

RESTAURANT NAMING:

A restaurant’s name is something that will help people recognize you amidst the 1 million restaurant population in America. It is this name that will represent the brand and describe your business, cuisine and core values in a succinct and compelling manner to win the public’s attention and interest.

CHOOSING A RESTAURANT NAME:

Get started by gathering ideas. Write down the mission, purpose, future vision and core values of the restaurant. You could make use of a restaurant name generator when you feel a dearth of ideas. Seek help from your community and ask them to suggest names. Take clues from your location and cuisine during the naming process. Also be descriptive so that the mere mention of the name divulges many things about you to the customers.

Most restaurateurs aiming to start a new restaurant consider it as their baby - the result of their lifelong dreams, hard work, hopes and aspirations. Thus, they settle for nothing short of a good name for their dream-come-true restaurant. A lot goes into the making of the best restaurant name.

GOOD RESTAURANT NAMES:

A good restaurant name should be eye-catching, unique and also convey what a restaurant’s brand precisely is. It should instantly tell people about the cuisine to be expected if they pop in to dine at the restaurant. The name should be cool, easy to spell, pronounce and remember. 

And, of course, unless you want to inadvertently send guests wishing to visit you to your competition, do not use too similar names. 

TIPS TO DISCOVER THE RIGHT RESTAURANT NAME:

PENNING DOWN EVERY DETAIL 

Write down the mission, purpose, future vision and core values of the restaurant. Ask yourself questions like why you are here and what you wish to accomplish by being a part of the restaurant industry. Answers to these questions can be your guiding light in your business decisions, especially the restaurant naming process. 

The mission statement itself should provide you a solid basis on which you can name your restaurant in the right way. Once the mission statement has been articulated, start making notes for the following:

• The type of cuisine you will serve
• Specific business goals like running a zero-waste restaurant, food completely made from organic food produce, etc.
• Core values of the restaurant
• The personality and vibe that the restaurant will carry
• The adjectives you will use to describe the restaurant
• Your name and the names of business partners (if any)
• Names of people important to you
• Location - neighborhood or town

By writing down such details, you will be able to form an exhaustive list of words and phrases that describe the restaurant and can be included in the restaurant’s name. This list will also be of great help when the restaurant business plan is being drafted.

When you are done with the writing task and there is nothing more to include, read the list of adjectives, superlatives and descriptors that you have written. Circle your favorite ones and use them as building blocks for your restaurant name creation. 

A NAME THAT DOES NOT EXIST ALREADY:

Before finalizing your restaurant name or logo, ensure with reliable research that the name is not already taken - especially in the location where you are about to set up business. If you do take a name that already exists, it is obvious that potential customers are likely to get confused and walk into the competitor’s restaurant while intending to visit yours.

You will also have to face legal trouble if the existing name is already protected with a copyright or trademark. 

So, do a simple Google search and find out if the name you intend to use already exists. You can also research on Google My Business, the Yellow Pages, The Better Business Bureau or The United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Database Search

RESTAURANT NAME GENERATOR:

If your creativity is failing you, you can make use of restaurant name generators. Some people ask for help in the form of keywords that they have mentioned in their mission statement while others assemble random combinations of words suggested by the name generator.

Some names and combinations suggested by these name generators might be too silly to be used. But, they will help you keep the flow constant and narrow down to the name that you are looking for. If you land up with your restaurant name using a name generator, you are luckily spared of the additional effort, time and money.

SEEKING THE COMMUNITY’S HELP:

If you have two names on hand that look equally enticing, you could reach out to your community to vote for the best name for your restaurant. This tie-breaking endeavor will also popularize your restaurant even before it is launched. If you are still searching for ideas, your community or public can be of great help too. If you run a restaurant with a name picked by the public, they will have a greater emotional attachment with the restaurant and also take personal efforts for its success and growth. 

Solicit feedback in the following ways:

Post a poll on your new restaurant’s social media pages and conduct a poll. You might have to pay a little bit to advertise this poll to the users of Facebook or Instagram as you are new and yet to have a strong follower base. 

If you do not have people to reach out to, make use of SurveyMonkey’s Target Audience as it is a great paid resource. After you submit your questions, SurveyMonkey will distribute them to target groups. They might also be included as a bonus question on any other company’s survey pages.

You can mail your questionnaires to members of the community who reside in close proximity to your new restaurant’s location. Their opinions can help you decide your restaurant’s name.

To motivate people to answer your survey questions, offer an incentive or two like a free meal on the day of the inauguration, naming your signature dish after the respondent suggesting the name of the restaurant, etc. 

Look at the activities of other restaurants that share the same business values and vibes as you and draw inspiration from them.  

AFTER CHOOSING THE RESTAURANT NAME

After all these draining brainstorming sessions, once you have successfully settled on the one final name for your new restaurant, just start using it in a magnificent way. Do anything and everything to make that name resonate in the minds of prospective customers and everyone in the town.