How to Choose A Name For A Restaurant

Choosing a name for your restaurant can be as important as deciding the overall ambiance or concept of your business. Not only will it serve as a distinctive mark that will highlight your business from others, but in most cases a restaurant’s name becomes a trademark.

So how do you choose your restaurant’s name? What are the factors to consider?

Let’s start with the one closest to your heart-a personal name. Most owners would have someone or something as a source of inspiration for their business. For example, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s named his restaurant after his daughter. You can also use the name of your favorite place like California Kitchen Place. What is nice about naming your restaurant after someone or something is that you are always reminded of your inspiration in putting up the business in the first place.

Some people name their restaurants after famous landmarks or personalities. Of course, this creates an immediate impact like Kenny Roger’s Roasters. Obviously fans of the singer would immediately line up and be curious what this restaurant has to offer. This also saves the restaurant owners the time to think of the interior design and overall feel of the restaurant since they can just pin-up pictures and memorabilia of the famous personality all over the place. Ever thought of putting up a Lady Gaga Diner?

Another option is to name it after the theme of the restaurant that you are putting up. For example, if your intention is to put up a restaurant that has ‘boxing’  atmosphere- your restaurant can be named ‘The Ring Side’, ‘On the Red Corner’, ‘Knockout Diner’, ‘Uppercut Burgers’  or other jargons related to the boxing theme.

If you want to get out of the box and be unconventional you name your restaurant by playing with words. For instance if your house specialty are burgers and pasta you can choose to name your restaurant ‘BursTa’. You can also combine words that are not usually conjoined for example ‘Heaven and Eggs’ for a restaurant that specializes with breakfast meals. Or you can also opt to use clichés or frequently used terms and expressions like ‘Call A Spade A Spade’ if you have cards or gambling as restaurant theme.

You can also make combinations of the above mentioned recommendations. For example you are contemplating if you want to name your restaurant after your wife or name it after its theme which is ‘the 70’s’ then you can name your restaurant ‘Mimi’s Retro’.

Ultimately, the decision to name your restaurant lies in your best judgment. The factors to consider would be target market, customer recall and consistency. The last thing you want is for your restaurant to be forgettable or simply bland.

Lastly, there will never be another McDonald’s or Burger King or Taco Bell so do not even attempt to name your restaurant after known franchise, besides you don’t want to run into a legal battle with these giants as their names have been patented and granted trademarks already!

Article source: Contributed by RestaurantNewsResource.com, a global restaurant news distribution service.


Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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