Choose the Right Restaurant Name

How do I name my restaurant?. What will be the best name for my restaurant?. Even though these are the most common things that bother your mind. Deciding a restaurant name isn’t easy. And also the crucial and the most exposed part of a restaurant business. Restaurant naming is an essential part of the restaurant marketing plan, so you have to think before selecting the name.

Name is the only part of a restaurant that is going to be the ultimate identity of people. Neither the menu, interior, food quality, nor the service; it is the name that people will remember. And will pronounce, remember, connect with emotion, and the psychology of a person.

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”  

Quoted by Willam Shakespear.

In this case, this works oppositely. For a restaurant business, a name is everything. It’s more like naming a newborn baby. Having an eye and mind catchy restaurant name is considered the first step for creating a buzz among the people.

7 Essential rules to “keep in mind” when deciding a restaurant name

1. The restaurant name should be easy to pronounce, catchy, and memorable.
2. The restaurant name should be rare and fresh
3. The restaurant name should be reachable and understandable to the target customer
4. The restaurant name should be like that may express the main gist of the restaurant
5. The restaurant’s name should be reflective of a restaurant’s interior and menu
6. The restaurant can be a name inspired by considering the location
7. The restaurant name concept or type shouldn’t be matched with competitors within the area or outside the location

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1. The restaurant name should be easy to pronounce, catchy, and memorable.

While finalizing the name, it should be kept in mind that it should be easy to pronounce, not too complicated to spell or understand. The excessively intricate name may be challenging to pronounce and increase the chance to make it less catchy and won’t capture the long time memory position in a visitor’s mind.

Too much tangle name not only reduces the free word of mouth marketing but also loses the capacity to make a strong position in the viewer’s mind. A short, simple, and easy to utter restaurant name makes it easy to expand its brand awareness. Hence the target customers also get the satisfaction of their viewer’s psychology. 

For example, Etluteta might sound like a unique name, but visitors may face difficulties pronouncing and don’t even define a proper meaning. 

• How to pronounce it? 
• What is the correct pronunciation?
• What kind of restaurant is it?
• Is it Indian, Mexican, Italian, or what?
• What is the theme?

Tips # Besides, easy to spell and pronounce will also open the opportunity for those passing by people. These are the people who don’t know about the restaurant but somehow passed were from the location and within a tiny span of time. The restaurant name just caught the eyesight and captured the subconscious side of the brain. Therefore an accessible, catchy name is necessary for naming a restaurant. 

2. The restaurant name should be rare and fresh

Creating a unique and fresh name is important as creating an easy pronunciation, and catchy is the restaurant’s name. A restaurant name can be funny, creative, yet catchable to the customer's mind.

For example, an innovative and unique name may come up when playing the words or using a simple word and changing the spelling, such as chocolate family becoming chokolate family, etc. 

Remember# The most important thing that needs to keep in mind is that the name must be unique and fresh. Therefore, they can't match their competitors; otherwise, they may engage in legal activities.  The restaurant name should be so fresh and unique that it can easily capture customers' minds. 

3. The restaurant name should be reachable and understandable to the target customer

It is crucial to take into consideration the customer’s way of thinking. While deciding a restaurant name, a restaurant owner should be concerned that the customer gets the whole idea of naming a restaurant. Keeping too much-complicated word for a restaurant name may confuse people with the restaurant’s food and service. 

People may also reject that place easily. Therefore, it is necessary that the “identity” a restaurant owner chose for them should be not only easily reachable but also perceivable to customers.

On the other hand, some restaurant owners also set mysterious themes for their restaurant. 

For instance, naming a restaurant “House of Treasures and Ghosts.” Their motive is to create curiosity among the customers. This name may confuse people; whether it’s a place to eat or a theme park’.

Remember # This curiosity not only cost them a bunch of customers, who usually want a quality diner after a long tiring day. Also, some people might not get the proper concept of restaurant service or food. But also it creates a weird excitement among the young generation. Especially at the weekend people will enjoy, play and have dinner with the family.

4. The restaurant name should be like that may express the main gist of the restaurant

The first impression is the last impression. “Name” is the first part that visitors are going to introduce first. It creates a bridge between the restaurant and the customer. Name is a part that should portray and also reflect the main concept or uniqueness of the restaurant. Restaurant owners will lose customers if anyhow it fails to match with the customer expectation. 

