5 Words You Should Never Use In Restaurant Marketing Copy
Words are powerful.
When thinking of words to describe your venue or your offer it pays to give them due consideration, not only for the positive effect you intend, but also to avoid any negative effects you would rather avoid. Look to make an impact in the short amount of time you have to make an impression.
Using words that are overly familiar, that are generic restaurant marketing terms or have little genuine meaning is a waste of time and effort. If you are going to do it then make it count.
To understand better which words to use when creating your restaurant’s marketing copy, it is vital you are clear on your goals. This is the most difficult aspect of achieving success in marketing; understanding your current and potential audience and the most effective language to use when communicating with them.
In a perfect world the words you use to describe your venue and offer should be the result of deep-dive research into your existing and desired audiences. Who are they? What are their likes and dislikes? What drives them to go out and spend money? How can you appeal to them? In the meantime, putting aside the fine-grained details of your particular venue, there are some words you should never use when adding copy to your instagram posts or updating information on your website.
Delicious
If you serve food, the idea that it would be anything other than delicious is nonsense. It’s like selling cars and describing them as having engines and four wheels. Of course they do. It’s what makes them cars. Delicious is what makes your food restaurant quality. Anything less is unacceptable. Take the time to describe how or why your food is delicious. Using only the word itself is pure laziness.
Yummy
Creating an offer people are willing to pay for is the definition of commerce. It is what makes you a professional and sets you apart from Madge next door and her casseroles. It follows you should make every effort to express that professionalism in the words you use to describe your food and ‘yummy’ is the very opposite of that. 'Yummy’ is a word used by 6 year olds to describe any chocolate cake in the world. It is the least discerning food descriptor available and sounds childish. If you’re asking people to pay for your efforts you need to be better than that.
Fresh
Unless your promotional tagline is ‘Thawed For Your Eating Pleasure’ or ‘ We Only Serve Out Of Date Items’ it is obvious you deal in produce which is fresh. Stating so is not only superfluous but also results in readers wondering about why you bother declaring it. Essentially, describing anything on your menu as fresh is an exercise in futility as well as ambiguity. We understand it sounds good but it is also a waste of words.
Seasonal
This is one of those words embraced by restaurant marketers that has the benefit of being almost impossible to define. On the face of it, you imagine it means the dishes use only ingredients which are in season. Or does it mean the dishes are suitable for the season? Is it both? Is it true for every ingredient in every dish? If it’s only some ingredients is it worth mentioning? It’s probably better to assume seasonality goes without saying and…just not saying it.
House-made
Also sometimes written as ‘home-made’, this is an odd claim to make in a restaurant. Madge’s casseroles (remember them from earlier) are also home-made. Does that make them better? We understand this isn’t the intention of using the term. Saying ‘house-made’ is designed to give the impression of self-sufficiency, of rejecting the ‘bought’ version, of removing the doubt around whether a product can be trusted. But what if that product was produced by a practitioner with a lifetime of expertise? What if you’re not the best at this particular skill? Talk about the quality of the product, regardless of who made it or, better yet, let the product speak for itself.
Writing restaurant copy should not be a throwaway task or left to a low-level employee who happens to have a free moment. It has the potential to sway a future customer’s decision in your favour and that is an opportunity to be grabbed with both hands. More importantly, the words used may have an almost indiscernible influence on how the reader views your restaurant, creating an impression they will carry with them into the future without realising. Considering the sheer number of businesses clamouring for their attention, sometimes it only takes one poor impression to scratch a venue from their list of places to go.
Being clear about which words to use and when to use them is part of a wider understanding of your marketing goals. Working hard to establish your primary and secondary messaging criteria is the foundation of successful and effective marketing.
