We help heritage restaurant brands turn history into new momentum.
If you’re struggling with flat revenue, fading buzz, or inefficient marketing, we’ll deliver a brand system that sets the table for new customers (without alienating the regulars).
★★★★★ 5.0 Average Google rating
16+ years branding & marketing restaurants
Nearly $1 billion in restaurant revenue serviced
Here’s what we can do for you
Modernize your restaurant brand without losing what made you beloved.
We execute a strategic branding process that takes your restaurant from forgotten to full.
Brand Strategy
We can comb through the archives to unearth what made you special to begin with and build a future-focused brand strategy around it.
✗ Concern
✓ Benefit
I’m not sure what we actually stand for anymore.
We’ll leave no stone unturned unearthing your secret sauce.
Our stakeholders can’t agree on what makes us special.
We’ve designed the process to get everyone on the same page.
Is brand strategy just a bunch of abstract language?
Not at all. It’s essential to figuring out how to market your business.
Brand Design
We can dish up a whole new logo and brand identity that honors the past, reinvigorates the team and your customers, and sets the table for the future.
✗ Concern
✓ Benefit
Our identity looks tired, but it is recognizable.
Our process focuses on renovating your brand, not ground-flooring it.
I’m afraid a redesign will make us look generic.
We don’t do generic. (See our showcase below for proof.)
Will regulars get confused?
We account for “sacred cows” within your brand identity, which we won’t touch.
Menu Design
We’ll help you sort through your menu to cut losers, elevate high-margin dishes, and tell a story that turns a meal into a memory.
✗ Concern
✓ Benefit
Our menu has become cluttered.
We’ll help you think through how to simplify it.
High-margin dishes aren’t popular.
We’ll help figure out ways to elevate them.
Will the regulars revolt?
Not if we involve them in the process!
Collateral +
We’ll take the design off-menu to bring the brand to life in all the other places it needs to show up: shirts, hats, posters, table tents, you name it.
✗ Concern
✓ Benefit
We don’t sell much merch.
Sell better stuff! (We’ll handle that.)
Everything looks like it came from a different decade.
Everything gets updated, and all at one time.
I don’t want to create more clutter.
Thoughtful way-finding and experiential signage enriches the customer experience.
Web
We’ll transform your website from a relic of the past (with and outdated copyright statement) into a revenue-generating, storytelling machine.
✗ Concern
✓ Benefit
No one uses our website.
We’ll build a game-changing website that drives traffic and gets used.
Our website is old/broken.
We’ll build a modern, usable interface that delights customers.
Will a new website actually bring in business?
We’ll launch a website with modern features like online ordering, fast performance, and mobile friendliness.
Photos + Video
We’ll equip your restaurant with a mouthwatering bank of visual assets that gets customers to pay attention—and click “Submit order.”
✗ Concern
✓ Benefit
Our current photos make us look dated or empty.
We’ll plan a photoshoot that creates the right impression.
I do not want staged content that feels fake.
Authenticity is at the heart of everything we do. Photography/videos are no exception.
A shoot could disrupt operations.
We’ll work around your operating schedule to ensure minimal disruption.
How it works
1. Set the Table
Onboarding + Discovery
We’ll work with you to understand your business and your history. We’ll give all stakeholders the time and opportunity to voice their opinions. We’ll then follow that up with independent research so that we have 360º comprehension of the situation your business is in.
2. Create the Recipe
Strategic Development
Out of all of that data, we’ll cook up a bulletproof (and differentiating) strategic insight as well as a positioning statement, a verbal identity, and custom-tailored messaging architecture. This is where we translate your meals into meaning.
3. Let it Cook
Brand Building
We’ll turn that brand strategy into a beautiful new visual identity that reinvigorates customers—new and old—while preventing you from becoming the next Cracker Barrel.
4. Dessert
Collateral, Menu, Web, Photos
Bring the brand online with a new website? Rethink the menu? Set up for a photoshoot? Wherever your restaurant business needs to go next, we’ll take it.
