This is the most comprehensive guide online to creating a strong brand identity for your business or organization in 2019.
A brand identity is the most effective way any organization (startups, small businesses, agencies, nonprofits, or others) can gain a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Both new and existing businesses and organization can benefit from reading this guide.
Austin, Texas – top city for startups in the US
Texas is a state of big ideas and bigger personalities.
So, it should come as no surprise that Texas is a perfect breeding ground for entrepreneurs.
According to the Business in Texas Small Business Handbook, small businesses account for over 98.6% of the businesses in Texas.
In July of 2019, Texas was found to be the best state in the US to start a business. And, its capital city of Austin was recently named the top city in the US for startups.
…Austin appears at No. 1 among the country’s 20 best cities for startups and entrepreneurs, ahead of key markets like Washington, D.C. (No. 2); Seattle (No. 3); Denver (No. 4); and San Francisco (No. 5). The Capital City is first in startup density a…
We all enjoy a good meme poking fun at embarrassing mistakes online.
But, it’s far less funny when your product or package is the butt of those jokes.
Poor packaging leads to worse things than a bruised ego – it leads to lost sales and revenue. And, it’s no mystery why.
People’s brains are measurably impacted by viewing product packaging. Attractive packaging often stimulates the reward centers of the brain, but poor packaging design activates areas of the brain associated with negative emotions.
Here’s why you should care: people aren’t inclined to buy things that they feel badly about.
Packaging design is a vital bridge between your customers and your product. Customers will see and touch your packaging before they ever interact with…
Small businesses account for 99.9% of all businesses in the U.S., according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
So, if you’re thinking about starting a new business, you’ll be in good company.
But, did you know that 30% of new businesses fail during their first two years?
Nearly half fail during the first five years and only a third survive 10 years.
Whether a new business succeeds or fails can boil down to luck.
But as General Douglas MacArthur famously said, “The best of all is the luck you make for yourself.”
It helps to have a competitive advantage when you start a business.
Most new businesses fail because they don’t properly assess the market, don’t prepare a strong business plan, don’t invest enough money in the business,…
Ghost kitchen, virtual restaurant, cloud kitchen…
Whatever you’re calling your venture, you’re a part of a new food business experiment.
Ghost or cloud kitchens (also known as virtual restaurants or virtual kitchens), are an evolution of the traditional restaurant model. These spaces focus solely on food preparation (and sometimes delivery) and have no on-premises dining facilities.
The rise of third-party delivery services like DoorDash, Grubhub, and UberEats has facilitated the public’s desire for tasty food delivered right to their door.
And, a new breed of a delivery-only restaurant has evolved to be their symbiotic counterpart.
Together, these cloud restaurants and delivery services are taking the dining world by storm.
Whether you’re preparing your delivery-only fare in the kitchen of your own restaurant as a side gig, expanding into new territory using a commercial kitchen like Kitchen United, or renting kitchen space from an existing restaurant, you’ve got a unique opportunity ahead of you.
The food delivery industry is showing substantial growth. According to Statista, food delivery revenue in the U.S. was around $30 billion in 2015. Forbes predicts that by 2025 – a scant 10 years later – the industry will be worth $200 billion. That’s a jump of 567%.
And virtual restaurants can ride the wave of food delivery popularity.
But, with no storefront or dining room, building a credible brand identity can be tough. And, with delivery fees, service fees, and tips to factor into the cost of their meal, people want to make sure they’re spending their money with a restaurant that’s worth it.
This makes branding an important differentiator for your business.
Logo concepts and design by crowdspring creative Ramonagliga
When you’re trying to establish credibility for a restaurant that people can’t actually visit, it’s no time to be coy.
You must be straightforward and set clear expectations. Failure to do so will make your venture seem shady. And your new virtual restaurant will fail before it ever gets off the ground.
Just like any other online (intangible) business, your first objective is to establish yourself as trustworthy. Then you can convince people of the individual merits – healthiness, food quality, superior taste – of your restaurant.
