In today’s economy, it’s imperative that you make the right choices when it comes to restaurant branding, marketing, and sales. Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been in the business for years, you can benefit from creating a unique brand for your product.

Our 12 branding tips are based on actual clients and experiences. At Custom Packaging and Products, we’re happy to share what you need to know. Find out how the following restaurants used branding to gain awareness in their market:

1. Fatburger
2. The RedFrog Pub on Carnival Cruise Lines
3. The Office
4. NYC Bagel Company
5. AJ Bombers
6. Pinchers Crab Shack
7. The Tavern
8. Indiana Pork
9. Grindhouse Burgers
10. Jet Runway Café
11. Barclays Golf Tournament
12. Six Feet Under

Food presentation and photos are everything in the restaurant business. If your dishes are memorable enough to stand out, it’s likely they will be shared. In the past, someone might have just passed along the recommendation to one or two friends. But now, they’re sending photos to everyone in their network. By having your logo and brand prominently displayed in those photos, you can really take advantage of positive word of mouth advertising!

This renowned event brings together Emeril Lagasse and an all-star line-up of the country’s top chefs and vintners in New Orleans for the Emeril Lagasse Foundation’s 7th Annual Carnivale du Vin. The event is a fundraising benefit, with proceeds going to improve the lives of young people in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas.

“We are honored to be working with the Carnivale du Vin fundraising event that’s created by Emeril Laagasse and friends,” said Ryan Van Horn, president of Eco friendly Kraft paper products company, Custom Packaging and Products.

“Carnivale du Vin” raised nearly $2 million in 2010, and has invested more than $4 million in non-profits that support children’s causes focusing on culinary arts, school food and nutrition, and arts and education programs. The event will be using Custom Packaging and Product’s custom Eco-Friendly Kraft Sheet Paper for its food presentation and other marketing outlets.

Van Horn added, “It is really wonderful to see a client taking advantage of the branding opportunities so well, in an effort to make a positive difference.”

Prior to “Carnivale du Vin”, is an event called “Beer & Boudin”. Over 1,000 people are expected to attend this event, which brings together 20 of the region’s hottest chefs and features boudin, artisan sausages and rustic Louisiana fare. In addition, the event will have boudin experts from the Southern Foodways Alliance, a live New Orleans and Cajun musical line-up, and craft beer from presenting sponsor Abita Brewing Company.

Following the Boudin & Beer event, Carnivale du Vin will feature a spectacular collaboration of the nation’s top culinary artists. Guests then have the honor of enjoying a four-course wine dinner prepared by the ”Krewe du Vin” chefs, paired with wines from the country’s most prestigious winemakers. This year, one of the featured winemakers is the Honorary “Bacchus,” Dan Kosta of Kosta Browne Winery and his Kosta Browne 2009 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.

Using custom/personalized wrapping paper gives your products brand recognition. It is very useful when presenting and making a great impression with your clients.At Custom Packaging & Products we refer to this as “Burning a positive experience into the minds of your customers!” You can find 53 ways to use our branding products in our FREE eBook, 9 Custom Packaging Products & 53 Ways to Use Them.

Food Truck Marketing: Foodies Enjoying Mobile Food

There are 4 important questions you need to ask yourself when starting up a Food Truck:

• Do you have knowledge of local business laws & licensing that dictate where you can operate?
• Have you determined the costs of staff, truck maintenance, marketing, mobile POS system, and security if you are collecting cash?
• Are you tech savvy and feel comfortable tapping into social networking to spread word of your location and your daily specials?
• Do you have a method of branding your food, so when your customers walk away from your food truck – they are advertising for you?

Custom/Personalized Wrapping Paper is great for: 

• Fundraisers
• Corporate Gifts
• Birthday Parties
• Holidays
• Celebrations

NYC Bagel Deli based out of Chicago, IL is always looking for new ways to Brand their products from bagels, bagel sandwiches, pizzas, people, and events.

Since they have been doing business with Custom Packaging & Products, they have increased to 3 store locations and have catered some of the most prestigious events in Chicago.With the popularity of their box lunch program, NYC Bagel Deli has had the honor of catering for Groupon, The Chicago Bulls, Pepsi, Boars Head, Tropicana, Wachovia, and a list of other ‘A list’ companies in the Chicago area.

NYC Bagel Deli offers a quality product in their sandwiches while being wrapped in Custom Packaging & Products, Inc. custom printed deli paper.  By using this product, NYC Bagel Deli can brand their sandwiches and put a spotlight on their successful business.

We’re going to give you more great examples like NYC Bagel Deli over the next few months.

As the nation’s leading manufacturer of short-run custom printing, we have a few customized products that can be used in a variety of different ways (53 to be exact) to entice repeat customers to come back to your establishment. In fact, we wrote an eBook about this subject called 9 Custom Packaging Products & 53 Ways to Use Them which you can download for FREE.

You’ll learn about 9 of our products including:

• Custom printed food bags
• Kraft paper
• Hot paper
• Sandwich wrappers

So if you’re serious about staying in business (if you’re not serious about it, why are you in business?), you’ll want to stay tuned to this blog for some really cool examples of our customers and how they use our products.

-Ryan
Facebook.com/CustomPackagingandProducts

In every business, it is the owner’s responsibility to find a niche that the competition has ignored OR perform better than the competition at their own niche. The restaurant industry is no different… although the sheer amount of competition in the restaurant industry is extremely high!

