Your café brand is making a promise.

A cafe is not like other food establishments. The brand campaign will carry a different kind of promise.

Other food establishments can get an advantage by offering the lowest prices, or the fastest service – but those are not what make people feel curious and want to try a new cafe.

People want to try a new cafe when they’re feel curious about a new experience.

To see some brand strategies & concepts for your cafe, you can try a brainstorm ($12.50) with 10WeekBrand, Boston.

This video has Jay talking about cafe brand strategy.

A cafe brand promises an experience.

We all have coffee at home. Caffeine is not the demand that makes people decide to try a new cafe.

Neither are low prices, because cafes are not supposed to have the cheapest coffee. That’s what gas stations and fast food restaurants are for.

And neither is fast service. People never try a new place on a day when they’re in a hurry and need fast service.

Fast service and reasonable prices might be reasons people come back again and again, but that’s not our focus. This is a brand campaign.

• Our focus is to make them visit the first time. Maybe it’s because they have heard your cafe has a nice ambiance conducive to creativity.

• Or our focus can be to make previous patrons come back to try a new type of latte you invented – because it’s a creative new twist on an already-popular product.

A brand campaign tells people why they should try what you offer.

The brand contains a reason.

A brand is an idea you can share with people to help them understand a reason they might want to do something you hope they’ll do.

So there are three parts:

Idea - The idea helps them understand the reason.

Reason - It’s a reason to try your cafe instead of some other cafe.

People - Communicate the idea to the people most likely to do what you hope they’ll do. So you have to identify the people most likely to do what you hope people will do.

Here are some ways to do those things.

Café branding ideas:

• Aroma zoning: Change café scents through the day—coffee in the morning, baked goods midday—to subtly shape customer mood and expectations.

• Purposeful playlists: Slow-tempo music encourages customers to stay longer; faster rhythms gently boost turnover during peak times.

• Limited-edition drinks: Offer creatively named seasonal beverages and retire them quickly to spark interest and repeat visits.

• Micro-influencer swaps: Offer free drinks to local social media creators in exchange for short, genuine posts that expand your café’s visibility.

• Local pop-ups: Invite local artisans or small businesses to showcase products at your café, tapping into their customer bases and community networks.

• Social-ready visuals: Design beverages and café spaces that photograph beautifully, enhancing shareability without extra effort from guests.

• Cowork-friendly layout: Provide comfortable communal tables, outlets, and good lighting to attract regular remote workers.

• Behind-the-scenes clips: Share short, genuine videos of daily café activities—roasting, brewing, taste-testing—to engage followers online.

• Local art rotation: Regularly update café walls with local artwork, hosting informal openings to build community connections.

• Interactive loyalty program: Create a small online community where regulars test and select upcoming menu items, fostering customer involvement.

• Color-flavor coordination: Serve drinks in mugs whose colors match their flavors, subtly enhancing taste perception.

• Sustainability visuals: Publicly track and visually display sustainable actions like reusable cup usage or compost totals, making eco-friendly practices engaging.

To see some brand strategies & concepts for your cafe, you can try a brainstorm ($12.50) with 10WeekBrand, Boston.