Specialty’s Café & Bakery Redesign

Creative Agency: Creative Retail Packaging, Inc.
Senior Creative Director: Cole Johnston
Senior Designer: Kerry Franz
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: SPECIALTY’S CAFÉ & BAKERY
Location: Seattle, United States
Packaging Contents: Restaurant Packaging, Napkins, Paper Cups, Carry-out Bags, Food Wrap, Cookie Bag, Catering Bag, Catering Box, Sandwich Box, Coffee Traveler, Soup Cup, Soup Traveler
Packaging Materials: Paper, Paperboard, Cardboard

With San Franciscan roots dating back to 1987 and over 40 restaurants and counting, Specialty’s Café and Bakery is one of the fastest growing private companies in the bay area. As the brand enters into new markets, Specialty’s called upon Creative Retail Packaging (CRP) for a packaging redesign.

Their goals were three-fold: first, to better educate the consumer about the company’s history, second, to provide a smart way of marketing their core beliefs and service offerings, and third, to reinvigorate the lunch hour. With a large portion of their clientele coming from corporate office environments, CRP drew design inspiration from a variety of sources, including downtown San Francisco signage and classic business attire.

CRP further animated the designs to include an iconic set of hand-illustrated elements such as the Specialty’s logo, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco skyline, and the café’s renowned chocolate chip cookie. Custom patterning provides a textural background, utilizing abstract wheat to simulate a classic herringbone suiting material. Understanding that the packaging many times is a centerpiece on the table during lunchtime meetings, CRP wrote copy to accompany each piece in order to establish a conversational personality that encourages customers to interact with the brand.

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