5 Branding Mistakes Food Brands Make (and How to Fix Them)

If you're a restaurant, bakery, or packaged food brand trying to stand out, strong branding isn’t optional—it’s essential. I work with food and drink businesses that have amazing products, but weak visuals are keeping them from attracting the right customers or charging premium prices.

Let’s break down the 5 branding mistakes I see most often—and how to fix them ASAP.

1. No Visual Consistency

Your IG feed doesn’t match your menu, your logo’s stretched on your packaging, and your colors change every week. Food is already a sensory experience—your visuals should *feel like your flavors*. Consistent brand colors, typography, and image style go a long way.

Fix it: Create a brand guide that includes your color palette, logo uses, fonts, and content style. Or better yet, book a brand refresh (I got you).

2. Trying to Do It All Yourself

I get it—you’re the chef, the cashier, the cleaner, and now the designer too? But DIY branding can be the difference between people thinking “This looks good” vs. “I don’t know if I trust this spot.”

Fix it: If you can’t hire a full team, start small. Outsource one piece: a pro logo, social templates, or a packaging design that makes your product pop on shelves.

3. Poor Food Photography

Food that *tastes amazing* but looks *meh* online? Big problem. Low lighting, bad angles, blurry pics = lost sales. You eat with your eyes first, especially on Instagram.

Fix it: You don’t need a DSLR—just good lighting, an iPhone, and a strategy. If you're local to St. Louis, book a content session with me and let’s make your dishes shine.

4. No Clear Brand Personality

Does your brand feel soulful, luxury, nostalgic, playful, edgy? Or does it feel… blank? If people can’t get a vibe from your visuals and tone, they’ll keep scrolling.

Fix it: Define 2–3 adjectives that describe your brand’s energy. Then reflect that in your fonts, photo style, captions, and even your packaging.

5. Ignoring Packaging & In-Store Experience

If you're selling bottled drinks, snacks, or desserts—your packaging *is* the first impression. It needs to stop people mid-scroll *and* mid-aisle. Same goes for your store: is it photo-worthy?

Fix it: Design packaging that speaks to your target customer and works across shelf, online, and delivery. And make your physical space content-friendly (hello, free promo).

---

Final Thoughts

Great food deserves great branding. If you want your visuals to match the quality of what you’re cooking, I’d love to help. From brand identity to content creation, Graphix Girl Media is here to elevate your food business.

Send this to a food brand that needs to read this—or better yet, send them my way 👀

Let’s make your brand taste as good as your menu.

– Johnay | Graphix Girl Media