A restaurant’s brand identity is more than a logo, color scheme, aesthetic, or type of food. Your brand is your foundation: successful restaurants are built on clear, concise, and comprehensive brands. This episode of Restaurant Masters features restaurant coach and former restaurant owner Donald Burns. In part two of his series on building your restaurant brand, he offers his best tips for cultivating a successful vision and company culture for your business. He has written the acclaimed books 2017 Your Restaurant Sucks! and the 2019 Your Restaurant STILL Sucks! and was featured in restaurant software company Toast’s Top Restaurant Experts to Follow in 2016, 2017, and 2018. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” says Burns. “That’s where most restaurants fail: their vision is to make money. That will never sustain you in the long term. The act of making money is the result of having a sound vision and planning practices.” Successful restaurant brands have a clear, cohesive set of core values and vision of success, prioritize consistency over creativity, perceive the restaurant the same way their guests do, and use emotion to inspire—rather than manipulate—guests. “People buy brands they trust,” adds Burns. “Trust is a very sacred pact between the brand and the guest. Once it’s broken, it’s a long hard road to rebuild.” Many young chefs and business owners make the mistake of prioritizing creative products and fail to consistently provide the same quality taste. “Your brand is not what you think it is, it’s what your guests think it is,” notes Burns. “You want to make sure you’re tapping into those emotions that stimulate loyalty and inspiration and not just manipulation.” Having a novelty product is not the same as innovation, and attracting a slew of customers with a unique product does not automatically create a following. Check out the episode above to learn more about branding for the long-term and how to design your brand identity and brand story!