Because a majority of potential guests encounter a restaurant online before ever walking in the door, having a clear digital footprint is critical for restaurant success, explained Vanessa Errecarte, personal branding expert at UC Davis Graduate School of Management.
“If you don’t shape your digital presence, something else will. That might be outdated reviews, random photos, or AI-generated summaries pulling incomplete information. No presence doesn’t mean neutral, it means invisible or misrepresented.”
Without a clear digital footprint, a restaurant loses control of its own story, becomes interchangeable, and must rely on chance discovery, the author of Valuable & Visible: Redefining Personal Branding by Leading With Impact Over Image, noted.
Tell Your Own Story
“Most restaurants think they need a dramatic origin story. They don’t. The best stories are already there, they’re just too close to notice.”
To find a restaurant’s unique story, she said, start with your customer: What do they struggle with? What do they want to feel when they dine with you? Then look at your experience: What do you care about that others overlook?
The strongest brands are built by being known for something specific that helps the customer.
For example, a restaurant that quietly prioritizes accommodating dietary needs can tell that story through “how we make ordering easier for you.” Maybe there is even an employee who has a family that struggles with allergies and that story can be layered with that post. A chef who values simplicity can show it by explaining why fewer ingredients often create better dishes. Then she can show you how to try it at home because it might make cooking great meals less intimidating and twice as delicious, Errecarte suggested.
People often think a restaurant’s brand is the logo, the menu, or the aesthetic, but that’s not the whole story, she said, it’s what people remember and repeat when you’re not in the room.
“The strongest brands are built by being known for something specific that helps the customer.”
For example, a chef who posts short videos explaining why certain ingredients are used, and what to order if you like or dislike them or an owner who regularly shares “what I’d order tonight and why,” helping guests feel more confident walking in.
“Personal brands and restaurant brands work best when they reinforce each other. The person becomes the voice of the thinking, and the restaurant becomes the place where that thinking comes to life. And personal profiles are always prioritized by the algorithms on social platforms, so if you have a team of people who are encouraged to build strong personal brands, you’re at an even greater advantage.”
Personal Brands Don’t Promote, They Help
Many people resist personal branding because the biggest misconception is that it’s self-promotion, Errecarte said.
“It feels performative and unnecessary, and done that way, it is. But the best personal brands don’t promote, they help. That help gains consumer trust, which causes a chain of what I call the three Rs: being remembered, repeated, and recommended.”
Another misconception is that personal branding is about posting constantly or building a following. In reality, most restaurants aren’t invisible, they’re just not memorable because they don’t help enough to gain trust, so the chain of the three Rs is never activated, she added.
For example,posting food photos without context such as “Our new dish is here!” gives people nothing to remember and everyone does it. Instead, posting a quick explanation such as “This is our most ordered dish, but here’s what regulars get instead” or “here’s how regulars modify it to be extra spicy” gives people something to act on, try, experience good outcomes, gain trust, and naturally activate the three Rs, Errecarte suggested.
“Personal branding isn’t about being louder. It’s about being clearer and more useful. You don’t need to share everything. Share consistently in how you explain your menu, guide decisions, and interact with guests. Helpfulness will always lead to trust and the three Rs.”
If self-promotion feels uncomfortable, that’s actually a good sign, Errecarte said, because it means you care about being genuine.
The best alternative is to shift from promoting yourself to teaching your customer. Instead of “Come try our brunch,” share “If you’re choosing between sweet and savory, here’s how to decide based on your mood” Instead of “New cocktail launch,” explain “Why this cocktail tastes smoother than it looks, and who it’s perfect for” or “three ways to make this at home, depending on your budget.”
“This approach gives immediate value and builds trust at the same time.The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like someone helping you make a better choice. It’s trust and the three Rs.”
Use AI as a Competitive Tool
The biggest misstep people make with personal branding is blending in while trying to stand out, and in the age of AI, it’s not just a misstep, it actually flattens you, Errecarte said.
“Competence and commonness is categorized at scale because large language models are not grouping patterns rather than trying to reward the highest volume of keywords. That means that gambling with the same content over and over because you think you’re getting rewarded y keywords is only giving you more chances to train the new LLM algorithm to categorize you.”
For example a reel showing a plated dish with music might look great, but it’s interchangeable with hundreds of others. In the age of AI, that signals you have nothing new to offer consumers, she said.
“A post that says ‘If you like spicy food, skip our most popular dish and order this instead’ immediately stands out. LLMs aren’t used to seeing restaurants tell consumers not to order something. All of a sudden, you’re given your own line in search data and you’re stopping social scrolls when you think counterintuitively.”
The fix isn’t to post more, it’s to say something novel, counterintuitive, or surprising, Errecarte offered. Ask: What do we see or do differently than other restaurants? Then package it into easily consumable statements like this:
AI is a powerful tool, but it should support your thinking, not replace it, Errecarte said.
“The risk is content that sounds polished but generic. And generic content is exactly what gets ignored. AI’s job is to give you the most common content that it categorizes because it thinks those are the right answers. But online, common leads to information being grouped together and invisible.”
The best way to use AI is to organize and speed up what you already know Among her suggestions:
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Use AI to turn a chef’s real explanation of a dish into multiple captions or short posts
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Use AI to draft variations of a message, then refine it with your actual voice and experience
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Better yet, use AI to question the question. Ask it about the points of views you are missing. Ask it for twenty. Can you imagine all of the ideas you’ll get to insert into the templates I shared above?
“AI is either the smartest tool to help you beat its algorithm or the quickest way to be compressed. It all depends on how you approach it. If you rely on AI to generate the answer instead of work with it to generate new ideas, then you’ll sound like everyone else. Authenticity doesn’t come from the tool, it comes from your ability to think differently.”
Most restaurants are competing for attention, the ones that stand out compete for understanding, said Errecarte. People rarely stop for information they already know, she said, adding that they stop for ideas that change how they think or what they choose.
“You don’t stand out by posting more. You stand out by making people pause. That usually happens when you say something slightly unexpected or clearly helpful. For example, ‘Everyone orders this dish. Here’s why we don’t recommend it for first-time visitors’ or ‘If you only come here once, this is the one thing we’d want you to try, and why.’”
