Finding the Right Custom Drinkware for Your Restaurant

Many restaurants serve similar types of cuisines, or even nearly identical dishes. For example, two cheeseburgers purchased from two competing fast food joints may look and even taste almost the same. The key to distinguishing your own brand from your competitors depends on a few ingredients.

The food itself is most important in the end. You must develop your own recipes and get creative with your offerings. The aesthetic, though, cannot be underestimated. This term refers to everything from the name and logo to the appearance of employee uniforms to interior decoration. You use the aesthetic to show customers that you are unique. Once you attract them, the food wins their loyalty.

Creating a unique atmosphere for your restaurant may even come down to how you serve beverages. Your choice in custom drinkware can make or break your aesthetic and your brand. The tips below can help you make the right decision for your restaurant.

Choose the Drinkware You Need

A restaurant can serve many kinds of beverages, from simple water to popular sodas to piping hot tea. Certain establishments emphasize drinks as the most important item in their menu — examples include coffee houses and bars. Your own business may offer a mix of all these drinks, as well as others not even mentioned here.

If so, then you must understand that you cannot use the same drinkware for every drink you sell. Some types of drinkware are better for handling certain types of beverages than others. For example, coffee cups and ceramic mugs can tolerate the intense temperatures of freshly brewed coffee much better than a plastic cup.

Drinkware choices may also depend on how much of the drink a person is willing to have in one sitting. An alcohol enthusiast is likely to appreciate a large mug of beer. Meanwhile, a tea drinker may not want to imbibe the same amount of tea. Using the same kind of mug would therefore be wasteful.

Your selection of custom drinkware should reflect the different drinks that you intend to serve. Plastic cups are best for water, while large glasses may be better for soda and alcohol. Tea and coffee usually have their own cups, due to their unique properties. Keep this in mind as you fill your cabinets.

Focus on Functionality First

Some restaurant owners focus so much on aesthetic and branding that they fail to ascertain if the products they purchase are of good quality. Food combinations may look nice on a dish, but they may not taste good. The same goes for the items they use to serve their concoctions to customers, including their custom drinkware.

Arguably the most important quality that any drinkware should have — besides holding liquid and making it easy for customers to imbibe said liquid — is durability. A single glass may fill hundreds of drink orders in a single day. The materials used for said glass should be durable enough to survive constant washing and regular use, all without compromising its functions.

Certain types should also fulfill certain functions for certain kinds of drinks. Shot glasses hold tiny amounts of strong liquor, providing quick satisfaction in a single sip — perfect for bar settings. Wine glasses are designed for an entirely different type of alcoholic drink, and they feel more at home in a restaurant. Porcelain mugs keep drinks warm without injuring the drinker’s hands.

On that note, drinkware should feel good for the customers to use. Sipping from them should not be difficult or result in frequent spills. As strange as it may sound, holding them can also pose a problem if the materials used for them are heavy. Restaurant owners should look at their options from all angles.

Match the Aesthetic

When you consider a piece of drinkware’s durability, functionality, and overall quality, you view it in isolation. Once you feel secure that it is fit for use in a restaurant, you must then determine if it is fit for your restaurant. At last, this is when appearance becomes an important factor. After measuring its value on its own, you must now compare it to other aspects of your restaurant and determine if it fits with your brand.

Imagine that you stumble upon a line of glasses promoted as ultramodern, with a sleek and distinctly 21st-century design. Its quality is unquestionable, and its features offer innovations that seem taken from science fiction. In short, it is the iPod of drinkware. The prospect may be appealing when viewed by itself. Within the context of an Old West-themed barbeque joint, though, it suddenly seems like the wrong choice.

Some may dismiss this hypothetical example’s clash in aesthetics by pointing to the benefits of the glassware. As we noted, the glassware itself is great. However, the custom drinkware you order for your establishment really should match the rest of the décor. Otherwise, the whole restaurant and its brand lose some of their appeal. Customers may not notice, but they may still feel that something about the place is haphazard, unfocused, and not as interesting.

Get Custom Drinkware for Your Restaurant

Branding should go onto just about everything in your restaurant. A unified aesthetic should encompass the menu, the decorations, the logo, and any promotional materials you release. A specific color scheme should be present enough that it becomes associated with your business. The logo should appear wherever you can put it, so it lingers in the minds of visitors.

Naturally, the containers that customers use to imbibe their beverages is an ideal location for your logo and other branding. Every time they feel thirsty during the meal, the iconography will enter their vision as they quench their thirst. Conveniently for restaurant owners, some businesses offer free customization with the products they sell.

LogoUp is one such business. We offer a diverse selection of custom drinkware for many kinds of beverages. Better still, we offer printing services that can get your logo, or any other designs you want, directly onto the drinkware. Browse our catalogue and reach out to us today!