Enter any food outlet or restaurant, and you will come across branding in all forms possible.
This includes the menu, take-away cups, loyalty cards, staff uniforms, packaging of deliveries, and sometimes even the walls. Branding through merchandise has been a common practice by food and beverages establishments for many years now.
However, things are changing now.
Instead of creating yet another branded product that could just end up collecting dust in a cupboard, restaurants and cafés in the UAE are focusing on an everyday essential: the reusable water bottle.
It is quite logical, too.
A bottle could go out of the café with a customer, then make its way to the gym, sit on the office desk, make an appearance in a Pilates class and then find itself in the same café again after several days. This becomes an effective strategy for visibility of a hospitality brand in situations when the traditional merchandise fails.
And in the case of UAE, where sustainability and reduction of single use of plastic are gaining more importance as part of consumers' conversations, the ordinary water bottle acquires new meaning.
Problem with Traditional Branded Merchandise
Branded merchandise is not a novel idea.
Restaurants and cafés tried a lot of things from T-shirts and caps to mugs, tote bags, keychains and even notebooks. All these products could work, but there is one aspect which they all share: their efficiency is strongly dependent on the consumer.
There could be infrequent use of a tote bag.
The mug can just remain at home.
The T-shirt will be worn on selected occasions.
The reusable water bottle, however, comes perfectly suited for contemporary UAE life.
One takes water to work, to the gym, keeps one in their cars, carries one to university, on hikes, trips to beaches and weekends away.
This presents cafes and restaurants with an opportunity to transform a plain-branded product into an integral part of their customers' routine.
The branding is not sitting on some shelves.
It is traveling with them.
UAE Hospitality Has Already Started Thinking About Single-Use Water
It is not happening independently.
In Dubai, for instance, people have been encouraged by the city government to start avoiding the use of plastic water bottles through programs like Dubai Can. Since the program launched in 2022, over 30 million 500 ml single-use plastic water bottles have been avoided thanks to the Refill for Life campaign of the program.
As a result, the city has offered more chances for people to refill their reusable water bottles at public locations, making it less desirable to buy single-use water bottles again and again.
In this case, it presents an interesting option for cafes and restaurants.
While they can just cut down on the use of plastic internally, they can promote reusability among customers through it.
A branded reusable water bottle will serve as a tangible representation of that decision.
From Café Merchandise to Branding
It makes a difference whether one decorates a thing with a brand or creates something that people actually want to have.
There is a difference.
Today's café visitor already lives in a world of brands. There is no particular need for one more piece of merchandising. It might be useful for them to have something that would match the lifestyle they have.
Consider the example of a new limited edition bottle released by the café.
Its colors are featured in the design. Its logo is not screaming everywhere; it is carved. Maybe it is made in some color associated with the interior of the café.
And suddenly that product becomes less merchandise and more of a lifestyle brand.
People bring it to work.
One of the colleagues asks where it comes from.
And here goes brand awareness without any advertisement disrupting their day.
Why Water Bottles Are Perfect for Cafés
Cafés have an innate link with the rhythm of life.
People do not go to a café just once and not return there again. They establish a routine.
Morning coffee.
Post-workout smoothie.
Brunch on weekends.
Afternoon working session.
This makes it easier for cafés to develop a product line that will become a regular part of a customer’s routine.
The bottle would be able to help with this task.
For instance, a café may offer customers a special bottle along with a loyalty program, release a special seasonal color, introduce an exclusive bottle for a community event or include it in a corporate gift box.
There is more to this idea than selling something from a cash register.
The bottle may become a part of the brand experience.
Branded Bottles Restaurants Can Use to Build Community
One of the great strengths of branded bottles is that they don’t have to stop at being sold to consumers.
They can also help restaurants build communities around their businesses.
Imagine, for example, a café holding a well-being morning.
Instead of providing participants with various single-use promotional giveaways, the event can start with giving everyone a branded bottle to keep.
For a restaurant holding an exercise collaboration, a co-branded bottle with a gym or wellness center can be created.
