Why Every Café Looks the Same Right Now (And Why That’s a Problem)

In this episode of Full Fat Marketing, Leonora breaks down why so many modern cafés have started to look identical, and how copying aesthetics without strategy leads to forgettable brands.

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And if you’re building a food, drink or hospitality brand and want help applying these strategies to your business, feel free to reach out at leonora@lrbcreative.com

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Disclaimer: Insights shared are based on Leonora’s experience with food and hospitality brands and are for educational purposes only. Results may vary.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There is a very specific type of cafe right now, and once you see it, you cannot unsee it, and we've all seen it. It has the soft beige walls, the serif logo, the slightly too expensive matcha, one very committed sourdough, and a vibe that says we care deeply about your morning routine. And listen, none of that is bad, but it's starting to feel like every cafe opened in the last G three years went to the same branding workshop. Because you walk into one and you could be anywhere London, Dubai, New York, it doesn't matter. It's got the same energy, the same menu, the same font. And the problem is not that these places look nice, it's that they all look nice in the exact same way. And that is where it starts becoming a problem. I'm Minora and this is the Full Fat Marketing Podcast, where you'll hear the uncomfortable strategy truths for FB brands that most people won't tell you, but I will. Now, why do so many cafes and coffee shops and honestly food brands at this point look identical? Let's just call it what it is. There is a formula. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The cool cafe starter pack is what I like to call it, and it's basically neutral colour palette, minimal design, serif typography, expensive looking but slightly confusing, and seriously pretentious menu. Matcha, obviously, and maybe a tote bag if things are going well, and a tone that feels like it's whispering at you. Collectively, it's starting to feel a bit like copy and paste. I had a client reach out to me and they had this like coffee brand. I noticed that the packaging and all the design and everything that had been done for that website had actually been done through AI. And obviously, this isn't necessarily what I'm speaking about in this episode, but it just looked so fake. And who's to say that 10,000 other brands aren't going to create something that looks exactly the same as this? There was just no personality, there was just nothing. It was just AI. It's a good example in terms of this episode specifically because everything starts looking the same and then there's no personality. It's not necessarily because founders aren't creative, it's because they're being too logical about things. They see something that's working somewhere else, and the natural reaction is we should probably look a bit like this too. And that makes sense. Like I understand it because it looks like you've got taste, it's modern, there's quality, this place is good, as probably the impression about it. So people copy them and then more people copy them. And then suddenly everyone's doing the same thing. And this is why it's becoming a problem. Because everyone's pulling from this exact same playbook, it stops making people stand out. What has happened is because there's so many brands like this, premium then stops feeling premium, aesthetic doesn't feel distinctive enough, and nice starts becoming invisible. And brands think we look good, so we'll stand out. But in reality, when everything looks good in the same way, nothing stands out. It's like on social media when you try and speak to everyone and then you speak to no one. It's the same thing. And the real issue is people are copying the look, but then not the thinking. You've got to remember that these brands they started with this specific aesthetic, with this specific vibe for a specific reason. And that's the bit that does the commercial heavy lifting, not the beige walls. There was an actual strategy and an actual plan behind it. So people who just come in and copy the look, but then have no clear plan or no clear strategy behind it and don't understand why they look like that, that is the real problem. There's no problem in looking like that. But if you've not got a solid strategy to back it up, what's the point? Because it looks nice, not enough. So if you're copying the aesthetic, it's not enough. What actually works? It's things like having a clear identity, recognizable personality, having a role in someone's routine, having something people can describe easily, and having something people would actually mention, whether that be their friends, social media, whatever. But here's the test you can always tell when a brand is drifted into that very, very beige territory because the slogan starts sounding like crafted with care, served with intention. Oh god, it just actually makes my skin crawl. It sounds fine, and to some people might sound lovely, but it's also completely impossible to remember. Like, okay, great, so is everyone else's flat white. Honestly, so is everyone's latte. Now compare that to something like coffee worth leaving the house for, a lot punchier, it's the same category, very different energy. That one has a bit of attitude, it's specific, it actually has a serious opinion to it. One sounds like a slogan you picked off of Canva, the other sounds like an actual brand that will want to keep you sticking around for longer. So if you're a founder, operator, or marketer listening to this, the takeaway is not don't look nice, please look nice. But also understand nice is not a strategy, and aesthetic alone is not what makes people choose you, come back to you, or talk about you. Please, if you take anything from this episode, please, I'm begging you, please give your brand a personality. Brands with personality stand out immediately for very obvious reasons as well. They actually feel like something. Think about brands I've actually mentioned on this podcast and done sort of more of these case studies around, such as Oatly, Tony Chocolone, Fishwife, Gratza, Liquid Death. You could cover their logos and still probably understand what they're about. That is how strong brand personality should be. You would still actually recognize their brand if the logo was covered or removed. Now, if your brand sounds like it was approved by six cautious people in a boardroom, it's probably not doing much for anyone. In a market where everything feels so polished and looks polished, personality is one of the few things that actually makes people stop and look. I know I keep bringing it back to social media, but think of it like social media. Things that stop the scroll, no matter what platform you use, whether it be LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, whatever, things that stopped the scroll because we're inundated with brands now. So yours has to make me stop and look. At the end of the day, people don't just choose brands just because they look good, they choose brands because they feel something, they remember something, or they can describe something. And if your brand's only giving, okay, this looks like a good cafe, it's just not enough anymore. And that's the full fat version. Tomorrow I'm breaking down why Chamberlain Coffee was actually a very clever brand move. Emma didn't just sell coffee, she saw the whole mood around it. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, you can listen to Full Fat Marketing Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, with new bite-size episodes released daily from Monday to Friday. You can thank me later for that. Oh, and if you're enjoying the podcast, I'd really love it if you left a rating and a review, as it really helps more people find it. I'll see you tomorrow, and I'm about to grab a match actually, because all this talk about coffee, matches, drinks, whatever is actually making me crave one. But anyway, I'll see you tomorrow.