The accessible and reflective name may help to build an image in the customer’s mind. A real proper and nice name will always force customers to think about what to expect from the restaurant. 

For instance, the “street snacks and cafe” name is a bit confusing. This is indeed the right name, but it may also confuse some people. Whether it is a cafe where people can go and drink coffee or a snack restaurant. 

Remember# It may also raise some questions to the targeted audience whether the quality of the coffee they will be offering will be the same as the cafe-focused restaurant. Therefore, it is essential to name the restaurant to expose the restaurant’s whole idea or concept.  

5. The restaurant’s name should be reflective of a restaurant’s interior and menu

Name is considered to be the first identity that anyone ever notices. A restaurant name should always be a mirror reflection of the full interior and the menu. Too much mysterious name or tricky name might confuse people and may not fulfill the expectation.

For example, Naming a restaurant Etluteta; might confuse the visitors a lot. People may face huge difficulties to understand and have questions:

• What is the restaurant about?
• What will be the item?
• Is it a fusion restaurant? 
• The fusion of which country?
• Are they serving Indian, Mexican, or Italian?
• Is it any theme based restaurant?
• How is the interior?

Secret ingredients# “yes,” it is true that a restaurant name should be unique and catchy, but it is also very important that the name should match the menu. Based on the name and menu, a restaurant owner should design the interior. 

Remember# failing to match the restaurants’ names with the menu or with the interior might break the hearts of customer’s expectations. While visiting a restaurant with the name “Etluteta.” When the customer notices that their interior is kind of snacky or junky type, they serve rice meals instead of serving crispy snacks. This behavior by a restaurant not only disappoints a customer but also puts them into a huge disappointment. 

6. The restaurant can be a name inspired by considering the location

A restaurant owner can also be named the restaurant inspired by the location. It will reduce a million loads of work of going through all the hassle of brainstorming. The owner can easily use the cue from the area and hint at that location’s culture. 

For example, naming the restaurant “street of Mumbai, India” will be quite understandable, especially for that area’s local people. This restaurant directly indicated that customers would get the real, local flavor of Mumbai. 

Remember# naming the restaurant, inspired by the location, can help attract customers with the shortest possible time. Therefore it is the easiest way to name a restaurant.

7. The restaurant name concept or type shouldn’t be matched with competitors within the area or outside the location

Before deciding on any name for a restaurant, it is essential to remember:

• The name must not be anyhow similar to the competitor. 
• It is ok to take some basic ideas from the competitors, such as what type of pattern to follow to stand out and create a USP. 
• Not very much advisable to use the concept of a competitor restaurant name. Such as competitors’ restaurant name “burger cafe,” discourages using the same name as burger and coffee cafes. 
• Too many similar names might confuse the visitors. 
• People might think of both the cafe as a branch or franchisee and will expect the same quality. 

8 Smart tips for manufacturing perfect restaurant names 

1. Note all the weird, funny, creative restaurant names you have in your mind
2. Use social media as a way to ask people for the suggestive name
3. Brainstorm all the facts what customer will think and feel, when heard or know of the restaurant name
4. Spotlight and pinpoint the closest possible name
5. Decide the restaurant mission, vision, and core value
6. Picturize the whole menu
7. Imagine what are your whole interior and theme gonna be?
8. Not too political or too abusive towards society, decide a name that will be easy to get a trade license

1. Note all the weird, funny, creative restaurant names you have in your mind

Naming a restaurant; is quite a difficult job. The name generator will have to go through all the problematic brainstorming stress. Therefore the best way to remember, collect, and organize the messy thought is to note all the relevant thoughts, even a single point. It helps to organize and join together all the uncompleted ideas.

2. Use social media as a way to ask people for the suggestive name

Since social media is now the most acceptable and reachable way towards everyone. Therefore a restaurant owner can use this strategy to organize a poll system,” what should I name my restaurant quiz?” on different social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Quora, etc. Thus the owner can choose the best-voted name as his/her restaurant name. 

Marketing tricks# This kind of strategy also works as a great promotion tool for marketing a new restaurant. The restaurant is still not in the market but already gaining popularity by reaching a bulk customer through different social media. Since the owner gives so much priority to the customer, the best way to create a path is through the customer’s mind and heart. 