As the key identifiers of any business, your name and logo will be essential in setting proper expectations and building trust.
Let’s take a deeper look…
A business name is the first impression any business makes. People look to business names to tell them what that business does.
Since your customers will find you on DoorDash, Grubhub or UberEats, they’ll already know that you serve food. However, your name should make it very clear exactly what kind of food you provide.
Many cloud kitchens produce a narrow line of foods designed to use up surplus food stock.
If your business model is ultra-specific, too, make sure your business name reflects your specialty. This tells customers exactly what to expect. And, then you can deliver a positive experience along with their food by meeting that expectation.
Think about it from your customer’s perspective… You’re hungry and you’re craving ramen. Not sushi, not pho – ramen. No other dish will do. As you scroll through your options on your favorite delivery app, the name “Bird’s Nest RAMEN” leaps from the list.
A customer may have scrolled past any number of restaurants that also serve ramen. But, most people will choose the option that clearly specifies that you have what they want – with no guesswork.
This doesn’t mean that you should be lazy and literal with your business name – a business name should always be unique, memorable, and on-brand. But, you’ll be best served by a name that also clearly communicates what it is you offer.
Join tens of thousands of successful businesses who used our guide to build a stronger brand and earn a better return on investment.
Every reputable business has a logo.
Think of it like the signs outside of roller coasters that say, “You must be this tall to ride.”
A logo is the basic, bare minimum price of admission to the world of professional business. If you want to run a business that has a real chance of success, you must have a logo.
And, that’s true for all businesses. But, a logo becomes so much more important when your business doesn’t have a sign or storefront by which customers can recognize you.
People are visual creatures. And they need some way to visually identify and remember your business.
On top of that, a logo gives your business professional credibility that will reassure people that it’s safe to buy from you.
But, we understand that you probably don’t have a ton of money to sink into a logo design at this stage. So, hiring a professional design agency for thousands of dollars, or even a freelancer who will only deliver one or two concepts to choose from, may not be the best fit.
We recommend that you consider a crowdsourcing design platform like crowdspring. You’ll be able to choose the logo that best captures your brand from dozens of designs – all custom-created just for you, at a fraction of the price you’d pay using a traditional agency or freelancer.
However you choose to acquire your logo, you must have one. And, like your business name, it should be memorable, unique, and effectively communicate your brand. For more information on how to create the perfect logo for your virtual restaurant, read this article.
It’s not enough to appear on a delivery app.
It’s not even enough to appear on all of the delivery apps.
People expect real businesses to have websites. And, even if you’re not a traditional restaurant business model, you are a real business.
So, don’t think for a second that potential customers won’t be looking you up outside of their delivery apps. Restaurant Insider reports that, 90% of guests research a restaurant online before dining there. And, of those researchers, 57% visit the restaurant’s website.
As a diner with food allergies, I can assure you that I don’t dine at or order from any restaurant without taking a trip to their website first.
And, here’s another secret – this is where you can really sell people.
A website provides more real estate to establish your brand credibility and build a case for the awesomeness of your food than a delivery app ever will. So, do not skip out on this opportunity.
Showcase your brand personality in visual design and writing. And, include a gallery of food photography (more on that below) to visually support your menu.
To get the most from your website, be sure to feature your logo prominently and use it as the central visual inspiration for the website’s appearance.
As we explained previously:
Your website’s color scheme should be informed by your logo. The fonts you use on your website should relate to the fonts in your logo. Your website’s visual style should be inspired by your logo. Got it? Good.
Use your website to discuss what makes your food unique, delicious, and worth ordering. Feature your complete menu with full, enticing descriptions of your dishes so that customers can learn exactly what they’re ordering. And, most importantly, create a consistent brand experience to reassure your potential diners that your business is reputable and should be trusted with their money.
Three out of three top delivery apps in the country use food photos to visually identify your restaurant for their users.
Your avatar photo will appear in a list of enticing food photos for other restaurants. And, the most appetizing photos will win.
This is why the quality of your food photographs – along with how appealing your food looks – will make or break your business.
