A logo that doesn’t scale
It looks fine on the shopfront but falls apart on a cup lid, an app icon or a delivery listing.
Case study · Brand identity · Hospitality
A brand for a growing café group
How we give a café group opening its next site one clear brand that looks and sounds the same on the sign, the menu, the website and in AI answers.
- Business type
- Hospitality · independent café group
- Service
- Brand identity
- Starts with
- A free audit
Overview.
A first café often grows a brand by accident: a logo from opening week, menus made in a hurry, a different look on Instagram. That works for one site. This is how we build a brand that holds together across several sites, and helps the group charge for quality rather than compete on price.
The challenge.
As a café group grows, each new site, menu and social account drifts a little further from the original. Customers stop recognising it as one business, staff make up their own versions, and search engines and AI assistants find the business described in several different ways.
Inconsistent everywhere
Different colours, fonts and descriptions on the sign, the menu, the website and the map listing.
No reason to pay more
Without a clear story, the café competes with chains on price.
Our approach.
Foundation first, in this order, so each step makes the next one work harder.
Brand strategy brief
Who the café is for, what it promises and how it’s different, agreed in one page.
Logo system
A main logo, a compact version and an icon, each tested at every size it will be used.
Colour and type
A palette and typefaces that work on signage, print and screens, with accessible contrast.
Voice
How the brand speaks on menus, social posts and replies to reviews.
Guidelines
One reference for the team, the printer, the sign maker and any future agency.
What we built.
A complete identity with the rules to keep it consistent as the group grows.
01
Brand strategy brief
Audience, promise, personality and proof on one page, so every later decision has something to check against.
02
Logo system and colour
Logos for every use, from shopfront to favicon, with a palette and type set ready for print and screen.
03
Voice guide
Words the brand uses and avoids, example menu descriptions and replies to reviews, so every site sounds like one business.
04
Guidelines and social kit
Brand guidelines with source files, plus templates for posts, stories and profile images across every platform.
How we measure it.
These are the numbers in the monthly report, each measured against the baseline from the first audit.
- Consistency of name, description and visuals across every site, listing and profile
- Branded searches for the café group over time
- Reviews that mention the brand experience, not just the coffee
- Average spend per visit after the rebrand, against the baseline
- Time and cost to produce new menus, signs and posts
Your project could be next.
Start with a free audit, then see exactly what we’d build and in what order.
Free audit firstNo obligationPlain-English results