Eggsunday is a food court brand that serves simply mouth watering varieties of egg dishes competitively priced and with new recipes added every month. The first outlet is located at a Food court on Mumbai – Pune highway.

Core Idea

Healthy, quick, fresh and an anytime meal

Brand identity

Eggsunday identity is simple ,emphasizing the visual and aesthetic appeal of the egg . The 2 Gs in the logo depicts four variety of eggs served – fried eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs and omlettes. The connect between eggs and unday is a quirky mix of two languages (english & hindi) and hence the logotype also maintains the same spirit without separating the two.

Menu

Name of the dishes are playful depicting the combination of hindi and english. We worked on pricing of the products as well to keep it affordable & competitively priced

Signage

Coming soon Eggsunday website

Soup Kitchens have been popular in Europe and America from time immemorial. And for the first time ever, Buzzaar Hospitality decided to bring this charming concept to India, adding a contemporary twist. The Soup Bowl was born. Buzzaar started with two outlets in prominent Mumbai malls, and now have a number of outlets coming up. What began as an idea, has shown great potential in the way it has grown into a brand.

Our work on the brand identity started with the positioning, went on to coining the name, and creating its corporate and marketing communication solutions. While conceptualizing the logo, we felt a visual rendition of the traditional “Old English Cauldron” with simmering soup steam best symbolized the brand. Staying true to the traditional English feel of the brand, the design language spanned all visual communication, making the entire identity reminiscent of an ancient cookbook suggesting mysterious recipes passed down the ages, infused with a playful tone.

We’re certain our interactive tray mats and retro loyalty cards went a long way in engaging the already delighted customers. It was this distinct voice that we created that ensured The Soup Bowl stayed several degrees hotter than the competition. The story isn’t over; we are still in the process of further developing and fortifying the business strategy, so that with Buzzaar Hospitality, we can help the brand evolve to a newer level.

Keep your appetites whet and your taste buds ready for The Soup Bowl is coming soon to a mall near you.

Savanna is the first F&B venture by The Sassini Group – One of Kenyas larger coffee conglomerates. At the initial stage, Sassini wanted to create a chain of coffee houses – but after an intial survey and research, we broadened the scope to a coffee lounge -a blend of a traditional coffee house and a quick service restaurant. The challenge was to come up with an identity which would be contemporary enough for Kenya and at the same time exotic enough for other franchise destinations. Traditional african patterns and forms were blended with a contemporary style to create the “savanna” look. The menu was designed like an travelogue with little bits of stories about each of the items. The environmental graphics used raw materials such as beaten brass to create striking interiors. We also developed a detailed space mood board which was then taken forward by local interior designers.

Tonic is a new age juice bar brand chain. The logo and name was developed at an initial stage but it failed to give a strategic direction to the brand. We worked with the brand owners to extend the logo into a comprehensive identity system which not only unified the look of their retail stores but also helped structure the menu into mini brands. The logo was interpreted as a mascot that appeared in all their product communication. The retail stores are meant to project a distinct attitude and therefore avoids the usage of standard fruit shots.

The brief is not necessarily the brief
Cassiopeia LLC approached Idea Spice to  make their 200 sq.ft deli in Dubai look more attractive and attract more consumers to their space. Cassiopeia owned an outlet then called as Manhattan Deli.

The first reaction we had was to stretch the scope the project beyond just a visual makeover. We brainstormed how much bigger we could take this project, we questioned the client what their ultimate fantasy and goal would be for their business. We sat together and wondered why the place couldn’t go international one day. We stressed that they should be dreaming a franchise, a chain of outlets all over the world.

We redefined the scope of work as looking at ways to infuse life into this one little outlet and transform it into an international franchise-able operation using a mix of design, strategy and marketing.

Understand more of the client’s business than they do

We immersed ourselves into the industry. We visited the competition, spend hours at the existing outlet relishing the taste of the food, we ambushed the team with information and research on the origin of the deli, about bread, about the trends in food, cultures, the behavior in cafes, restaurants. We understand fast food and novella cuisine and slow food and working lunches. We got groups together and discussed their needs, how they ate, where they worked, what they thought. We understood the senses, how smell and texture and color affected taste. We spoke to people in the industry, read the latest papers, studied franchise models like Subway and McDonalds. The team studied which colors helped what cuisine and the business workings of a franchise, we observed rituals at outlets with character. We debated about emotional experiences and observed when an establishment becomes a person, becomes a friend and a personification of your needs.

Is there a USP? If not create one…

After swimming in the sea of information and observation, we knew that the Deli can’t be just another food outlet. It had to cut through the clutter and find a distinction which would was unique and could be repeatable. It had to find a clear space in the mind of the consumer and sit there like a friend for life.