So how can you separate your restaurant or deli from the rest of the pack? By utilizing a broad range of food marketing strategies! That’s where we come in handy.

Over the past few months we’ve told you about 9 Custom Packaging Products and 53 Ways to Use Them which is available as a FREE eBook that you can download by clicking the eBook up above. These custom printed food service papers are just a few of the many food marketing strategies that you can use to increase your restaurant’s repeat business.

So let’s recap:

1. Brand Marketing: So You Want to Stick in Their Minds?
2. Dress up Your Food: Brand Your Restaurant With a Sandwich Wrap
3. Kraft Paper: Keeping Your Business and Logo Strong
4. Don’t Miss Out on Business Referrals. Get your Deli Paper Working for You
5. Hot Paper: Turn up the Heat on Your Marketing Strategy
6. Keep Meat and Fish Fresh and Customer’s Minds Fresher with Custom Butcher Paper
7. Personalized Wrapping Paper: Marketing Opportunity Made Possible Through Gift Giving
8. Small Budget Marketing: Stay Stuck in Their Mind with a Custom Sticker or Label
9. The Dreaded Freezer Burn: Easily Prevented and Marketed With Custom Printed Freezer Paper

If you’d like to learn even more food marketing strategies through custom packaging, download our other free eBook 12 Ways to Build Your Brand and Increase Your Sales or simply contact us online.

Looking forward to doing business with you!

-Ryan

This is the 9th of 9 Custom Packaging Products & 53 Ways to Use Them which can be downloaded for FREE from our eBook library.

Be their freezer burn hero, and they will never forget you!

Freezer paper is a durable paper that prevents air and moisture from getting to the food. It protects the flavor, quality and nutrition of the food during freezing temperatures and prevents freezer burn.

Another great characteristic of freezer paper…easy to write on! Dates and food become easily identified without having to unwrap the mystery package.

Not only can Freezer paper rid food of freezer burn, but it can also be used for stenciling, quilting fabrics or protecting counters and lining shelves or drawers.

We recommend they be used for the following:

• Wrapping meat
• Wrapping poultry
• Sandwich wrap

Ready to order your custom printed freezer paper? Contact us, or call us at (888) 878-0423 for your free price quote today!

-Ryan

This is the 8th of 9 Custom Packaging Products & 53 Ways to Use Them which can be downloaded for FREE from our eBook library.

Are you trying to find a way to brand yourself with small budget marketing? A custom sticker or label is the perfect solution!

With a custom sticker or label, you can easily attach your brand to virtually any product. They allow you to be as creative as you want at a very affordable price. A custom sticker is an easy way to share information, such as product description, price, UPC labels, ingredients, etc.

Here are some of my suggestions when working with small budget marketing. Utilize custom stickers and labels for any of the following:

• Food labeling
• Logo branding
• Printed clothing labels
• Printed mailing labels
• Pre-printed labels
• Printed fabric labels
• Custom beer labels
• Custom wine labels
• Custom band stickers
• Custom round stickers
• UPC seals
• Nutritional information
• Product and price information
• Prep instructions
• Sandwich wrap closure

Are you ready to explore more ways how small budget marketing can work for you? Order your custom stickers and labels now! Contact us, or call us at (888) 878-0423 for your free price quote today!

-Ryan

This is the 7th of 9 Custom Packaging Products & 53 Ways to Use Them which can be downloaded for FREE from our eBook library.

Is giving better than receiving?

When you have personalized wrapping paper, you’ll receive free marketing every time you give.

Gift giving has been around a long time and continues to bring excitement to the receiver while the giver enjoys the warm and fuzzy feeling that giving provides.

Did you know…gift wrapping began in Victorian times, when elaborate card making evolved into elaborate wrapping papers for presents? Wrapping paper soon became popular and with the invention of the printing press, the paper could then be made in mass quantities.

Personalized wrapping paper is an awesome way to incorporate branding of your business into the joy of gift giving. Your custom wrap can be used for:

• Gift Presentation
• Store Identification
• Brand Identification

Speaking of gift giving, here are some of my tips that will help you be remembered fondly:

1. Give them something THEY want
2. Be Specific
3. Don’t buy something someone would by for themselves
4. Keep to a budget
5. Don’t skip on the presentation
6. Keep it simple

Be remembered with personalized wrapping paper! Contact us, or call us at (888) 878-0423 for your free price quote today!

-Ryan

This is the 6th of 9 Custom Packaging Products & 53 Ways to Use Them which can be downloaded for FREE from our eBook library.

Don’t you only want the best…when it comes to fresh fish?

Only the best fresh fish or quality cut of meat is wrapped in butcher paper. Have you ever thought of customizing it? What better way to promote your company and it’s views on fresh, quality meats?

As people get home and start to unwrap their fresh fillet of fish or thick juicy steak, they will be staring right at your logo and make the association between your branding and their perfect cut of meat.

Or, just think about the next time someone is going to grill out or prepare a nice dinner inside. They will immediately think about where to get the freshest meat. They will easily remember you because of your custom printed butcher paper.

The marketing also extends to any friends or family that may be coming over to help cook or grill. The place where the host purchased the meat may not have a chance to come up in conversation, however, if the meat is wrapped in custom butcher paper, it becomes an unspoken knowledge to guests.

Not only can butcher paper be used for wrapping the freshest meats, it can also serve as sandwich wraps or plate and table presentations.

Are you interested in customizing your butcher paper? Contact us, or call us at (888) 878-0423 for your free price quote today!

-Ryan