Objective:
Re-brand an existing local business to increase business revenue and market base. Audit the existing brand to explore the current issues and improve upon them. Create a brand standards manual for easy implementation and guidance for the brand refresh.
Process:
I decided to rebrand a local restaurant in San Luis Obispo called breakfast buzz. This was a local breakfast burrito spot in a college town known for its low prices and great burritos. I started by doing research about the current business to discover what ways the business could be improved upon. I sat at the local restaurant for hours to see when were the busy hours, what made this restaurant unique, and who was its audience base.
I discovered that they served lunch and very few people came in for it. They also had very inconsistent branding. The menus looked different from the signage outside and the shirts the employees were wearing. Currently there was no website, or facebook page for customer information access either. Their audience was mostly college kids on a budget and in the off times, some locals would come through and hang out. I soon realized the brand needed a new coat of paint that celebrated the local owners, increased foot traffic, and embodied all the food and meals the restaurant has to offer, not just well-known burritos. I did some word mapping to come up with a new name, some exploration on what visual style would best represent this establishments, and eventually explored hi-fidelity digital mockups.
Solution:
I landed on the name, The Kitchen. It suited the local home-cooked vibe and included everything the restaurant had to offer. The new branding could easily be implemented into the current restaurant so it looked like a fresh look, not a completely different place. The iconic rooster was chosen as the logo because it had character and stayed true to the old farm town that san Luis Obispo once was when this place opened. I stayed true the warm colors that they currently used and expanded the palette a bit. The brand was now consistent on everything including a new redesign of the menu, the website, and the entire business system.
