Temporary Sign Solutions For Your Restaurant
As a new customer, the first thing you will notice are the signs on display in a restaurant. They use permanent signs to show their company name, logo design, and slogans. Temporary signs are brought into the business strategy to promote specials, announce upcoming events, and new job openings. This is an innovative way to draw customer attention to your restaurant in many different ways.
What are temporary signs used for in a restaurant?
Before you decide on signage types for your own use, we must understand the best strategies to utilize your temporary signage. Consider how important branding, graphic design, and marketing are when strategizing usage cases.
This article discusses the different ideas, types of signage and how to use them for your restaurant. If you have an idea but you aren’t sure what the next step is, let us help. We offer a free consultation to discuss your signage needs. Our team of experts provides free advice to help you accomplish your goals. You can fill out a free consultation form here.
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Promoting Deals, Specials, Menus and Drinks
All menu promotions and updates are driving forces to attract customers. These all represent opportunities for new signs both indoor and outdoor. Restaurants offer seasonal specials, day of the week specials, drink specials, and more. With temporary signs, you can quickly and efficiently make updates to your signs to stay on top of the constantly changing offers.
Advertising a Grand Opening
A new grand opening is a perfect opportunity to utilize temporary event signage to keep customers informed. Strong promotion from the start will increase the chances of packing your seats on day one. Placing temporary directional signage around town in local areas will point potential customers to you and keep locals informed about your special event.
The best way to view grand opening signage is in a 3 step approach.
First, pre-grand opening banners placed on and around the restaurant before the big day. This sign should be big and seen from a distance, be memorable to any potential customers passing by.
Second, the day of the grand opening signs. On this banner, the tone changes to driving traffic in right now with attention attracting visuals.
Third, after the grand opening you should continue to advertise it for a while. This banner should focus on thanking the past customers, continuing to appeal to any new customers who haven’t been in yet, and incorporating new signage in other areas.
Announcing Holiday Hours, Job Openings and New Management
Company updates personalize your brand and give you the chance to connect with your audience and customers. New announcements such as holiday hours, new job openings, and changes to management serve as a cost effective way to get in front of customer eyes. The strongest way to make these announcements is through temporary signage.
Not only do temporary signs keep customers informed, but they also serve as another reason to get them to visit your restaurant. For example, a new sign announcing the holiday shutdown will force your customers to come in before you close to fulfill their holiday needs and also is a good sign of courtesy to customers.
Seating & Directional Signage
This form of temporary signage becomes more usual for bigger restaurants. For example, visitors can learn about additional seating upon arrival with signs pointing to patio seating during summer months. This benefits both employees and customers to avoid confusion and limit interruptions for the staff.
When you can help a customer solve a problem with signage, it is a net positive for both parties. Customers are not always eager to interrupt someone to ask them a question and as the restaurant owner, it is much more efficient to keep your staff focused on the task at hand.
Functional Signage
A very important part of temporary signage is functional signage. They serve as safety signs in restaurants to alert customers when things are out of order. Functional signs are much more efficient than a piece of paper or no sign at all and customers will appreciate the professionalism.
Wayfinding signage also allows you to take control of the customer journey helping you guide them through your restaurant in a simple way without needed explanation. When done correctly, it creates a safe, customer-friendly environment around your building.
Kitchen and Staff Signage
As the restaurant owner, simplifying processes for employees is extremely helpful for them. This can be done with kitchen and staff signage, such as food handling instructions or weekly staff meeting reminders. There is no shortage when it comes to the kind of sign you can use to help employees. Again, a sign that can eliminate the need to ask a question is being used the right way.
Temporary Signage Ideas for Use
Temporary signs offer a short term solution to advertise for your small business. Because of the broad range of opportunities they present, there is variety in the types of temporary signs you can utilize today.
Choosing the correct signage type can be tricky but we can help. Fortuna Visual offers free consultation, no strings attached to advise you on the best options available today. Our team of experts will walk you through the process so you get the most from your signage. Fill out a free consultation form here. For more information contact us at sales@fortunavisual.com, or give us a call at +1 646-383-8682.
Chalkboards/Whiteboards
Chalkboards and whiteboards are a versatile, cost effective temporary signage option to consider. Many restaurants like to use them to advertise their daily specials, new discounts on drinks, and other menu related topics. They are a quick setup and can be used both indoor and outdoor to reach your customers.
A downside to consider for a chalkboard sign would be visibility from a distance. It’s important to properly place them around your restaurant to maximize their specific usage. For example, a lot of restaurants like to put a chalkboard behind the bar with drinks and specials. It’s easy to change everyday and customers have full visibility indoors.
