Articles Tagged with: QSR

Blog: Food Packaging Design

The Essential Rules of Food Packaging Design

Successful brands in the food industry know how to wield the power of packaging design.

In the bustling realm of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), the design of your food packaging plays a pivotal role in the success of your product within the competitive food industry. But what elevates a packaging design from the ordinary to the extraordinary? Let’s delve into the essential rules that can enhance your food packaging design, influence consumer purchasing decisions, and foster brand loyalty.

The Power of Packaging Design in Brand Loyalty

Months or even years might have been invested in perfecting your product, strategising its placement in boutique grocers or chain supermarkets, and fine-tuning the pricing. Yet, the consumer’s first and lasting impression is shaped by your food packaging design and materials. A well-designed package not only attracts attention but also communicates the brand’s identity, values, and its position in the food market.

Food packaging design rule #1: Do your research

In 2008, Sultry Sally Potato Chips filled a gap in the market for a healthy, tasty snack. Our food packaging design appealed to an audience searching out a healthier food alternative on shelf

Before embarking on the design journey, it’s imperative to conduct a thorough research phase as part of the packaging design process. Understand the market dynamics, study competitors, and identify white space opportunities. For instance, Sultry Sally Potato Chips identified a gap for low-fat potato chips and complemented it with a high-impact packaging design that resonated with its unique selling proposition. The illustrated character clearly enjoys her chips guilt-free, helping the product stand out in the crowded potato chip market. The silver bag reflects a healthier snacking option, appealing to the health-conscious target market audience.

Food packaging design rule #2: Discover your story and tell it with gusto

Every brand has a story, and it’s this narrative that fosters connection and trust with consumers. Our client and great example, Casa Gusto, didn’t believe they had an interesting story for their range of imported Italian food and ingredients until we probed a little deeper into their family history and uncovered a unique story about their father.

The Casa Gusto brand design and food packaging is centred around the story of their father who followed the circus around Italy

We then designed the brand identity food packaging centred around the fascinating tale of their father experiencing Italian food while he travelled Italy with the circus as a young man. View full project.

Food packaging design rule #3: Understand your target consumer

To create packaging that resonates, designers must have an in-depth understanding of your target consumer. With Doyles on the Beach – Sydney’s oldest fish n chip shop – we rejuvenated its packaging to appeal to a younger demographic while retaining its rich heritage dating back to 1885. View the full project here.

in 2008, Sultry Sally Potato Chips filled a gap in the market for a healthy, tasty snack. Our food packaging design appealed to an audience searching out a healthier food alternative on shelf

We created a suite of takeaway food packaging designs using typography, graphics, and language from the late 1880s to bring the Doyles story to life with an eye-catching package design in a contemporary way and successfully position Doyles in their target audience’s mind as the best fish and chips in Sydney.

Food packaging design rule #4: Make the most of the space available

With limited space on food packages, it’s crucial to use every key element to convey the brand message succinctly. Avoid clutter and prioritize information. For the Guzman Y Gomez sauce range, for instance, we used authentic and expressive portraits of GYG staff sampling the different chilli sauces to convey the flavour intensity, eliminating the need for lengthy descriptions on the label. The Guzman Y Gomez sauce packaging designs feature real employees tasting the food product on the label

Food packaging design rule #5: Create a smile in the consumer’s mind

Consumers are more than just data points; they’re people with emotions. A packaging design that evokes emotion or “creates a smile in the mind” can leave a lasting impression.

In rebranding and redesigning Sumo Salad, we gave its natural ingredients that feature on the product packaging real character, adding a touch of humour and relatability to its packaging.

If you’re looking to win a spot in the hearts of your customers, packaging design that includes humour can often be a great way to ensure brand recall. In an age of choice paralysis, brand recall can be pivotal in driving repeat purchases.

The Sumo Salad packaging design features fresh ingredients with fun facial expressions to bring character to the food package We designed packaging stamps and badges to further reinforce the key brand messages on the box

Elevate brand loyalty through forward-thinking brand strategy

Effective food packaging design can be a game-changer in engaging with your target audience. As one of Australia’s leading brand agencies and seasoned specialists in food packaging design, we’re here to guide your business through the key steps to food branding success.

With many food brands and companies vying for the same customer and the same spot on the shelf, having a winning brand strategy, unique brand identity and great food packaging design are absolute necessities to success.

Through open collaboration with our clients, we design food packaging that not only looks good but also tells their brand’s unique story, defines its quality and creates a stronger, more meaningful connection with their ideal customer.

Contact us

Contact us today and let our specialist team of strategists, writers and designers bring your vision to life and ensure your brand, business and product packaging stand out in today’s highly competitive market.

Blog: Restaurant Branding

The Complete Guide to Restaurant Branding

With relatively low barriers to entry, it can seem like anyone with a family recipe, a healthy amount of passion, and a dream can make a go of it in the restaurant industry. However there are a number of important factors to consider to ensure you not only make it through the crucial first 12 months of trading, but that you’re set up to succeed and thrive for years to come.

