“This Place Feels Like Home” The Importance Of Good Bar Branding

Good bar branding isn’t about pretty logos or slick social media. According to four industry forces who’ve built or been to some of the world’s best bars, it’s about something much harder to fake: making people feel at home.

The panelists at Bangkok Bar Show 2025: Lorenzo, Takuma, and Juliane (front row, left to right in feature image), with Stefanie (back row, second from right), are fans as well as industry forces.

“One really good bar brand is Maybe Sammy,” Lorenzo begins. “It’s not just about the cocktails. Everything you experience there – from the service, to how they act and laugh, to the rhythm of the place – you feel it’s the expression of one single soul. You feel straight away who they are and what they stand for.”

Lorenzo Querci, by the way, is the two-meter-tall Tuscan who took his family’s hospitality heritage and turned it into Milan’s most buzzing bar. He transformed a former textile warehouse into Moebius – a multi-level cultural powerhouse blending cocktail bar, Michelin-starred dining, live jazz, and a vinyl store. Beyond building drinks menus – and two more bars called Lubna and Magma – he’s built something rarer: a team that lights up the bar, and every guest shift and event they attend.

Communicated So Well 

“It might be clichéd – considering their success – but I’d choose Bar Leone,” Stefanie says. “There’s a reason why they’re number one now. Every single part of that brand is communicated so well – from the logo, to the interior, to the uniforms, to the social media reels, to the merchandise. That guy’s a marketing genius,” she nods approvingly.

And as Deputy Marketing and PR Director for Jakarta’s Union Group – the dominant force in Indonesia’s F&B landscape with 29 outlets spanning everything from American brasserie Union to The Cocktail Club – she knows a bit about marketing.

A graduate of École Hôtelière de Lausanne, Stefanie’s been steering communications and brand strategy since 2015 for the group that’s put Indonesian bars on the international map. Her mission: making the Indonesian bar scene internationally recognized and bringing more eyes to Jakarta’s thriving cocktail culture.

You Don’t Have To Give A F*ck About Lists 

Juliane opts for Velvet Bar in Berlin. “They were on the 50 Best Bars list a few years ago. Then they decided not to travel – they’re very sustainable – and don’t give a f*ck about lists. They go foraging on their own. And I admire that profile,” she shrugs.

The Berlin-based bar journalist and Academy Chair for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at The World’s 50 Best Bars champions the people behind the bars – like the team behind Velvet – with equal passion for heavily peated whisky. The philosophy graduate found her way into spirits writing after landing at a whisky and cigar shop needing someone to pen their online copy – now she’s an expert contributing to Mixology and other top publications. With a background in philosophy, she’s constantly seeking the big questions around the global bar scene.

The Hospitality, The Team, The Merchandise 

“For me, it’s Hope & Sesame. Their hospitality is impeccable, and the merchandise, and the team are all amazing too. And their team building is an integral part of the brand. The whole group is phenomenal,” Takuma Watanabe decides, playing to his audience a little because hosting this panel discussion, at the Bangkok Bar Show 2025, on the importance of good bar branding is Hope & Sesame’s Andrew Ho.

The Tokyo-born bartender opened Martiny’s in New York in a renovated 1800s Gramercy carriage house in 2022, bringing Japanese precision and the shokunin spirit to Manhattan’s cocktail scene.

After training under mentor Shingo Gokan and spending eight years at the legendary Angel’s Share, Takuma’s meticulous approach earned Martiny’s the title of Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar in 2023 and a number 24 ranking on The World’s 50 Best Bars. In 2024, he was named Bartender of the Year at the Spirits Business Awards – proof that polish pays off.

People Still Misunderstand What Bar Branding Is

Beyond all these dazzling examples of good bar branding from around the world – Maybe Sammy and Bar Leone, Hope & Sesame and Velvet – Lorenzo contends that people still misunderstand what bar branding is.

“They think it’s the logo, or the color palette, or the tone of voice,” he shakes his head. “But I believe it’s not just something that’s aesthetic, it’s part of the strategy. And it’s the emotional part of a place.”

Something like 10,000 people pass through Moebius’ doors every month. They might first discover it through word of mouth, or the World’s 50 Best Bars list (this year Moebius was ranked number 7 while also picking up the Nikka Highest Climber Award), or the natty animations their creative team publish on the bar’s social media to signify the next guest shift or big event. But, Lorenzo knows, they come back for a sense of belonging. And that’s built into his brand.

“If people understand who you are and what your identity is, then people start to feel a sense of belonging to a place. My biggest thing has always been to experience this shift of people coming to Moebius and saying ‘this is a beautiful place’ to ‘this place feels like home.'”

One Sentence That Describes The Bar  

That thinking isn’t an afterthought. It’s the key consideration long before construction begins. “We have 29 venues. We start thinking about the brand way before the place starts construction,” Stefanie continues. “The ideas come from something. It might come from a talent – this bartender is super talented, we want to open a bar for him. Or it might be the product. We want to open a whisky bar. Or it comes from an era. For Modernhaus we wanted to open a mid-century modern bar,” she explains, flicking through her mental rolodex of Union Group projects.

“From there, we try to agree on one sentence that describes what the bar is. What makes it different from other people’s. Then, we start making sure every single touchpoint of that brand fits into that one sentence.”

Modernhaus, their latest project, is a good example. “Modernhaus is a mid-century modern cocktail bar,” Stefanie smiles. “Once you decide on that, the checklist you have to do has to fit – your logo, your color palette, your font, your style of service, your playlist, your furniture, everything.”

Less, Sometimes, Is More

While Takuma agrees, he also emphasizes the importance of good design. “Make sure the design concept is solid before you build it – image is really important,” he elaborates. And sometimes restraint helps. “Don’t make it super complex, like adding three or four ideas together – the consumer needs to understand your concept.” To that, Takuma would include elements like a staff uniform that lights up the concept. “No one remembers an Asian guy sitting there talking shit, but they remember an Asian guy in a bow tie and a jacket,” he laughs.

There’s No Place Like Home

All these things considered, Juliane contends there’s no single route to good bar branding. “If we look to Berlin, there’s Velvet and Wax On, and they’re so different. At Velvet you learn so much – the ingredients are so well explained. And so healthy. Wax On are the cool guys. It’s dark. And it’s loud. And it’s a bit messy. And it’s different. As a bar, you need a profile, whatever that may be. And you don’t have to please everyone,” she concludes.

Both places, most likely, still feel like home.