Opening a new café may involve a limited-edition bottle for its early customers.
A chain of restaurants can produce bottles for its staff or loyal guests.
The bottle serves as a tie between the brand and the communities that it wants to build.
Moreover, thanks to its reusability, the connection doesn’t have to be fleeting.
Sustainability is Becoming Part of the Hospitality Experience
Not only the UAE's policy towards single-use products is creating a new environment for hospitality companies.
According to the Decision of Dubai Executive Council No. 124 of 2023, a new regulation system will be implemented in phases with the last stage being active starting 1 January 2026 and involving several single-use plastic products such as beverage cups and their lids. At the same time, the decision emphasizes the importance of encouraging the vendors to participate in initiatives aimed at minimizing single-use products.
It means that sustainability is gradually moving from a discussion within the framework of marketing efforts to operational changes.
Packaging is redefined by restaurants.
Beverages are getting reusable packages.
Hotels are trying refillable solutions and alternatives to single-use products.
Already some Dubai restaurants have shifted from plastic bottles of water to filtered and reusable water solutions for many years now.
And the next step is introducing reusable solutions to the customer's attention.
That is the role for branded bottles.
A Bottle Can Tell Your Brand Story
Brand Identity Doesn't Always Have To Be Boastful
This is because the best brands have identities that don't have to cover all surfaces of the product with logos.
The same concept can be applied for restaurant and café bottles.
A logo.
A color scheme.
A catchy slogan.
An exclusive design.
The customer's name.
All these elements can help the bottle become a part of the brand without being plastered with it.
For UAE hospitality companies, this means a completely different way of thinking about branded merchandise - design a bottle in such a way that customers would want to take it home despite not being at the restaurant at all.
This is how branded merchandise turns into real brand visibility.
Why Personalisation Makes a Difference
This is because there is another way in which bottles are a great promotional tool – personalisation.
Each bottle can have the logo of the restaurant engraved on them, but still let individual names be engraved too.
For the employees, it will be useful.
For the customers, it will be something personal.
For any event, it will be an interesting takeaway.
And when it comes to corporate collaborations, having individual bottles engraved will make it much more significant than the regular promotional merchandise.
This is the idea behind the co-branding service offered by LOCH where you can get your branding along with individual names to be engraved on durable bottles.
The Bottle That Leaves the Restaurant
There is something inherently powerful about a branded item that leaves the establishment in which it was bought.
The interior of the restaurant may make a memorable impression, but the customer must leave eventually.
The bottle leaves with them.
It ends up on their desk.
It goes along with them when they travel in their vehicle.
It ends up beside their computer.
It gets put into their gym bag.
It becomes part of their weekend routine.
Each one of these instances gives the brand yet another chance at exposure.
This is fundamentally different from merchandise that remains in the restaurant.
The customer becomes a source of exposure for the brand simply by using it.
The Future of Restaurant Merchandise Could Be More Practical
There is no necessity to produce more merchandise within the hospitality industry.
They need good merchandise.
Merchandise with a use.
Merchandise that customers will actually like.
Merchandise that would convey the essence of the brand.
And merchandise that is more than just a one-time-use product.
Reusable water bottles could do all of the above.
They are practical. They are visible. They are customizable. They could convey the visual identity of a brand. And when used along with refill stations, they will help to get rid of single-use plastics.
Thus, for UAE restaurant and café brands, a reusable water bottle is not an item to sell on their merchandise shelf.
It is the item to create their customer journey.
From Coffee Counter to Daily Bag
The most effective restaurant merchandise doesn’t always serve as a constant reminder that one dined at the restaurant.
Instead, it becomes something that people like owning.
This is the potential of an effective reusable water bottle.
A customer could start using the bottle because they like the café so much, but after a few months have passed, the café’s logo becomes just another part of their life.
That is when branded merchandise starts to become relevant.
It isn’t about placing a logo on yet another product.
It is about making a product that people will want to carry.
Since the most effective restaurant branding isn’t limited to the dining area.
