How to Pick a Restaurant Name | Restaurant Business

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I think it's good advice when you're trying to choose a name for your child not to share it with anybody before the baby's born because you really don't want to know what they think. But then after it's born, they're not going to tell you if they think it's a bad name.

The opposite is true with a restaurant name. I think it's very important to test your name with people you trust. It has to be easy to say. It has to be something that is short enough for people to remember it and to say.

It needs to make sense with your restaurant. You're probably not going to give a Spanish name to your French restaurant. And I know that's obvious but really think about what the name says about your restaurant.

It also should be a name that's a little bit fun. It should be a name that people will want to use. either because of its association or what it feels like to say the name. In our company, we've had a lot of luck with naming restaurants after their location, in many cases, but some of our other restaurants are not named after their location.

Sometimes restaurants are named for a food or for an ingredient. Sometimes they're named for the place or the style. Something you're going to have to think about and get some help with is making sure that your name is not a trademark infringement because now, with the Internet, people will be watching to see if you're using their name.

So you might want to get the help of an attorney who can watch for trademark infringement on you and who can check to see if the name you're all excited about is one that's available to you.