Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe'
Company
Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe' is a family-owned and operated soul food restaurant based in Richmond, Virginia. Along with the restaurant Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe' is well known for their catering service. Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe' is very focused on making sure each customer's experience is unique. While dining at Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe' the owner and her daughter make sure to meet their customer's, they will bring customers a sample of some of their food and they are even willing to make the customer something else if nothing on the menu appeals to them.
The Problem
Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe' has a loyal customer base, but with being a small new business they wanted to grow their customers. With Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe' wanting to grow they told Cody and his group that they wanted to hire an additional employee but in order to do that they wanted to grow their weekly business by twenty customers. They also were looking to grow their marketing since they were primarily known through word of mouth.
The Method
Before Cody and his group could give recommendations on how to increase patrons they had to first see what they were working with. They visited the establishment, tried out the specialties, talked with the owner and interview restaurant goers. After their visit, they researched online about local competition and the restaurant industry. Although they got helpful insight during their restaurant visit they knew that since this was a small local restaurant they would need to revisit the restaurant and conduct more interviews. They then proceeded to visit the restaurant again and conducted interviews with people in the surrounding area to gauge their thoughts about the restaurant. The last thing the group did was develop a short survey about the logo and peoples initial thoughts.
The Research
While visiting the establishment they got great information from both the owner and loyal patrons.
They found that although the restaurant has many specialties people love to go their and order breakfast food no matter what time of the day it is.
“My favorite item is the pancakes and eggs.”
The establishment is suffering from a lack of awareness.
“I’ve tried Comfort and Tarrant’s nearby, but never heard of Pumpkin’s Kitchen Café.”
Many people know of restaurants in the surrounding area but not about Pumpkin's Kitchen Cafe'.
Cody and his group found that local businesses such as hotels have not been exposed to Pumpkin’s Kitchen Cafés food or menus.
“I have not reached out to the hotels, but would like to be on there.”
With speaking to the owner they learned that she really cares about her customers and wants to meet them. She also wants to make sure that everyone can have what they want to eat. So she is willing to cook something even if it is not on the menu.
Pumpkin’s Kitchen Café struggles due to a lack of clarity for their brand. During the survey, they found that both the name and logo did not properly represent what the restaurant was.
Strategy
Cody and his group's strategy was to update the restaurant's identity and refresh its brand. They wanted to make Pumpkin’s Kitchen Café feel like a second home.
Rebrand
One thing they discovered during their research was that people found the name and logo to be misleading. They sent out a survey to people who have never heard of the restaurant and asked them what they thought it served based just off of the logo and name. Some of the things that they heard people say were that they thought it served coffee and pastries, or that the restaurant had many pumpkin dishes. There were many different responses but one conclusion that people were unaware of what the restaurant had to offer.
So Cody and his group decided that the restaurant should drop the café from its name so that people won't think its a coffee shop. They also thought that the logo was a little busy and due to pumpkin being in the name and the logo that they should redesign it. They decided to include a fork and cast iron skillet to help convey that the restaurant serves homestyle, hearty meals. When designing the logo they wanted to choose a classier font so that people would know that this food and taste was special.
Old
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COMING SOON
Here is a copy of my slides to look at in the meantime
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Cody's Team
Cody's team consisted of six people with many different creative abilities. The first person on Cody's team was Christopher Suarez specializing in brand strategy. The next team member was Brianne Johnson also specializing in brand strategy. Then there was Jeremy Stokes who was the group's experience design specialist. The group's copywriter was Kelley Barrett. Finally, there was Jenna Anderson the art director of the group.
