How to Make Your Café Instagrammable Without Changing the Menu
- Kamilla Sims
- Apr 18
- 2 min read
A truly Instagrammable café isn’t just about the food—it’s about the experience. Customers love sharing photos of beautiful spaces, and the right café branding can turn your shop into a destination. If you want more organic marketing and foot traffic, focus on café murals, window graphics, hand-lettered menus, and storefront signage that make your space stand out. Here’s how to make your coffee shop brand visually unforgettable.
People don't just come to cafes for coffee - they come for the aesthetic, vibe and experience. A strong aesthetic leads to people wanting to share that experience with others, and an instagrammable cafe means free marketing from customers who share photos and brag to their friends.
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So how do you create an instagrammable cafe?
Step 1: Create an Iconic Cafe Mural or Feature Wall
Customers LOVE taking photos with unique backgrounds, so this is a great way to get them to sharing photos of your business. Between a basic neon sign and a uniquely illustrated mural, which do you think gets shared more? Installing a custom mural that matches your cafe's personality will go a long way towards engaging customers.
Step 2: Make Your Storefront Unforgettable
Walk-by traffic is a great opportunity for free marketing. A plan sign is easily passed by but custom window art makes people want to stop, snap picks and perhaps buy a snack. Best way to do this? Add bold window graphics and unique signage that pops to your cafe.
Step 3: Let Your Customers Participate with Merch
Your cafe probably already has a few regulars, maybe a couple of die hard fans. Custom merch is a great way to let them spread the word out in the wild without much effort and you make a little extra money in the process. Not having merch won't kill your store but having some stickers, sweatshirts, tote-bags or whatever else is a great way to get customers talking online and off. See more benefits of merch
Step 4: Brand Your Takeaway Cups and Packaging
If people take it to-go, make sure your brand travels with them. A cut illustrated cup sleeve is something people will WANT to share online. And if you sell a coffee blend or other products that aren't consumed in store the more interesting packaging always sells better. Adding some custom cup illustration or some unique art on your to-go boxes and products is a great way to insure your branding follow customers after they leave.
Step 5: Make your Cafe Lighting & Layout Instagram Friendly
Harsh lighting will kill the vibes, where as warm cozy lighting makes your amazing food and drinks look better in photos. Think cozy pendant lights and warm tones instead of overhead fluorescent lights. It might not be possible to light the whole cafe that way but you can create some very instagram friendly conners like that especially if you ad art.
Want an Instagrammable cafe that gets customers to market your business for you? Let's create a branding plan today!
See my branding process or past projects!
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