No one wants to order sad, unappetizing food. And, especially not when there are varying delivery fees, service fees, and tips thrown on top.
So, invest in a professional food photographer to shoot your menu.
These photographs will not only sell your virtual restaurant on the delivery apps. They’ll also populate your website with scrumptious images of your food, set customer expectations for what they will receive, and show that you are a real business with real food worth ordering.
Show your potential customers exactly what they’ll get with tantalizing professional food photography.
All the trappings of branding – a business name, logo, website, etc. – mean nothing without a thoughtful brand to anchor them.
What values guide your business? Which personality traits describe your business? What kind of food do you make and why do you make it? How is your food unique from your competition?
Taking the time to answer these questions will help flesh out your brand and serve as guidelines for all of your branding decisions. And, it will help bring your ghost kitchen to life.
This is your most important step.
In order to communicate your restaurant brand clearly to your customers, you must know what it is.
You’ve probably heard by now that consistent branding is important.
Everyone says so – it’s one of those common business truisms that, for many, goes in one ear and out the other.
But, you can’t afford to let this wisdom fall on deaf ears. It’s too valuable.
Because… Consistent. Branding. Is. Vital.
Your company’s logo design, your business website, your mobile app, your store signage, your marketing and customer support messaging… they must all be instantly recognizable as your brand.
There are multiple reasons why consistent branding is so powerful – and inconsistent branding is so harmful. So, let’s take a deeper look at the whys and hows of branding consistency.
Brand consistency occurs when a business presents the same visual face, values, personality, and brand messaging across every customer touchpoint.
This can be challenging to accomplish if you don’t fully understand your own brand. And, that’s why getting to know – really know – your brand is the first step in any brand consistency effort.
The goal of any brand is to provide a recognizable, positive brand identity people will remember.
Without a consistent brand presentation, you cannot achieve that goal.
Here’s why …
A phenomenon known as context-dependent memory states that people remember information best when they are in the original context in which they encountered that information. However, brand messages usually occur in a wide variety of places (online ads, business cards, outdoor signage, product packaging, emails, etc…).
This means that your brand messages often lack the necessary context that would make it easiest for people to remember them.
So, consistent presentation becomes necessary to bridge the gap and reinforce your brand recognition.
This is especially true for new and younger businesses. As we emphasized in our guide on how to start a business,
A strong brand identity is the most effective way your new business can gain a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Brands that can’t settle on a consistent presentation or voice project their confusion to the world, This undermines people’s confidence in their company.
Consistent brands build confidence by showing that your business can reliably manage its affairs.
People trust businesses that practice what they preach.
If your brand consistently delivers on promises, presents itself in the same way, and acts in accordance with the identity it presents, it proves the authenticity of your brand.
People value and trust authentic interactions.
Like any relationship in life, it takes time to build strong relationships with your customers.
Consistent branding allows your business to be perceived as the same business they met the last time they heard from you. After enough consistent exposures to a brand, customers begin to feel as though they know you – and the relationship begins to grow.
As we explained previously,
The more customers are exposed to something – a product, a service, or your brand – the more inclined they are to like it.
This is a psychological phenomenon known as “mere exposure.”
So, the science indicates that the more frequently customers… 1) interact with your brand, and 2) recognize it due to consistent presentation, the stronger your brand/customer relationship will grow.
It’s impossible to faithfully repeat something if you don’t know what you did in the first place.
And, that’s the challenge so many businesses encounter when they try to present a consistent brand.
If you haven’t given any deep thought to your brand – your values, your inherent and projected brand personality, your unique selling proposition, and how those elements will manifest visually – then you simply cannot expect to achieve a consistent brand presentation.
If you don’t really know your brand, yet, how could anyone else?
So, start by self-reflecting. Determine the values that drive your business and the traits that define it and make it unique.
Then work with talented designers (ahem – maybe the amazing team of talent at crowdspring?) to develop a visual design that embodies that brand. This will be the foundation for all of the visual elements that customers and potential customers will associate with your brand.
