The product is better than the packaging
There is a carefully made product, produced on a small scale, inside packaging that does not set it apart from anything. On the shelf, whoever gets seen wins.
Sectors
Food and hospitality: brand, online shop and communication
When what you sell is also seen and tasted
In food and hospitality, the buying decision is quick and almost always visual. Packaging decides on the shelf, the photograph decides on a home delivery, and the window decides on the street. At the same time, it is a sector with labelling and consumer-information rules that leave no room for improvising, where the same brand has to work on a jar, an apron, a menu and a phone screen.
That is why we almost always work on the brand and the material it sits on at the same time. There is no point designing a beautiful label without knowing what information it is legally required to carry, nor building an online shop without understanding how the product gets packed and shipped.
What usually holds a food brand back
The most common reasons people come to us.
The menu is out of date everywhere
One version on paper, another on the website, another on the delivery app, each with different prices. It is the costliest mistake, and the easiest to avoid.
The photographs do not do it justice
Images taken in a hurry, under ceiling light, sitting next to stock photos. In a sector where people eat with their eyes first, this takes away more than it adds.
Selling online looks too complicated
Fresh produce, costly shipping, use-by dates and insulated packaging put a lot of people off before they even try. Not every product sells online the same way.
The brand does not survive the space
It works well on the shopfront and disappears everywhere else: on the takeaway packaging, the bag, the napkin, the social media profile.
What we usually do in this sector
From a neighbourhood restaurant to a producer with distribution, the scope changes, but the work involved tends to repeat.
Brand, packaging and label
Identity and visual system designed from the start to fit on a label, a bag and a box, with room set aside for the information that has to be there by law.
Website and menu always up to date
A website where the menu is changed in one place, and where the dishes, allergens and opening hours stay readable on a phone, which is where people actually check them.
An online shop built around the product
With the rules the product demands: minimum quantities, delivery zones, lead times and packaging. That was the case with Feitoria do Cacao.
Material for the space
Printed menus, window display, vinyl graphics, interior signage and takeaway packaging, all in the same visual language.
Ongoing communication
Social media and campaigns tied to what is happening at the restaurant: seasonal dishes, new arrivals, collaborations, appearances at fairs and markets.
Services most requested by restaurants and food brands
Each page explains the process, the deliverables and the most common questions.
- Branding and naming, for new brands and for packaging;
- Graphic design, for labels, window displays, menus and material for the space;
- Online shop, for selling direct to the consumer;
- Websites, with menu, opening hours and bookings;
- Social media, where this sector gets discovered every day;
- Layout, for long menus and product catalogues;
- Brand activation, for fairs, markets and tastings.
Projects in this sector
Feitoria do Cacao is a chocolate producer for whom we built the website with an online shop, alongside the stationery and the vinyl graphics applied in the space, with a handcrafted-feeling interface built around the product. Raiz – O vegetariano do bairro brought together brand, menus and website. Gelato e Limonata and Noeirinha, with its salt production, complete the group. See the portfolio.
Feitoria do Cacao website, online shop, stationery and vinyl graphics
Feitoria do Cacao
Noeirinha brand, packaging, online shop and communications for a salt pan
Noeirinha
Gelato e Limonata brand, online shop, website and print
Gelato e Limonata
nomenu.digital name, brand, platform, website and communications
nomenu.digital
Quinta do Escudial online shop and website
Quinta Do Escudial
Raiz brand, menus, website and vinyl graphics for a neighbourhood restaurant
Raiz – O vegetariano do bairro
Frequently asked questions about food and hospitality
What people ask us before starting work in this field.
Do you handle the mandatory label information?
We set aside the space and lay the information out so it can be read, but the content that is legally required — the ingredients list, allergens and nutritional declaration — is the producer's responsibility. We work with whatever we are given and revise the design when that information changes.
Is it worth selling fresh produce online?
It depends on the product and the logistics. Some products travel well; for others, delivery decides the quality. Before proposing a shop, we look at the packaging, the shipping costs and the delivery zones, because that is where these shops usually fall down.
Can we keep the menu up to date without depending on you?
You can, and that is how we hand it over. The menu lives in one place, editable by your own team, and the website and the printed version are then generated from that same source. You also get a short manual with the essentials.
Do you do food photography?
Photography is decisive in this sector, so it always appears as its own stage in the proposal, whether we produce it ourselves or bring in a photographer we work with. When good images already exist, we make use of them.
Have you got a product or a place to put on the map?
Tell us what you make, how you sell it and where you want to get to. You will get a proposal with scope, phases and price, from the brand to the packaging and the online shop.