24 Aug Cafe Signs – More Than Menu Boards
If you run a Vancouver cafe, there are several types of cafe signs to consider. Cafe signs should do more than just display your brand or your menu. A good signage strategy for coffee shops, bistros and smaller restaurants includes a variety of signs that provide three-fold benefits.
Cafe signs should:
- Advertise specials inside and outside the cafe.
- Provide customer service assistance.
- Grab the attention of passers-by.
Advertise Specials Inside and Outside the Cafe
When customers are in your cafe, you have a “captive” audience. This type of customer is money in the bank. They’ve already decided to enter your coffee shop. Maybe they’ve come to purchase a cup of coffee. It’s these customers that need to know immediately what your specials are. While “upselling” at the counter is a tried and true method of boosting cafe sales, it’s even better to get the customer thinking about other goodies they might purchase, long before they are at the cash register. Strategically placed cafe signs can upsell before and after the customer enters your cafe.
There are several locations where signage highlighting specials should be placed.
- On sandwich boards or window signage facing street traffic.
- Toward the end of the cash register line-up.
- At the counter
These signs can be sandwich boards placed on the sidewalk in front your cafe, floor stand signs placed just inside the door to be seen immediately, table standing signage placed atop the goodies case in the register line up, and at the counter.
Provide Customer Service
When your cafe is busy, interruptions can slow down production and increase staff and customer frustration. If a customer must wait in line, or wait until you’ve finished serving other customers to ask a question, they may form a negative opinion of your customer service and your cafe. Many customer questions can be answered by cafe signs. Wayfinding signage (e.g. bathroom locations, parking); breakfast, lunch and dinner service hours; instructions; pricing, and specials are just a few types of cafe signage that provide valuable customer service information that will keep them happy and keep them coming back.
Get the Attention of Passers-By
Cafes face a lot of competition. If you haven’t considered signage for your Vancouver café as being that important, staying ahead of your competitors is one very good reason to do so. At Sandbox Signs + Graphics, we are always surprised by just how little cafes invest in their outdoor branding. We can’t count the number of times we’ve passed by a coffee shop daily, only to realize weeks later that “it’s a coffee shop?”. You may have experienced this, too. The main cafe sign may be small, lifeless and so unremarkable that it doesn’t attract attention. The windows are blank slates that could otherwise advertise specials, the name of the cafe, or something else that screams “we are a coffee shop!”, there is no sidewalk signage, no sandwich boards. You get the picture.
If you consider the rate at which Vancouver cafes come and go, inadequate signage can often contribute to the demise of some of these businesses. A cafe, like any other business, must get the attention of potential customers. Well-designed outdoor cafe signs (main branding and door signage), a sandwich board and window signage, may be the difference between a cafe’s success or failure.
Contact Sandbox Signs for a Cafe Sign Consultation
If you are considering cafe signs for your Vancouver coffee shop or bistro, receive a free signage estimate or consultation. We’ll provide you the advice, guidance and sign strategy you need to help ensure your cafe’s success.