If you already have a logo and visual branding elements, conduct an inventory. Ask yourself if these elements properly represent your brand. If not, it may be time for a logo refresh or a complete visual rebranding.
If you’re not sure if a rebrand is appropriate for your business, check out this article on how to rebrand your business.
Image courtesy of Shakeupid
A style guide is the one source of truth for your visual brand. This document outlines a set of rules to follow any time a member of your organization wants to publish, present or promote content for your brand.
As we previously explained,
If your brand isn’t captured in a style guide, it can quickly drift into an inconsistent experience for your customers and employees.
And, as you know – inconsistent equals bad.
But, a comprehensive style guide will provide all of the information needed for an employee to accurately create consistently branded content:
This includes visual info such as fonts, brand colors, logo, signage specifications, typography style, and any other commonly used branded graphic elements. It should also cover less tangible items like ideal voice and tone, your branding mission and company philosophy.
So, once you’ve clearly defined your brand and developed visuals to support it, make them official in a style guide you can share with every member of your team.
As we mentioned earlier, relationships of any kind take time to build.
And, it’s estimated that it takes between 5 and 11 interactions (depending on the source) before a customer is ready to make a purchase.
So, when executing any branding strategy, plan to give it enough time to really sink into the public consciousness.
Your business name and logo should remain the same for as long as possible. And, if changes are made, they should be clearly related to the originals to maintain your valuable brand equity.
Your brand position may change over time as the business landscape evolves. But, it should still have a life cycle of years – not weeks or months.
This is just one area where authentic branding has a distinct advantage over contrived branding. An authentic brand is far more likely to have longer staying power since it is grounded in the reality of the business from the foundation up – making it easier to implement and most likely to still be relevant years from now.
If you don’t immediately get the reaction to your brand that you had hoped, don’t give up too quickly and try something new. Every brand needs time and repeated exposure to truly make a lasting impact.
Businesses today share their marketing and branding messages in many, many places.
From social media to your website, email marketing to roadside billboards, and mobile apps to your customer support team, people are interacting with your brand all over the place.
And, they should be. It’s in your best interest to be in all of the places that your customers frequent. This makes you easy to find and keeps your business top-of-mind.
But, being in all the right places isn’t enough. It’s crucial to present a consistent brand across all of these locations if you want people to recognize your brand and remember you.
This is especially important when you lead customers on a journey from one point to another. For example… if you send an email with a discount link, the landing page the customers land on should share the same brand messaging and appearance as the original email.
Customers should experience your brand in the same way whether they’re on social media, a mobile app, your website or in your store.
Your employees are the guardians of your brand.
Employees need to be as well-educated and passionate about your brand as you are. Without their understanding and buy-in, a consistent branding effort is doomed to fail. This is one of the reasons why the best brands happen from the inside out.
Authentic brand values that evolve naturally from your company culture will be easiest for your employees to embrace and enact.
But don’t assume that because your brand values are genuine, that your employees will know how to – or that they will – articulate them. Provide brand education for all employees so that they understand their role in presenting a consistent brand identity for your company.
In our personal lives, we value those who are always there for us when we need them. It’s reassuring to know that we can rely on someone.
The same is true for a consistent brand. When people find a brand that not only meets their needs but does so reliably in a familiar way – that breeds loyalty.
Embrace these consistent branding tactics for your business and, in time, you’ll leave your competition in the dust.
If you’re opening or operating a restaurant, then you’re probably pretty passionate about food.
But, are you passionate about your brand?
If you want to succeed, you’re going to have to be.
A restaurant’s brand identity is the cumulative effect of what your guests see, taste, smell, feel and hear at your restaurant, online, and in the world at large. And, as we’ve previously explained:
Every company has a brand identity.
This is true for your company whether you’ve made a single conscious branding decision or not.
And that’s why it’s vitally important to make conscious, consistent branding choices. The decisions left unmade, and a brand left untended, may hurt your business.
