FOODHALL// Brand Building

THE PROBLEM:

Over eight years, Foodhall had established itself as THE luxury food retail destination in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. However, competition grew strife and new players in the market challenged the standard set by Foodhall, the brand that spawned the competition. We had to think of a way to help Foodhall raise the bar for premium retail with new strategy and reclaim its position once again.

Project Year

2017

Client

Foodhall

Project Type

Retail

Location

Mumbai

The Solution:

Our goal was to build a consistent and elevated brand language for Foodhall to enhance the overall shopping experience, while also to create systems that were easily replicable across Foodhall’s brands and services.

Building the Design and Brand Language:

To tackle this mammoth brand, we created systems and adopted a step-by-step approach to the revamp. To build up Foodhall as a whole, we had to first elevate its parts. Our task, as we saw it, was to:

1. Build the brand

2. Create an expression for the brand

3. Work on extensions of the brand

4. Create identities and a language for the brands and services by Foodhall

Nothing communicates the love of food more than the vocabulary of food. Our first step was to craft a folklore for the brand that conveyed Foodhall’s values and the quality of its offerings. The next step was to update their pledge that reiterates Foodhall’s promise of curating the finest ingredients and experiences for its food forward customers.

We extended this vocabulary to the store directory, which we fashioned after a recipe. We broke up the sections in the store in the way a recipe is broken down, thus making an immediate connection with the act of buying ingredients and the act of cooking.

We simultaneously worked on a visual vocabulary capitalising on the vibrant colours of food for brand posters. To highlight the range of ingredients and the possibilities they present in the kitchen, we created pairing posters dominated by vivid photographs of stunning dishes with a stylised ampersand that conveyed our message in a subtle and elegant way.

Setting Up Systems:

Once the visual and verbal styles were set, our focus was to delve deeper into the consumer journey. To this end, we created a system of templates to announce new products and services in the store, educate customers about the uses of niche items, and encourage sampling within the store to boost sales.

Setting up the Flagship Store:

In December 2018, we launched Foodhall’s newest store that was set to redefine food retail in India. Spread out over 25,000 square feet and rising four floors high, Foodhall@Linking Road consisted of its own café, restaurant, coffee lab and cookery studio, not to mention over 8,500 high-quality ingredients.

The replicable systems we had set up, and the brand language we had developed allowed us to lay emphasis on everything from the overall store design and in-store experiences to looking at business opportunities for individual product categories and Foodhall brands.