Restaurant Delivery Packaging Importance

A variety of marketing strategies help restaurants grow their businesses, whether it’s partnering with food delivery apps, making the most of social media, offering specials and coupons or leveraging email marketing. Attractive food packaging is another significant marketing aspect to consider. Without branded wrappers, cups, labels or other packaging materials, it’s difficult for your brand to form an identity, build a consistent presence and increase awareness within your target audience.

You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking to boost your restaurant’s image through effective branded takeout food packaging. This article will discuss the importance of restaurant delivery packaging and what it can do for your brand. Whether you’re interested in learning the benefits that come with this, seeking food packaging design tips or would like to know the important considerations for branded packaging, keep reading for plenty of useful tips and recommendations.

Importance of Branded Packaging

Effective and consistent brand packaging is crucial for successful marketing and advertising, not only for restaurants but any business type. It helps establish your brand’s identity, tells a story, builds recognition for your business and sets you apart from the competition. Every piece of the puzzle is important, from your logo and website to your brand’s packaging materials. 

Below are a few considerable benefits of branded food packaging for your restaurant:

• Establishes brand identity: Whether it’s business cards, a website, social media accounts or custom food packaging labels, you can tailor any marketing tool to reinforce your company’s unique identity. We’ll explore this more in detail in the next section.
• Outshines competitors: While it will likely take several impressions to start building awareness, your brand has seven seconds to make a solid first impression on consumers. You want your packaging to form a strong visual identity that grabs their attention and sets you apart from competitors.
• Builds brand awareness: After forming a good first impression on your audience, you can gradually build recognition using consistent and appealing brand design. Further down the road, you’ll likely consider rebranding to give your business a fresh look. You may even consider rebranding earlier if your current packaging isn’t quite as effective as you anticipated.
• Evokes hunger: You can use attractive restaurant and food delivery packaging to make your audience hungry, compelling them to buy your menu items. We’ll discuss ways you can use brand packaging to stimulate feelings of hunger in your consumers in the next section.

What to Consider for Branded Packaging

There are a variety of factors to consider when creating branded packaging for your restaurant. In this section, we’ll outline some of these important considerations.

1. Uniqueness

With an extensive range of design elements to consider — color palettes, shapes, images, typography and more — there are endless possibilities for designing a brand that’s uniquely yours. The only limit is your imagination!

Keep a few important factors in mind to create a unique brand voice for your restaurant’s food packaging. For example, pick packaging colors and fonts that represent your brand’s personality. 

Let’s compare two popular restaurant brands for reference — while Panera Bread uses earthy tones and an elegant script font, McDonald’s uses bright red and yellow packaging colors. These restaurants may convey two different brand personalities, but consumers quickly recognize both of them.

Another tip for creating a unique brand is incorporating your restaurant’s goals, core values and mission statement into your packaging. This highlights your brand’s beliefs and shows customers what you stand for, setting you apart from competing brands. 

2. Uniformity

Remember to keep your brand consistent across packaging materials — if your brand lacks uniformity, it can appear chaotic and unprofessional. Whether it’s cups, trays, wrappers, labels or other items, all design elements of your materials should match and complement one another.

3. Functionality

In addition to being visually appealing, your packaging should be functional and durable. Test out your packaging to make sure it keeps hot foods hot and cold foods cold, doesn’t leak or drip and can be consumed on the go. This demonstrates to your customers that your packaging fulfills its purpose and communicates your brand voice simultaneously.

4. Storytelling

Like your restaurant’s logo, website, social media platforms and other marketing tools, your food’s packaging features should help convey your brand’s story. Use your brand’s voice and personality, design features and packaging copy to collectively tell this story. Some restaurants like to include a brief backstory somewhere on the menu — you could find a way to do this with your packaging if desired.

5. Making Users Hungry

Understanding how you can use different design elements to evoke specific feelings helps you determine how to make customers hungry for what you’re selling. 

Red can have a strong effect on appetite, making it a popular choice for packaging in the food industry. Yellow is also a common color as it sparks feelings of optimism and cheerfulness. If you wish to convey a livelier brand personality, you might consider these warm tones to make customers hungry. 

On the other hand, cooler tones such as turquoise and green can stimulate hunger if your brand is a little more understated. Contrasting tones can grab attention in addition to hunger-inducing colors.

6. Meaningfulness

Your brand packaging should be meaningful. Highlighting your brand’s beliefs, mission and goals is a great way to show customers what you stand for. 

Research shows that customers typically prefer brands that express their values, especially if they align with their own. Seventy percent of respondents from 25 surveyed countries reported buying from brands that reflect their own principles. Knowing that you support a good cause may help increase loyalty and respect for your brand — try to find ways to make your brand packaging meaningful to create a positive and reputable image for your restaurant.

Learn More About Cloud Kitchens From Revolving Kitchen

Now that you’ve learned some effective techniques for developing your restaurant’s brand packaging, you might be thinking about other methods to help grow your business. We can help you take your next steps toward accomplishing this goal at Revolving Kitchen.

Our company specializes in cloud kitchens that provide restaurants with the necessary services and facilities to prepare menu items for takeout and delivery. Unlike traditional building models, our modern commercial cloud kitchens allow restaurants to prepare and deliver food with minimal overhead. With increased convenience, affordable startup costs and optimized delivery experience, a cloud kitchen may be just what your business needs to meet your customers’ demands more efficiently.

Let us expand your restaurant with advanced kitchen infrastructure and equipment. Contact Revolving Kitchen today to learn more about what cloud kitchens can do for your business.