Restaurateurs put great passion into their food, their concept, and their decor. But, a restaurant’s brand identity – and visual brand design – is equally important and not to be forgotten.
The best restaurant branding evolves from clearly defined core values, personality traits, and a unique value proposition. We recommend you start your branding journey with the brand audit process we’ve outlined here.
And, once you have a thorough understanding of your restaurant’s brand, you can begin to plan how you’ll communicate that brand visually.
A visual brand is the sum total of all the branding your customers can see. This manifests in many forms – and we’ll explore the most important ones for your restaurant below.
There are fundamental visual branding assets that every business must have, regardless of industry.
At their most basic, these include a logo, fonts, and brand colors.
These assets are then used to construct larger and more complex elements of your visual brand – like your website, outdoor signage, menu, and more. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
Your logo is the visual symbol that will represent your restaurant to the world.
Your customers will recognize your business (or not) by your logo. To that end, it’s essential that your logo be easy to recognize.
And, to achieve this lofty goal, a logo must be unique, relatively simple, and memorable. But, in today’s crowded marketplace, this is becoming harder and harder to accomplish.
Your brand is the secret ingredient that will guide your logo into that sweet spot of specific, unique, and memorable. In fact, it’s the most important ingredient in any successful logo. As we explained previously:
In art for art’s sake, it’s okay to make choices based on aesthetics alone. However, a logo’s primary function is to communicate brand identity. Arbitrary design choices just won’t do. So, all aesthetic considerations – from line weight to color, to form – must serve the brand.
So, don’t rush the logo design process – or, even worse, use a logo generator that spits out generic logos that will fail to deliver a unique visual brand identity. Even if you have a unique business name, a generic logo design will quickly get lost.
Your logo is the cornerstone of your visual brand – impacting every other visual branding decision you make. So, give it the consideration it deserves.
We may be a bit biased, but we recommend a crowdsourced design platform like crowdspring. Crowdsourced design provides new restaurateurs with many logo options to choose from at an affordable price.
If you’re not a branding expert, this variety of custom options will help you find a logo that speaks to you and embodies your new brand.
Choosing the right typography to represent your brand can be a tall order with so many fonts available to choose from.
The most important factors to consider when selecting your brand fonts are legibility and brand-appropriateness.
Any font you choose must be easy to read or it will fail at its primary job – communication.
But, the font must aesthetically jive with your brand personality, too. For a comprehensive look into choosing the best fonts for your brand, click here.
Finally, we recommend choosing at least two fonts – one for headlines and one for body copy. You can get a bit more creative with your headline font, but prioritize legibility for your body font.
Torafuku brand colors – Image courtesy of BPandO.org
Join tens of thousands of successful businesses who used our guide to build a stronger brand and earn a better return on investment.
Choosing the right colors to represent your brand will communicate a great deal about your restaurant.
People are deeply influenced by color on a subconscious level. So, it’s important to make wise choices that are in alignment with your brand’s personality and values.
When used consistently, these brand colors will become a visual identification shorthand for your restaurant.
Check out How 21 Brands Use Color to Influence Customers and Small Business Branding: What Color Says About Your Business to learn more.
We recommend choosing a palette of colors that support and complement your logo. This will contribute to a visually unified brand identity.
And, also, remember that your brand colors will be used on your interior and exterior decor, signage, menu, and website. So, choose colors that will be versatile enough to work in all of these contexts. More on those below…
Simon Camaron – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids
A mascot is not a required branding element by any means. But, mascots are powerful branding tools that restaurants have embraced for years.
From classic mascots like Ronald McDonald and Bob’s Big Boy to exciting newcomers like Simon Camaron, these brand-influenced characters can connect with your audience in a more direct way than your logo or brand colors.
If a mascot doesn’t resonate with your restaurant’s brand, then don’t have one. But, if you have a playful style that could be embodied by a mascot character, consider developing a fun mascot figurehead to speak directly to your customers from your social media posts, signage, menu, website, and maybe even merchandise.
Olivia Website – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids
Your online presence is almost as important as your restaurant itself.