Trusted by beloved, world-class hospitality concepts
Southside Market & Barbeque
Founded in 1882
Authentic Texas barbeque from the oldest joint in the state
Services
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Design
- Menu Design
- Web Design
- Photography & Video
Sea Island Shrimp House
Founded in 1965
Happy people making good food, since 1965
Services
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Design
- Menu Design
- Web Design
Mama Betty’s Tex-Mex Cantina
A Tex-Mex experience honoring a matriarch
Services
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Design
- Menu Design
- Web Design
- Photography & Video
Goodfolks Southern Kitchen
Good times for Goodfolks
Services
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Design
- Menu Design
- Web Design & Development
- Photography
- Collateral +
Torchy’s Tacos
Founded in ’06
Damn good tacos, damn good creative
Services
- Brand
- Menu Design
- Photography + Video
- Web
Jeri’s Oysters
Founded in 1970
Our world is your oyster
Services
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Design
- Web Design
- Photography & Video
“I don’t know what to say. Wow. Y’all got us in a way no one ever has before. This brand was created with so much heart.”
Meghan Vincent
Director of Marketing, Sea Island Shrimp House
“The Tilted team is collaborative, energetic, and insatiably creative. You know that little scoop of guac in the middle of your queso? That’s TC.”
Brittany Platt
Director of Marketing, Torchy’s Tacos
“Tilted Chair’s customer service has been outstanding. They’re working our brand around the clock.”
Bryan Bracewell
CEO/Pitmaster, Southside Market & Barbeque
“If you are looking for fresh creatives, top-tier professionals, and superior brand management—Tilted Chair should be at the top of your list.”
Zuriel Spencer
Toast
“I’ve worked on 3 separate projects with Tilted Chair and am extremely happy, hence the reason I keep coming back.”
Caleb Kilborn
CEO/Owner Clara’s Day Dive
We believe great food is only half the story of timeless, enduring hospitality concepts.
We should know. We’ve been branding restaurants for more than 15 years, and eating at them longer than that.
Over all those years working on some incredible restaurant concepts, we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to make a dining business go. And last.
When it comes to branding and marketing, most restaurant owners are overwhelmed by all the things they have to keep up with:
- What makes my restaurant special?
- How do I fill tables on slow days/nights?
- How do I get more people visiting more often?
- How do I stay top of mind?
- How do I stay relevant with new customers without alienating my regulars?
- How should I show up on social media?
- Should I do online ordering?
- How do I stay true to the initial vision—without getting stale?
- How do I compete with the onslaught of new restaurants popping up around me?
The good news is, we’ve spent nearly two decades developing a branding system that helps restaurant owners answer these questions with confidence.
From stabilizing restaurant revenue, to hitting growth goals, to location expansion, even to acquisition, our approach has been leaned on to support restaurants through every possible phase of their business life cycle.
If you have any questions about branding and marketing a heritage restaurant, just click the button below to book a meeting and we’ll be happy to chat with you about your business.
FAQs
What’s the typical timeline for brand strategy + brand design?
Plan on 3-4 weeks for strategy, and then another 4-6 weeks for branding. The extra stuff (menu, website, collateral, photography, etc.) will take longer than that.
What will my time commitment be for this?
We’ll need one main point-of-contact for an hour-long kick-off, another hour-long business/brand download, all relevant stakeholders for a 2-3 hour group workshop, those same stakeholders for a 90-minute strategy presentation, the main point-of-contact for an hour-long tissue session, another hour-long branding R1 presentation, a 45-minute final branding presentation, and finally, a 30-minute brand guidelines training and orientation.
All-in, we’ll need about 10 hours of your time over the course of approximately 10 weeks.
Do you only work with heritage restaurant (20+ years in business or longer) concepts?
No. Our approach works for hospitality concepts of any type (restaurant, bar, cafe, etc.) and any age.
How does pricing work?
Our brand strategy + brand design package starts at $12,000. Additional services (like menu design, collateral, web, and photography) are competitively priced and can be added on to any branding process as needed.
Why should I hire you? What makes you unique?
Our team of restaurant branding experts have been working together for more than a decade, and in restaurants/hospitality branding/marketing for nearly two decades. Based on that extensive experience, we’ve developed a unique, thoughtful process that gets restaurant businesses to the right answer, fast, with minimal wasted time and effort.
What if I only need a new website or food photography?
While our system does work best when executed sequentially—beginning with brand strategy—consider our suite of services a menu: you can order a la carte, or just say, “I want one of everything.”
How do you handle revisions?
Our process was specifically designed to minimize revision rounds—it’s why we have so many check-ins throughout the process. However, once we get to the brand design phase, we offer up to two additional rounds of concept reviews after the tissue session.
How do we avoid being the next Cracker Barrel?
We’re not trying to change what people love. We’re identifying exactly what they love, protecting it, and making it easier for the next generation to discover.