Along with negotiating supplier agreements, choosing the best location, creating a great menu and pricing strategy, and employing the right team with the right experience, developing a solid restaurant brand should be up there in your list of priorities.

Don’t I just need a logo, some fonts and colours?

Your restaurant brand encompasses so much more than just a logo or what your brand looks like – it is everything your customers experience in relation to your restaurant from first hearing about you from friends and checking your menu on the website, through to how your staff greet and treat them whilst dining, and even what they see on the back of the toilet door.

We have over 20 years’ experience creating, rejuvenating and refining restaurant brands to help them connect with customers, stand out from the ever-increasing competition, and endure the ups and downs of hospitality. Here are our key recommendations for building your successful restaurant brand.

Know your story

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of branding, dating back to many moons ago when our ancestors sat around the fireside having a good yarn. Fast forward to today, and the same basic principles apply – great brands are built on great stories that create connection, warmth, trust and, most importantly, authenticity.

It’s crucial that you know your story before you start to build your brand – who are you and why are you in the food or restaurant business? What does your restaurant deliver that no other restaurant can? How do you do it better? (And we are not talking about using the freshest ingredients as everyone says that!) Where does your passion for food come from? How do you create or cook your product? Is there anything unique about your methods or recipes? What do you want your customers to tell their friends about your restaurant?

Many people starting out in the restaurant business or trying to save a restaurant brand don’t believe they have a story but it’s simply a case of asking the right questions.

Casa Gusto didn’t believe they had an interesting story for their range of imported Italian food and ingredients – until we began talking about how their father first discovered the products whilst following the circus around Italy in his twenties. The Casa Gusto brand was built from there.

Understand your customers

With so many food and restaurant options available within a dining precinct or at the click of a button online, it often comes down to personal or group preference as to where your potential customers will go. You need to really know your ideal customer in order to build a brand that talks their language, makes them laugh or feel good about their purchasing decision, and ultimately leads them away from your competitor and straight to your restaurant door.

What’s in a name? Soo Zee is Sichuanese for “number” and 23 represents the number of ingredients that go into Soo Zee 23’s signature beef broth. Aimed at customers seeking a truly authentic Sichuanese experience, the logo also contains the Chinese characters for “eat” and “23”, further enhancing the authenticity of their specialty cuisine, and causing our client to literally jump up and down in joy when he first saw it. View project.

Find your voice

Knowing your story and your customers will help you define your tone of voice – should your restaurant brand be humorous, edgy, elegant or mainstream? There is a place for all of these approaches, but what is right for you, your restaurant and your style of customer?

Your tone of voice and brand style should apply to more than just written words. How should your staff greet and treat your customers throughout their experience, right down to saying goodbye? Should you bring personality into the restaurant with hidden pieces of messaging or imagery? How can you use your staff uniform to reinforce your voice and style?

The opportunities to bring personality and further reinforce your brand are endless and pay dividends when people walk away with a smile or even better, share with their networks – free marketing!

The refreshed Oporto identity features authentic Portuguese tiles and language to reinforce their heritage, with images of chickens throughout to showcase their specialty cuisine.

Inspired by Portuguese “azulejo” tiles, the refreshed Oporto brand oozes authenticity, clearly represents the cuisine, and provides a smile. See how our work improved NPS 40 points.

Restaurant branding opportunities

Having worked with hundreds of restaurants and food brands over the years, these are the most underutilised areas we see for amplifying your brand:

Whether it’s on the wall or handheld, your menu is something every customer is going to read or at least look at – use it to connect and push the key messages you want people to know about your brand and business, but not to the detriment of readability.

Encased in leather, with the logo branded on the front, the 6Head menu not only feels premium, but also ties in with the story of the six head of cattle rumoured to be the first in Australia that formed the basis for the brand. View full branding project.

Wall graphics

Restaurant, fast food outlet, drive thru, market stall – they all have walls. Use this space to illustrate a key message, talk about your story, food or brand principles, or simply create a smile in the mind.

Every Guzman Y Gomez restaurant has a feature wall that reinforces the Mexican street-style roots of the brand. See our work with GYG over the past 15 years.

Takeaway packaging

Your takeaway bags, boxes and cups should be treated as walking advertisements. Create something truly clever and/or interactive and watch those Instagram posts write themselves.

Dang! One word says it all, really. Chicken Treat fried chicken is dang good! Read more about why we used a comic book style for the Chicken Treat restaurant branding.

Let’s talk about your restaurant brand

Whether you’re a brand manager looking to reinvigorate a multi-national food brand or an entrepreneur with the beginnings of a dream, you can talk to us. Contact us on +61 2 8231 9977 or us@thecreativemethod.com and let’s see how we can build the best brand solution for you today.