How to Choose a Good Name for Your Eatery
Things to Keep in Mind When Naming a Restaurant
- You’re Creating a New Brand – So make sure it’s memorable and has positive connotations. If it’s a foreign word, make sure it doesn’t mean something bad in another language. (The Chevy Nova failed largely because in Spanish it means, “No go.”)
- Easy to Remember – Make sure others find the name easy to remember. If it’s not, people will have trouble finding it and telling friends about it.
- Easy to Spell – If the name has an unusual spelling, it will make it harder for people to look up in the phone book and on line.
- Beginning of the Alphabet – In listings of restaurants, from local city restaurant guides to telephone books, you’ll want your restaurant to appear near the top of the list as often as possible. An easy way to ensure this is to make sure that the first letter of the first significant word in the title starts with one of the first 6 letters of the alphabet. Otherwise, when browsing, many people won’t even get to see your name. That’s one of the reasons why our restaurant name was Beyond Measure.
- Don’t Use a Common or Trademarked Name – Using a name like McDonald’s or The Hamburger Joint is asking for trouble.
