Your restaurant is more than just a place to dine—it’s an experience, a story, and a journey. This is where brand identity comes into play: connecting every dish, every décor choice, and every interaction.
Brand identity is more than a logo and colors, it is about building connections, memories, and teasing those taste buds so they come back.
This should be reflected in your booking communication—showcasing your tone of voice every step of the booking process and ultimately sticking to what makes your restaurant unique (your brand).
Toptip: Check out MASH for restaurant brand Inspiration
From the booking flow to email reminders, cancellations, and text messaging—how you communicate reflects your brand identity, so keep it sharp—even the boring stuff!
In the first part of this two-part blog post, we’ll explore how to shape your restaurant’s tone of voice for crafting an effective booking email confirmation.
This means aligning brand identity with your target audience, resulting in a clear and consistent communication style.
Let’s take a look at our mock-up pizzaria: DinnerSlice
Here we have categorised the brand identity into four key aspects: food type, atmosphere, values, and mission.
Food type: New York-inspired pizza slices with thin crispy crusts, a punchy tomato sauce, and generous toppings
Atmosphere: Cool and casual, reflecting a New York pizza joint. Red and white tablecloths, vintage décor, and an open kitchen, where guests can watch pizzas being made.
Values: High-quality ingredients, authenticity, and a commitment to using locally sourced ingredients. Staff are extremely friendly – It’s a bit like hanging out with your mates.
Mission: Bring the taste of authentic New York-style pizza to guests, providing a slice of the Big Apple in every bite
By breaking down your restaurant into these four categories you can start to paint a clear picture of your restaurant’s brand identity.
Now it’s your turn!
Try mapping out your restaurant into the above categories 👆
You need to understand who your guests are in order to create a written voice that resonates with them.
Let’s take a look at the target audience for DinnerSlice: Pizza enthusiasts, locals looking for a quick bite, and families looking for a casual dining option.
Getting specific about your diners will allow you to craft the right communication style. Guiding the tone, messaging, and even imagery you use across various channels, ensuring consistency and relevance to your audience.
Start defining your target audience now 🎯
With your brand identity mapped out and your target audience in focus, you can now define your tone of voice.
DinnerSlice: Friendly, approachable, and slightly nostalgic. It might incorporate elements of New York slang or references to iconic New York landmarks and culture. It should convey the passion and pride that goes into making each pizza slice.
Make sense? Now you give it a try 📝
With the tone of voice set, it’s time to test it out with some written communication—more specifically, a booking confirmation.
Let’s start by looking at an example of a standardised booking confirmation.
It’s not bad… However, I’m sure you’ll agree that the above confirmation lacks personality and fails to communicate the unique brand identity of DinnerSlice. Let’s inject a bit of life into the text, staying aligned with the tone of voice that was established earlier.
This text is far more engaging, and just by reading this booking confirmation, the guest will understand the vibe of DinnerSlice. This kind of positive first impression creates anticipation for an excellent dining experience.
It’s time to put your new tools in practice – have a go at writing your own booking confirmation 😊
You don’t need to be a marketing pro to align your brand identity with general communications.
It takes 30 minutes with a cup of coffee and reminding yourself why you opened the restaurant in the first place. Such attention to detail will strengthen your brand, impress your guests, and ultimately create loyalty.
At DinnerBooking we offer fully-customisable templates, so you can get hands on with your booking communication and personalise every step of the booking journey.
Want to know more?
In part 2, we will look deeper into the booking flow and SMS messages, providing you with more ways to bring your booking communication to life.