While savoring the amazing food at the Deli, we realized one day that the innovative sandwiches were simply out of this world and unlike anything we had tasted till then. We felt that if the other food at the place was a 7 on 10, the sandwiches would have consistently been at 14.

We realized that as a product segment that sandwiches were not taken. Pizzas, burgers, pastas, subs etc were all taken and with a host of me too in queue for contention with the customer’s mind space.

We decided to own ‘sandwiches’. We termed the food “Fresh Gourmet Sandwiches”. It conjured up images of  being made fresh on the spot, but by a chef with a lot of care and love with the best ingredients. You could almost smell the waft of fresh baked bread and taste the rich meats and sauces dripping as you visualized the phrase.

Create a distinct brand personality and design it cohesively into everything!

We changed the name from ‘Manhattan Deli’ to the ‘City Deli’. We shook away any apprehensions of being a wannabe outlet and positioned as the place next door. We wrote a clear personality with a fusion of humor, old values, a huge appetite and a contemporary outlook to life. We then stretched this personality into every single element in the space. Every brick reeked of the personality. The persona went across the identity, the space, the furniture systems, the uniforms, every single collateral- from toothpicks to sauces.
We handpicked every sauce flavor, tray, toothpick, the cutlery and the props.  We shopped with the client with the excitement akin to setting up our own home.

We named the items in the menu, created jokes for every single item used in the space (238 jokes when we last counted) from the sauces, posters, giveaways, sachets, cups. Nothing was spared from the blessings of bad wit.

We designed every piece of furniture to enhance the dining experience. The materials and colors were made to enhance the flavor and the personality. We worked on rituals and the vibe of the space. We worked with the clients on the pickles, spices and props which would communicate the word ‘gourmet’ to walk in consumers.

Make sure a big idea is easily repeatable. That’s where the client’s profits lie!

We made sure we worked with the brilliant team at Cassiopeia to make sure we documented the process and ensure the repeatability of the same. We designed manuals for the staff training, systems, ways of making the sandwich exactly the same way each time, taking the order, talking to the customer, how to deliver, decorate.

Every element of the designs was also made into an expansive brand manual to ensure that if anyone wanted to ever franchise, they were ready to run with it.

Look at ways to enhance the consumer experience and make sure the whole world knows about it.

We worked closely with the Cassiopeia team on the food and the order process, being part of the tasting and refining process. We evolved a completely new system of  customizing your own sandwich and offering the customer up to 200 options.

We came up with unique marketing ideas, CRM  and loyalty (called Club Sandwich). We worked on weekend ideas to involve the family and lunch ideas for executive; we worked on vouchers and trials, we designed fliers and take away ideas.

Sit back and watch the magic unfold.

The place was running before. The only thing that changed was the design intervention.

From the day the new Deli was launched sales tripled for the little outlet. In a month of reopening, the franchise for the gulf region was sold for a record deal. In 3 months, new outlets opened in one of the  largest malls in neighboring Abu Dhabi. 10 more outlets are finalized in the region. The first store in India opened in bangalore and many more are set to come.

The numbers tell the real story
-It took 45 days from briefing to opening of the first outlet.
-The venture has converted to an international operation in 11 months.
-The outlet was shut for makeover for 12 days only.
-The design fees were recovered from 16 days of additional revenues since opening.
-Cassiopeia has since worked with Ideaspice to create a chain of coffee shops originating from Kenya, designing an outlet for waffles, ice creams and coffee and work on a themed lounge space for a Saudi based client

Toast is a food court bakery brand. It promises fresh food delivered super fast. The identity creates a contemporary twist to the traditional bakery.
The colors used are inspired from their bread loaves. Rather than use  standard food pictures, we used a distinct illustrative style which was extended across their entire communication range. We also worked very closely with the parent hospitality company to build in strong sales and promotional content for the brand as well. The Toast can be sampled at The Mall of Emirates, Dubai.

Mashawi is a chain lebanese grills. The logotype is a combination of arabic letterforms with a shashlik.
The patterns used in the communication depict the flame from their central ovens -a key feature in the grills.
A key area of design was also the menu structure which was designed to make Arabic cuisine extremely accessible.

The Rupee Room is a contemporary Indian restaurant located at The Dubai Marina.
The identity was inspired by the location and the cuisine.
A series of “paintings” were created to illustrate various aspects of the restaurant.
The identity helped create a unique look which has endured till date.

The velvet lounge is a contemporary cigar bar based in Dubai Marina.
The identity is based on aquatic forms created through smoke. One of the key features of the communication was the menu which designed like a little story book about the origin of each of the cigar brands and helped create a very distinct look for the lounge. Aquatic forms were blended and manipulated to create a smoky – dreamlike imagery.

Identity for tex-mex themed restaurant