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3. Brainstorm all the facts what customer will think and feel, when heard or know of the restaurant name

Like the police say,” if you want to catch a thief, you have to think like a thief.” It helps to understand the psychology of a thief and hence can catch the thief easily. Just like that, the best way to reach an ample number of customers is to think like a customer, therefore helps to understand better. The following question that may arise: 

• What does a customer want?
• How do they want it? 
• What is the item usually like to prefer?
• What is a location-wise famous item?
• What is the latest trend in food? 
• Which meal is the most preferable?

4. Spotlight and pinpoint the closest possible name

After noting all the unorganized and messy thoughts, also after doing a long brainstorming. And also, after taking a huge suggestion from the common audience with the help of social media. Now it is the perfect time to spotlight the possiblest name ever. Which is:

• Catchy 
• Easy to pronounce 
• Unique 
• Easy to reach a target audience and create buzz
• Not similar to the competitor 

5. Decide the restaurant mission, vision, and core value

Mission, vision, and core value statements three are interrelated and work as a road map. The mission statement for a business only shows the present path of a business. The vision statement shows the future direction of a business. And the core value reflects the main or central value of a business. It shows the direction of the whole purpose of starting this restaurant business plan. This three statement also describes:

• Who will be our main target customer?
• What are the main items that we are going to serve?
• What are the goals you want to accomplish?
• How are you going to accomplish it?
• What are the primary core purposes?
• Which is the most demanding location for a restaurant?
• Is the restaurant name and logo complementing the logo?
• What should be the chef’s special dish in the restaurant that will hold the customers?
• How many waiters or staff are going to be needed?
• How to structurize and maintain service management? 
• What will be the future of this restaurant?
• Who is going to invest in the restaurant in the future? 

6. Picturize the whole menu 

While deciding the restaurant name, it is very important to decide which cuisine or what kind of fusion food are restaurants are going to serve. After determining what type of food the restaurant will serve, designing the name would be one step easier.  

7. Imagine what are your whole interior and theme gonna be?

After designing the whole menu, and based on the designed item that will be served in the restaurant. The entire interior and theme will be prepared.

For instance, If the item on the menu indicates Mexican cuisine, then the decoration will be based on Mexican style and the name of the restaurant. 

For example, If the restaurant's name is “snacky dip” and the menu offers a crispy snacky item; therefore, the theme or the interior should be designed so that young people will enjoy it. 

8. Not too political or too abusive towards society, decide a name that will be easy to get a trade license

Advisable tips to remember# In this modern, smart, and sensitive generation, people easily get trolled or engage with the legal and law bindings. So it is better to fix a name that does not hurt any sentiment of any religion or culture or any community. 

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Some interesting restaurant name based on a theme 

1. Star wars theme 
2. Finish your sitting on thrones inspired by the game of thrones  
3. Central park cafe theme will be similar to the F.R.I.E.N.D.S central cafe. 
4. Sheldon diet, theme-based Big bang theory 
5. Facebook cafe 
6. Mughal Azzam meal
7. Ninja theme, New york 
8. Jungle Jamboree, jungle theme, India

Some interesting famous restaurant name 

• Cafe 21 
• Rainforest cafe 
• House of Blues
• Greens
• Metropolitan cafe 
• The kitchen 
• The melting pot
• Tin roof

 Some interesting cool restaurant name

1. CRUST 
2. Sea spice 
3. Full moon 
4. Daily grill
5. Lazy bear
6. Hot and crust 
7. Garage kitchen +bar 
8. Mad for chicken 

Some creative restaurant names 

1. Egg and us 
2. Ozone 
3. Double decker 
4. Level III restaurant 
5. Golden Era
6. The river seafood
7. 5 SPOT 

Some of the best tagline of some famous restaurant 

1. KFC, it’s finger-lickin’ good
2. McDonald's- I’m lovin’ it
3. Taco Bell- Think outside the bun.
4. Fat burger- the last best hamburger stand
5. Pizza hut -Make it great.
6. Papa johns- better ingredient, better pizza 
7. Subway- eat fresh 

Final thoughts

Always remember name will be the ultimate identity of your restaurant. And this restaurant name will stay till the last day of the restaurant stands. This name will be the witness to the stories of many generations of the owners. 

This restaurant name is also the first and last impression that will be presented in front of the customer eyesight. A restaurant's sales, popularity, market value, and craving on customer’s minds depend on the restaurant’s name. Therefore choosing the right restaurant name is the most challenging yet crucial task. Hence choose wisely.

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