You have now established almost every major detail for your food challenge, and now its time for the eighth and final step, picking the name for your challenge. The name really has nothing to do with whether or not your customers are able to defeat the challenge, and it really isn’t a factor for the customer when deciding whether or not to try the challenge, which is why it is the last step. The name of the challenge is the most important detail for you though because that challenge name will be featured on every advertisement and promotional thing that you do. The name of the food challenge is the link that connects that particular challenge to your restaurant, and it is the main vehicle driving your focused and powerful marketing campaign to promote it.

Many restaurants already know what they are going to call their challenge before they even start planning what the challenge will be. Some restaurants already know the challenge name because they are just turning an existing menu item into the challenge, and will just be adding “challenge” on the end. If that applies to you and you already know your challenge name, then you really don’t need to finish this article so click here to go back and read more Creating A Challenge articles. For those restaurant owners that need help selecting the right name for their challenge, here are a few ideas and recommendations that might help you make the decision:

Sometimes its ok to be plain – Sometimes restaurants don’t have a particular attitude or theme and they just worry about serving great food. Your challenge name may be plain and simply just explain what the challenge is. In this case, your challenge name may be The 3lb Burger Challenge or The 28″ Pizza Challenge. Some cafes and restaurants also just throw their name in front of the challenge type to create the challenge name. For example, a restaurant named Crown Candy Kitchen named their challenge The Crown Candy Milkshake Challenge. Nobody ever has to ask the name of the restaurant hosting the challenge when they hear the very descriptive name!!

Use a name that is related to your restaurant’s name – Figure out a way to tie your restaurant name into the name of the challenge, and this will also make your marketing easier too. For example, a restaurant named Stella’s Bar & Grill in Nebraska created the Stellanator Burger Challenge. A Mexican restaurant named their burrito challenge The Mexicutioner. A greek restaurant named their challenge The Trojan Horse Sandwich Challenge. It can be catchy to customers when the challenge name is tied to the restaurant name too.

The name can be symbolic – Is there a way to tie your location or community into the challenge name? For example, my friends at Cookin’ From Scratch in Missouri are located off a major landmark called Route 66. They created a 66oz burger challenge and named it The Route 66 King Of The Road Burger Challenge. A famous restaurant in Iowa named Jethro’s BBQ had a local basketball legend named Adam Emmenecker pick a few of his favorite meats and they put everything on one big sandwich and simply called it The Adam Emmenecker Sandwich Challenge. Tying your community into the challenge can definitely be one marketing angle that you take which can make people want to try the challenge and promote the challenge to their friends. The local news would be more likely to take interest too since it involves the community, so you may want to try that.

The name can be about the food type – Some restaurants and challenges can make this work and then others simply cannot. Can you involve the food type into the challenge name? For example, a little barbecue restaurant named Papa Buck’s BBQ created a pork sandwich challenge named Pigzilla which is a fitting challenge name.

Is there a descriptive name that fits your theme? – Some restaurants choose an adjective to add before the challenge type that fits the theme of the restaurant. One of the first examples that comes to mind is when “island themed” or “tropical themed” restaurants use the adjective phrase “The Big Kahuna.” Doing this can make your challenge more unique, rather than simply adding “Monster” or “Mega” in front. There are quite a few Monster Burgers and Mega Burgers around the world, for example, but sometimes those really do work too.

The name can involve a famous event or thing – Sometimes past historical events can work into your challenge name which can then be used in your marketing plan. For example, GoBurrito in England has a 6lb Titanic Burrito Challenge and they use “Can you sink The Titanic Burrito Challenge?” on advertisements. Around the time that London had the Summer Olympics in 2012, a restaurant in England named What’s Cooking? started an Olympic Burger Challenge which is still doing well today. Papa Bob’s BBQ in Kansas has The Ultimate Destroyer Sandwich Challenge and they also use “Can you sink The Ultimate Destroyer Challenge?” in their marketing plan. There are many unique famous events and things that can be used, so feel free to get creative with it.

Hopefully some of these ideas helped you pick the name for your challenge. The more bold and powerful your challenge name is, the harder you can push it in your marketing scheme too so keep that in mind. Hopefully while you were searching around for particular challenge detail ideas and checking out other existing food challenges, you thought about all of the different challenge names that have been used too. Hopefully doing that helped you pick your own challenge name. The challenge name is very important and should not be taken lightly. You can have the best challenge with the best prizes, but if you have a boring food challenge name it will sound pretty boring to customers that find out about it, and nobody likes things that are boring.

Congratulations on being done establishing all 8 details for your food challenge!!

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