Floor Signs
One of the most common examples of a floor sign is an A-Frame sign. An A-Frame sign is double sided and can be placed anywhere. These signs can serve a variety of purposes such as listing daily specials, informing customers to “Please wait to be seated”, and even saying “Thank you!” on their way out.
A-Frames are effective advertising signs for small business and the versatility they offer gives restaurants the chance to be creative to appeal to visitors. Restaurant owners should keep in mind the mobility of an A-Frame and other similar floor signs when determining a layout. They are not meant to only be displayed in one place forever.
Another option is floor decals. It is a form of sticker flooring that can be placed on a variety of surfaces to display important restaurant information. It also maximizes space within an establishment with high end durability. Restaurants have found creative ways to use floor decals during to Covid-19 such as arrows and social distancing instructions to abide by government restrictions.
Window Decal
At almost every restaurant, you will see window decals being used to promote a message. The message could be as simple as displaying the daily hours or they could be promoting a new sale or slogan. Window decals are best used for longer term promotions and hourly changes because they are meant to be in place for longer.
Some of the best uses of window decals include holiday hours, new menu additions, on-going specials, logos, and slogans. Consider this when determining what your next window sign will be. Custom vinyl lettering and graphics can completely reinvent your storefront look.
Poster
Posters are a cheaper way to advertise indoors about deals and upcoming events. I would consider posters to be the most short term temporary signage solution because of how quickly they can deteriorate. You will notice a poster in nearly every restaurant because of how easily they can be displayed, but they should not be relied on as your primary signage.
Static Clings
Static clings work similar to window decals and they are displayed often in windows and storefront areas because of their visibility. They are also much easier to reposition and provide more versatility. There are a lot of options when considering static clings and they have great benefits to consider.
Banners
Banners are the main attraction in the world of temporary signage. Approaching a restaurant, a strong banner will capture your attention every time. They are used in many unique ways and provide amazing durability.
Banner Uses:
- Grand Openings
- New promotions and sales
- Rebranding
There are also many different mounting and material methods behind banner signs. You can boost your sales and drive traffic into the doors with a strong banner sign to get attention around the town.
Yard Signs
Yard signs are the small signs you see along the road in parking lots and yards. They are best utilized to promote specials or restaurant hours for local traffic to see. Restaurants are best served to incorporate yard signs as a small segment of their signage strategy because they are small and may not reach as many viewers as some other options.
Other interesting options for a yard sign are to promote new services such as curbside pickup, online/mobile ordering, and delivery which have become a very popular options for restaurants due to recent events with Covid-19. Yard signs give you an opportunity to display add-on services you can provide for your customers and they serve to remind a bypassing customer that you provide convenience and high quality service during the dining experience.
Plastic or Acrylic Signs
Plastic or acrylic signs are small yet durable choices to use on the interior of your restaurant to promote specific messages to your customers. They have great wear and tear resistance with a guarantee not to fade easily over time. They are an inexpensive option to incorporate into your temporary sign strategy.
FAQ Section
A: The cost of each sign is calculated based on the sign type, size, materials needed, design concept, etc. Between the design and installation services required, the entire process requires us to take a thorough look to provide an accurate price. Please request an RFQ here.
A: We create signs that catch the attention of potential visitors. The best way to get customers to your restaurant is by promoting great deals with eye popping signs. A customer makes the decision to go in for a drink if the special is exciting to them.
A: Yes absolutely. Menu creation is a tedious strategy that can bring customers in the door. Use outdoor signing to promote popular items, new drink offerings, and put your menu in reach for customers to check out before they come inside. All it takes is one tasty dish to entice a customer to come in and try it out.
A: We incorporate high quality materials into our signs that make them weather resistant and waterproof to withstand difficult conditions. Being in New York City, we know the summers can be rainy and the winters are harsh so we build with these factors in mind. We use PVC signs because of the material and its durability against water.
A: A PVC sign is designed from a lightweight compressed board, the same material as plumbing pipes. PVC signage is used both indoors and outdoors and is the go-to equipment when building a sign that must endure water and weather resistant conditions.
Advertising Signs for Small Business Made by Fortunavisual
At Fortunavisual, we see the project through from start to finish. We begin with consulting for new customers on temporary signage ideas, to designing the product with our team of experts, right through to installation. We are the number one choice in New York for temporary and permanent signage needs.
Fortunavisual employs a team of expert designers allowing us to offer different types of signage boards to serve all customers. Our state of the art signage methods provide the highest quality product and service on the market. Request a quote or sign up for a free consultation today!
