Best innovative window displays for cafes

While you may think that the proof of the pudding lies in eating at your café, sometimes customers need something to entice them into choosing your café for food and drink. Window displays do not just have to be for shops. You can utilise your windows to attract passers-by and make sure they stop and take notice and call in to sample your treats.

So, how can you best attract customers with visual merchandising for cafes?

Top café visual merchandising tips

A few fundamental tips can help cafes keep their visual merchandising fresh, attractive, and relevant.

1. Use visual merchandising equipment such as chalkboards that can be updated quickly.
2. Keep your display in the style of your café. If you produce hearty, home-cooked food, opt for rustic branding. If your food is modern and funky, choose modern, contemporary designs, such as a flex board.
3. Like your produce, you should stay seasonal and ensure that your visual merchandising promotes current offers. This will ensure that people always have a reason to visit.

Innovative visual merchandising ideas for cafes

Capture current affairs

Theming your window to current affairs is a great way to give your window displays a talking point. For example, during the Olympics, you can have the Olympic rings made out of foodstuffs such as doughnuts, bagels, or any other items you sell. You can also create compelling titles for your dishes, which you can display in windows, such as ‘runner’ bean salad, ‘curling’ kale crisps, and gold medal cookies.

There are many great ways to be inventive with events that get people talking, and your café could be the hub of conversation.

Invite with lights

When daylight shines on windows, it can make your café look dark, so it doesn’t seem open. With string lights, light boxes, or lanterns in the window, you can showcase that you are open and use the lights to draw attention to menus, special boards, offers, discounts, and promotions. Strategically placing lights conveys your message, makes you look open, and gives your café a cosy, warm atmosphere.

Edible displays

Make sure your café displays ‘look good enough to eat’ by making them edible. Thought is required in this as you don’t want to lead to food wastage by using perishable products. However, fresh pies, cakes, and quiches of the day can be used in displays as clocks, and whenever someone orders a piece, you take away 10 minutes on the clock without damaging the display.

By using food as props, you can showcase what you sell while being incredibly inventive with your displays to capture your brand and what your café is all about. One such café that always catches interest with its windows is the famous Betty’s Tea Room. If you want your café to draw a crowd, look at how they have designed their window displays.

Improve your displays today

If you need help making your displays stand out, visit Valentino’s Displays, your one-stop shop for shops, where you can find an array of visual merchandising equipment to put your café on the map. From bread baskets to chalkboards to display showcases, Valentino’s Displays has all you need to make your visual merchandising attract and engage your customers.