How to make your restaurant stand out: find what makes it unique

How do you make your restaurant stand out from the competition?

Standing out does not mean doing something outlandish. Most successful restaurants are known for one simple thing, done well, always the same way: the best dish of the day in the area, the cooking of one specific region, a family welcome, a quick and careful lunch service.

The opposite risk is being a "decent" restaurant that looks like all the others. Customers then have no reason to choose you, except chance or price. This guide is part of our guide to growing a restaurant.

How do you define your restaurant’s positioning?

Positioning is the place you want to hold in your customers' minds. It comes down to three questions:

Put the answers into one sentence the whole team can repeat:

[Restaurant name] is [type of cooking] for [type of customers], with [what sets us apart], in [place or area].

Made-up example: "The Market Counter is market-fresh cooking for people who work nearby, with a different dish every day served in 40 minutes, a stone's throw from the covered market."

This sentence then works everywhere: on your Google listing, on your website, in your posts, and when a customer asks "so what do you do here?". If you are opening, the guide on restaurant market research helps you check that these customers really exist around you.

How do you find your difference by looking at competitors?

Your difference only exists compared with others. Spend an hour looking at the 5 nearest restaurants that target the same customers as you.

• Their Google listing: category, hours, photos, rating, number of reviews.
• Their reviews: read the 3-star reviews. They say what is missing (waiting times, vegetarian options, noise, welcome for children).
• Their menu and prices: where do they sit? What do they all offer?
• Their opening hours: are there times when nobody is open?

The full method is in the guide on local competitor analysis on Google Maps.

Why do a short menu and a signature dish make the difference?

Customers do not remember a forty-dish menu. They remember one dish: the one they recommend to friends, photograph, mention in their reviews. That is your signature dish.

• Choose it from what you already do best and what customers order most.
• Give it a name and a visible place on the menu.
• Keep it all year, always the same: that is what brings people back.
• Tell its story: where the recipe comes from, where the ingredients come from.

A short menu (for example 4 or 5 starters, 5 to 7 mains, 4 desserts) has other advantages: less stock, less waste, better-controlled dishes, faster service. It also gives a clear picture of who you are. To build the menu, see restaurant menu design, and to price it, food cost and menu pricing.

Can you promote "home-made" food? What French law says

Home-made food is a real selling point, but in France the "fait maison" label is regulated. According to Service Public Entreprendre, a dish can be labelled "fait maison" if it is cooked or prepared on site from raw ingredients, meaning fresh or raw products received without having been modified, mixed or pre-heated.

Some ready-made products are allowed in a home-made dish: cured meats (except terrines and pâtés), cheese, butter, cream, milk, bread, flour, dry biscuits, pasta and cereals, chocolate, coffee, wines and spirits, and stocks, provided the customer is told in writing. However, a dish made only from these products cannot carry the label.

How to display it

• If only some dishes are home-made: the label or logo next to each of them.
• If all dishes are: next to each dish, or in one place on the menu.
• The official logo shows a saucepan topped with a roof; it must be at least 5 × 6 mm.
• No authorisation is needed, but inspectors from the DGCCRF (the French consumer protection authority) carry out checks.

Be careful: displaying "fait maison" on a dish that does not qualify can be penalised as a misleading commercial practice. Only use it where it is truly deserved, and explain to your team what it means. Outside France, check your own country's rules on food descriptions. Other required menu information for France is in the guide on mandatory restaurant signs in France.

How do you create an experience customers talk about?

People remember a meal as much for what they experienced as for what they ate. A memorable experience does not have to be expensive. It often comes down to a few details repeated at every service:

• The welcome: a hello within 30 seconds, even in the middle of a rush.
• A signature detail: a complimentary amuse-bouche, warm home-made bread, a jug of flavoured water, a sweet with the bill.
• The atmosphere: chosen music, soft lighting in the evening, a noise level that lets people talk.
• The pace: quick at lunch for people who work, slower in the evening.
• Small touches: remembering a regular, having something to keep children busy, offering a half portion.

Read your reviews: customers say themselves what struck them. If several mention the same detail, that is a strength to keep and highlight. If they often mention the same flaw, that is the first thing to fix.

Why tell your story and your producers’ story?

Two restaurants can serve the same dish. The one that tells where it comes from stands out. Your story is an asset nobody can copy.

• Who you are: the chef's background, taking over a family business, coming home.
• Your producers: the name of the grower, the cheesemaker, the winemaker, and how far away they are.
• Your recipes: a grandmother's, one brought back from a trip.
• Behind the scenes: the morning delivery, dough resting, herbs being picked.

Tell it in a few words on your menu, on a board, on your website and in your posts. Smartphone photos are enough: the guide on business photos with a smartphone gives you the right settings.

How do you show your difference on Google and online?

Most customers discover your restaurant online before walking in. Your difference must therefore show on your Google listing.

• The listing description: use your positioning sentence, your signature dish and your producers.
• The category: as precise as possible ("Basque restaurant" rather than "Restaurant").
• Photos: your signature dish first, then the dining room, the team, the front.
• Attributes: terrace, vegetarian options, child-friendly, if true.
• Your replies to reviews: they show your tone and your care.

To write the description, the guide Google Business description examples offers templates by trade. To spread the word more widely, read a restaurant marketing plan.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bars
• Restaurant website

Go further

• How to grow a restaurant: the complete guide
• Restaurant market research
• Restaurant menu design
• Local competitor analysis on Google Maps
• Google Business description examples
• Optimise your restaurant’s Google listing