How much should a newly opened restaurant invest in identity?

The F&B industry in Vietnam saw over 50,000 establishments close in just the first half of 2025. Most didn’t fail due to poor food. They failed because they didn’t accumulate reasons for customers to return. Brand identity is one of those accumulation tools, but if invested in at the wrong level or time, it becomes a sunk cost. The question is not "should we brand?" but rather "to what extent and with what ambition?".

Why chain ambitions determine the level of investment

A single-location café and a coffee brand aiming to open twenty branches may both be in their first month of operation. They may look similar on the surface. But what they need from brand identity is completely different.

A single location needs to be recognizable within a few hundred meters and create a trustworthy feeling for customers to enter for the first time. A chain needs a system that can be replicated across spaces, people, and operational costs without losing consistency. These are two completely different design challenges, and using the budget from one to solve the other is the most ineffective way to spend money.

Marty Neumeier defines a brand as "the gut feeling of the customer." That feeling is formed in an instant. Lindgaard and colleagues measured that visual impressions form in just 50 milliseconds. The issue is: customers of a single location and customers of a twenty-location chain expect different signals in those 50 milliseconds.

Level one: a restaurant with one location, no expansion plan

If you open a café to operate a location well, focusing on product quality and on-site experience, without plans to expand in the next five years, then the branding budget needs to be just enough to operate, not more.

Sufficient here means: a logo that is clearly readable at various sizes, a color palette that is consistent enough so that signage and packaging do not clash, and a simple set of documents for printing that does not require asking the designer each time. No need for a thick brand guide, no need for motion identity, no need for brand architecture.

What should be avoided at this stage is investing in the depth of brand strategy when you yourself do not yet know who your true segment is after six months of operation. Many establishments create very elaborate positioning before opening, only to find that their real customers are completely different from their imagined ones. The entire identity budget must be redone from scratch.

Level two: targeting two to five branches

This is the group most likely to misallocate funds. They often open their first location with a basic identity budget, only to discover when opening the second location that the identity cannot be replicated. The signage at the new location looks different, the packaging printed elsewhere has color discrepancies, and new staff don’t know which font to use. The cost of redoing is always higher than getting it right from the start.

The goal is to identify two to five key areas to invest in the foundation of the system from the start. It doesn’t have to be a complex system. However, it should include: an identity set with assets tested across various sizes and surfaces, a clearly defined color palette and typography that can be handed over to printers or contractors without needing supervision, and at least one application document sufficient for someone without a design background to understand how to use it.

At this level, a strategic step is necessary, but it doesn't need to be too extensive. You need to know: who you are speaking to, in what tone, and what makes customers remember you rather than the competing establishment. Those three answers are enough to guide the design and maintain consistency when scaling.

Level three: targeting a real chain, from ten locations and above

If the true ambition is to build a chain, then the branding challenge must be addressed before you sign the lease for the first location. Not because identity is more important than the product, but because at the scale of a chain, every operational decision carries brand costs that you won’t see immediately.

A chain needs brand architecture: names, positioning, and identity systems must be able to operate consistently across multiple locations, various types of spaces, diverse teams, and different printing suppliers. This is no longer just a beautiful design challenge; it is an operational system challenge.

Refer to how major F&B brands in Vietnam build their identities: Highlands Coffee chose a "purely Vietnamese" angle as its positioning anchor from the start, while Trung Nguyên uses the story of its Central Highlands origins as an irreplaceable asset. This is not a design decision; it is a strategic decision expressed through design.

A brand is not a logo. A brand is the feeling in the gut of your customers about you.

Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap

The most common wasteful expenses

Regardless of the level, there are expenses that restaurant owners often incur too early and incorrectly.

• Create multiple logo options to choose from: this approach pushes decisions based on taste rather than strategy, often resulting in outcomes that reflect the preferences of the room that day, not what resonates with the target customers.
• Invest in motion identity and digital systems when the café does not yet have a stable location or menu. These things can be done after the operational foundation is solid.
• Copying a competitor's identity because it looks "modern": this is the quickest path into a price war, as when customers cannot distinguish you from others, the only thing they compare is price.
• Ignoring practical application: a beautiful logo on a computer screen but not tested on outdoor signage, on paper cups under yellow light, or on small packaging is the most common oversight.

The right questions to self-position

Before signing any design contracts, there are three questions that need to be answered honestly.

One: in the next three years, how many locations do you see yourself operating? Not a dream number, but the number you are actually building a financial plan for.

Two: what does your café have that a nearby café cannot replicate in six months? If the answer is only "quality ingredients" or "beautiful space," then you need to think further, as that is the answer for most cafés.

Three: who are your customers, not "anyone will do" but specifically who they are, and what alternative options do they have right in your area?

Those three answers are not inputs for a brainstorming session. They are the foundation for all subsequent identity decisions. Creating an identity without these three answers is like starting to build a house from the roof.