The national association for owners and operators of restaurants, bars, caterers and other foodservice businesses unveiled a new name, tagline and visual identity February 27.
The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association is now known as Restaurants Canada.
"It really was a mouthful," the organization's western Canadian vice-president Mark von Schellwitz told Business in Vancouver. "Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association really wasn't a name that rolled off the tongue and resonated with the public."
Worse, von Schellwitz said, the organization used to have an acronym, CRFA, which used to be mistaken for a radio station.
Restaurants Canada will now have a tagline "the voice of foodservice" but von Schellwitz said the key words will simply be Restaurants Canada.
The association contracted branding specialists at Shikatani Lacroix to develop the new identity, including the new name, tagline and logo design, and to roll the identity out across all external touch points from business cards to e-newsletter templates to magazine inserts.
A task force to steer the effort was chaired by Kevin Friesen, and included Yvan Coupal, Donna Dooher, Vikram Vij and Susan Senecal, as well as Restaurants Canada staff.
