17 Dec 5 Restaurant Signs that Increase Sales
If you run a Vancouver café or restaurant, restaurant signs are a given, but which signs get the most mileage when it comes to increasing sales? The following is an overview of signs that every “sit-down” restaurant, café and food court restaurant should consider using. As a bonus, they’re economical choices, too!
Sandwich Boards
Sandwich boards are used by many types of businesses including restaurants and cafes. Although the name suggests they may have been used to advertise sandwiches in days gone by, they take their name from how they were first used back in the 19th century. Business owners would hire people to wear the iconic two-sided placard and walk up and down the street in front of the business. The person wearing the board was “sandwiched” between the front and back panels, thus the name. Nowadays, sandwich boards are most often placed on the sidewalk in front of a business. If you want to know whether a business is open, one of the first things many of us do is look for is a sandwich board!
Restaurants and cafés use sandwich boards in front of their main entrance to signify that they’re open, to advertise opening hours, feature specials or even use as menu signs. Sandwich boards are an asset, particularly when your business is flanked by many other stores competing for the attention of passers by. While sandwich boards seem old-school to some, they are still used because they are an effective and economical form of restaurant sign.
Window Posters
Restauranteurs in the know, use their storefront windows to add design and ambiance to the exterior from the inside out, or to advertise their featured food and beverages. As the expression goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and definitely set the tone, and your expectations, before you enter the restaurant. As you walk by many local restaurants, you’ll see eye-catching designs or enticing photos that bring the eatery to life, at a reasonable cost.
Wall Posters
Wall posters are used much the same way as window posters. We’ll use ae Sushi restaurant as an example. While Sushi restaurant servers will undoubtably bring you a menu if you stay to eat, have you ever noticed that many Sushi restaurants also have framed or wall-mounted photos of their specials or the entire menu?
You don’t have to run a Sushi restaurant to benefit from wall posters as menu signs. They can be placed upon a wall just inside the entrance, so customers can see them as they are waiting to be seated. If your restaurant relies on take-out revenue, or you’d like to increase take-out revenue, wall posters are a great way to do it.
Banners
Outdoor banners are a great way to advertise breakfast, lunch and dinner specials, special nights (like “Two-fer Tuesday” or daily happy hour specials). If you’ve just opened your restaurant, or have completed a renovation, a street-facing banner can help get the word out. If your restaurant is on an upper floor of a building and the street signage or business directories aren’t very noticeable from the street or sidewalk, you can permanently affix a banner to an exterior window, using it as your main restaurant sign.
Menu Signs
It nearly goes without saying that menu signs are a must. For cafés they often consist of menu boards with replaceable lettering or menu posters behind glass or plexiglass. Even the most upscale of eateries use menu signage. Along with their leather or faux-leather bound, parchment-leaved, embossed menus, restaurants often use the humble, but often artistically designed, chalkboard to advertise lunch and dinner specials or their “fresh sheet”. Why? If something is off the menu, switched by the Chef, or is out, a chalkboard menu can be “edited” in seconds. Try that with a traditional high-end hand-held menu!
Need Restaurant Signs? Contact Sandbox Signs + Graphics
Since 1993, Sandbox Signs + Graphics has created countless restaurant and menu signs for eateries (and drinkeries) in Vancouver, Burnaby and the rest of the Lower Mainland. Receive a free consultation and estimate. We’ll guide you to the right combination of restaurant signs.