Let’s be blunt—if your restaurant’s online presence looks thrown together, people will assume your dining experience is too.
In a city like New York, where restaurants compete not just for tastebuds but attention spans, your visual content can either elevate your brand or completely undermine it. And unfortunately, way too many great restaurants are stuck with bad visuals that make them look generic, outdated, or—worst of all—cheap.
At Billy Boy Studio, we’ve seen the damage firsthand. We’ve also helped dozens of restaurants bounce back with better branding, photography, and strategy. Here are the five most common visual mistakes we see—and how to avoid them if you want your restaurant to actually look as good as your food tastes.
We get it. Lighting is tricky. But posting photos taken under overhead fluorescents, kitchen heat lamps, or dim yellow bulbs is a fast track to turning guests off.
Bad lighting causes:
Washed-out colors
Harsh shadows
Unappetizing food photos
Low-quality ambiance shots
Fix it:
Hire a photographer who understands hospitality lighting—or learn how to manipulate natural light during off-hours. At Billy Boy Studio, we shoot dishes and interiors during golden hour or bring softbox setups to create flattering, natural-looking light that makes everything (and everyone) look amazing.
Pro tip: Even smartphone Reels look 10x better with intentional lighting and basic color correction.
Yes, your food is important—but your brand is more than what’s on the plate. If your grid is just dish after dish with no context, no people, and no personality, you’re giving potential guests zero emotional reason to book a table.
Fix it:
Mix in content that tells a story:
Interiors and atmosphere
Bartenders at work
Staff portraits or quick Q&As
Guests enjoying the space
Short videos that show the vibe, not just the food
People aren’t just looking for what to eat—they’re looking for where to be. Show them.
A mismatched typeface here, a blurry logo there, a last-minute flyer with colors that don’t match anything else—it all adds up. Inconsistency is the enemy of trust.
Fix it:
Establish a visual identity—and stick to it:
Logo suite with multiple variations
Two brand fonts (headline + body)
Color palette with primary and accent tones
Templates for events, stories, and promo graphics
A consistent filter or photo editing style
We create full brand kits for our clients so that even their in-house team can maintain visual cohesion across menus, Instagram, websites, and third-party platforms.
We know—your dining room looks amazing in a wide-angle shot. But if you’re only posting horizontal photos or designing for desktop, you’re losing traction where it matters most: mobile.
Today, the majority of your audience is discovering your brand on:
Instagram Reels
TikTok
Google Maps on mobile
Yelp and delivery apps
And all of those platforms favor vertical content.
Fix it:
Shoot vertically when planning social-first photo or video sessions. At Billy Boy Studio, we always deliver both vertical and horizontal crops so our clients are ready to post wherever they need to—without losing quality or relevance.
DIY design is fine when you’re just getting started. But as soon as you’re hosting events, printing menus, or running social promos, it’s painfully obvious when your visuals aren’t professionally crafted.
Clunky designs signal:
A lack of polish
Inattention to detail
Low production value (even if that’s not true in the space)
Fix it:
Work with a designer (or studio) who understands hospitality. We design everything from event flyers to in-feed graphics to digital menus with the guest experience in mind. It’s not just about looking pretty—it’s about selling the experience, staying on brand, and making your business feel legit.
You’ve put in the work on your space, your menu, your team—don’t let visuals be the thing that holds your brand back.
Great content doesn’t just decorate your brand. It drives it.
At Billy Boy Studio, we specialize in creating scroll-stopping visuals and cohesive branding systems for hospitality brands that want to go from local secret to must-visit destination. Whether you need a full photo and video refresh, a branding overhaul, or just someone to make your feed look like it actually belongs in 2025—we’ve got you.
📩 Want your restaurant to look as good as it is IRL?
Let’s fix the visuals and elevate your brand.
Visit www.billyboy.studio or follow us @BillyBoyStudio