You may think that’s overstating, but… According to Restaurant Insider, 90% of guests research a restaurant online before dining there. And, of those researchers, 57% visit the restaurant’s website.
So, if you have a poorly branded or badly designed website, you stand to turn away 57% of your prospective diners. That’s staggering.
Custom-branded website design will communicate to visitors exactly what they can expect when they visit your restaurant. And, for many, your website will deliver your brand’s first impression. So, make sure it’s a good one.
Here are a few guidelines to get you started:
We recommend working with professional web designers to develop your web design and launch your site. But, if you choose to use a website template instead, be sure to customize that template with custom illustrations or original photos to visually link it to your brand.
Signage is an important practical element of a restaurant’s visual brand design.
When guests seek you out, your outdoor signage will signal that they’ve found you. Outdoor signs also act as a sort of bait for potential clients seeking a place to eat. So, if your sign is unappetizing, people will assume your restaurant is, too.
Here are some tips to help you develop an enticing and functional sign to welcome your guests…
An easy-to-read, on-brand sign will always welcome the right customers to your door. That’s why it’s a vital part of every restaurant’s visual brand.
Every restaurant must have a menu.
And, it’s a prime opportunity wasted if you don’t use that menu to communicate your brand in a meaningful way. Successful restaurant branding touches every aspect of the diner experience.
A unique, on-brand menu is an excellent tool for reinforcing your brand in guests’ minds. And, a smart menu layout will create a pleasant reading experience and can prime diners to want to order more.
And, don’t forget your online menus, either. Just as your in-restaurant guests need physical menus, your online visitors should be able to easily find a digital version to peruse.
It’s common practice for people to read restaurant menus online before visiting a restaurant. So, your online menu acts as an advertisement or preview of what they can expect.
It’s in your best interest to make your online menu easy to view on mobile devices as well as larger screens.
For both your in-house menu and your online menu, plan to incorporate your brand colors, logo, mascot (if you have one), and brand fonts. The consistent use of these visual assets across all of your customer touchpoints will strengthen brand awareness and build trust.
Pro Tip: Avoid the recent trend of requiring online visitors to download a PDF in order to see your menu! It’s a hassle and many users just won’t bother – they’ll go to another restaurant instead.
El Sapo Bar – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids
When it comes to visual branding, consistency is key.
When guests walk into your restaurant, they want the reassurance of seeing a space that’s consistent with the brand they’ve seen so far. If they find a space that doesn’t meet those expectations, they will feel mislead.
That’s not a good first impression. And first impressions can be hard to overcome.
Here are some guidelines you can follow to create a positive and cohesively branded interior design…
Your brand colors should feature prominently in your decor. But, don’t be afraid to supplement your brand colors with some neutral shades to create visual balance in your restaurant.
Colors that may look amazing on a smaller scale (like a computer screen, sign or menu) could become overwhelming if you paint or carpet your entire space in that shade.
More intense colors should be reserved for accents throughout the decor.
Using neutrals colors like black, white, grey, beige or taupe; or neutral textures like natural woods, stone or fabricated metals generously can help to offset more vibrant shades. This leads to a more open and relaxing feeling in your space.
Yellowbelly Glassware – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids
Selecting the right color palette is only a part of the larger puzzle of designing branded decor.
To get the atmosphere right choose furniture that reflects your brand’s personality. Is your brand quirky and casual? Then choose playful furniture to reflect that. Is your restaurant earthy and organic? Serve up furniture made from sustainable materials along with your seasonal fare.
Think about the impact you can make with lighting fixtures. The design of the fixtures – as well as the quality of light they spread – can create many different moods. What mood is best for your brand?
Once you’ve got the essentials like paint, carpet, furniture, and lighting covered, consider additional decorative elements like draperies, wall murals, or other unique brand-specific tableware.
Remember – in the age of Instagram, no detail is too small to be celebrated on social media.
When deciding what to include in your restaurant decor, no decision should be arbitrary. Make selections that will communicate your brand essence and deliver the kind of experience that will make your restaurant memorable and worth sharing.
Poco Blu Apron – Image courtesy of Kaizen Brand Evolution
Your staff is the living embodiment of your brand.
They must walk and talk about your brand values and personality. And, they must also look the part.
Staff uniforms don’t need to be complicated. Not every restaurant brand requires 15 pieces of flair. But, it is important to think about your brand and make uniform choices that support your brand personality.
Here are some options for you to consider:
There is no right or wrong answer here. But, whatever your staff wears, make sure it makes sense for your brand.
The key to modern restaurant branding is consistency.
Your guests want a reliable experience that they can trust – and consistent visual branding is reassuring.
If you want customers to remember you and keep coming back, develop a consistent and cohesive visual brand everywhere your customers look.
The art and craft of logo design constantly evolve.
Good designers and smart entrepreneurs collaborate to elevate the art of logo design by creating more perfectly brand-appropriate, memorable logos.
Inexperienced designers and entrepreneurs follow logo fads for the sake of appearing relevant and trendy.
Many people want to start a clothing line or clothing brand. After all, how difficult could it be?
The truth is that clothing brands become successful in part because they’re created by people who are passionate about clothing.
But, a clothing brand needs more than just an exquisite apparel design to create a lasting business. It needs all the…
This is the most complete guide online on starting a business.
There are more than 30 million small businesses in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration.
In fact, small businesses make up an incredible 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses.
Small businesses in the U.S. employ 58.9 million people, which represents 47.5% of…
Craft beer is a growing field.
Between 2012 and 2017, the number of craft breweries in the US jumped from 2,420 to 6,266 – that’s an increase of 159%! This growth continued into 2018 (see chart below), grew another 4% through mid-2019, and is expected to continue to grow in 2020:
That growth doesn’t include microbreweries that produce fewer …
You’ve put in the hours. You’ve paid your dues.
And now all that effort has paid off – you’re the expert.
So, what’s your prize at the end of the day?
For some, it’s enough to know that you’re great at your job. But others, like you, yearn for something more.
Admit it – you’ve thought about starting your own consulting business.
As the price of high-quality cameras has continued to fall, the art and craft of photography have flourished.
For many people, photography isn’t just a way of capturing a memory.
Photography is a fulfilling way to express yourself. It’s a way to interpret the world and make the invisible visible.
For entrepreneurs who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves, cut through a decent chunk of bureaucratic tape, and hand over some cash upfront, opening a medical dispensary is a great opportunity.
A dispensary will allow you to be a pioneer in what is soon to be a massive, national industry.
Marijuana Business Daily projects revenue generated by …
If you’re interested in starting a real estate business to help buyers and sellers navigate the stressful and complicated process of working through one of the biggest transactions of their lives, you’ll need to make sure your business is well prepared.
The real estate market is enormous. Here are the relevant statistics you should know:
This is a comprehensive guide to Facebook Messenger Marketing using chatbots in 2020.
We know that the idea of using a chatbot can be a little intimidating, especially for startups and small businesses.
But the truth is that chatbots can improve marketing and make marketers’ lives easier.
You’re creative. And you love to craft!
Not to mention, you’ve gotten pretty darn good at it.
Or, you have an amazing eye for vintage finds but your closets are overflowing.
“You should start an Etsy shop!” your friends say. And, you’ve secretly shared that very same thought.
Etsy is a booming online marketplace full of amazing hand-made items…
Silicon Valley has dominated the U.S. startup ecosystem for many decades.
Despite repeated efforts, only a few cities outside the Valley (New York and Boston) have historically had the critical mix of VC funding, network, and talent to fuel vibrant startup centers. Best startup city rankings have reflected this truth for a long time.
When I was a kid, Friday was B & C Pizza night at our house.
The local Chicago-style pizza is a Michigan favorite. And, while their delicious fare is something I still crave as an adult, it’s their marketing strategy that remains at the forefront of my memory.
B & C has hosted an eating challenge since they opened over 33 years ago.
