The power of a good meal is in the flavor. But the power of a great brand is how it shows up.
You could be serving the juiciest burger, the freshest oysters, or the smoothest coffee on earth, but if your brand looks like it hasn’t evolved since 1998, people are gonna scroll right past it, walk on by, or worse. That’s the truth. Most people decide if they’re into your product even before tasting it. They’re going off the colors, the logo, the vibe, the way your site feels, and how your packaging hits. If it doesn’t land, they’re out.
Branding is your face, your personality, your attitude. It tells people who you are and why they should trust you with their appetite and their money. If you don’t take that seriously, someone else will, and they’ll take your customers, too.
Our team at Craft & Root gets that. We’ve worked with food and beverage brands that were tired of being ignored, overlooked, or stuck in neutral. Through design that’s thoughtful, gutsy, and on-point, these brands now look as strong as they taste.
What follows are seven brand transformations that flipped the script. Clean visuals, strong voice, packaging that slaps, and websites people actually want to visit. This is how you go from being another name on the shelf to being the name people remember.
Let’s break it down.
1. Barsys, Giving a Smart Bartender a Stylish New Look
Barsys makes a machine that pours perfect cocktails with the push of a button. The tech is sharp, the drinks are on point, but the brand looked like it belonged in a cheap electronics aisle. The vibe felt flat, the app was awkward, and the whole experience lacked the energy you’d expect from something built to power parties.
Craft & Root came in and said, “Alright, if you’re gonna act like the future of bartending, you need to look like it, too.” So we tore it down and rebuilt it with a whole new attitude. Assertive typography, smokey color palettes, and a sharp new visual language that oozed confidence. The brand went from geeky gadget to upscale, bar-cart centerpiece.
We didn’t stop at the logo and a few mockups. We redesigned the mobile app, revamped the website, created packaging people actually want to show off, and dropped custom cocktail illustrations that felt straight out of a vintage bar manual with a modern twist. Even the social content got a glow-up with smooth animations and a steady stream of fresh assets, built to keep the brand relevant and in people’s faces.
Now Barsys looks like what it actually is, smart, slick, and it finally looks like it belongs on top shelves, not in the back corner of a Kickstarter campaign.
2. Chicken Station, Making a Fun Lunch Spot Look as Good as It Tastes
Chicken Station serves the kind of food that people crave when they’re starving, stressed, or seriously in need of a pick-me-up. The chicken is crispy, the flavors hit hard, and the portions mean business. But the brand on the outside didn’t match what was happening in the kitchen. The visuals felt bland, forgettable, and honestly, too safe for a spot that serves bold food with real flavor.
Craft & Root didn’t walk in with tweaks. We walked in with a mission: to make the brand feel alive. That started with a new look, colors with attitude, bold type that talks loud without yelling, and a wink of personality in every line of copy. The tone flips between playful and confident, like the kind of voice that belongs on a corner spot where the regulars line up before noon.
We built a whole visual world for Chicken Station. Packaging that turns takeout into something you want to show off. In-store signage that gives every location a sense of place. Menus, posters, flyers, everything people touch and see got a visual upgrade. The goal was clarity with flavor, so the brand still makes you feel something even if you’re ordering in a rush.
Chicken Station went from bland and forgettable to bold and full of life. Now the brand looks like it belongs in the middle of a busy lunch rush, pulling people in from the sidewalk and lighting up social feeds.
3. Frena, Turning Tradition into a Modern Brand
Frena came in hot with deep Middle Eastern roots and the kind of food that brings people together without saying a word. Chef Efi Naon had the vision. The dishes were grounded in history, full of flavor, and built around the fire of a signature oven that does more than cook. It anchors the entire story. But the brand? It needed structure. It needed presence. It needed to feel as rich as the food being served.
Craft & Root built the identity straight from the source. That oven shape became the foundation of the visual system. Our team pulled color tones from the fire itself: deep reds, burnt orange, soft neutrals that echo warmth without shouting. It feels earthy, grounded, and welcoming.
Inside the space, everything connects. The brand was made to live in the restaurant, not just online. The graphics echo the soft archways and textured walls. The vibe is intentional, steady, and confident. The branding works with the interior design like they were built at the same table.
We built the logo with simplicity in mind. No extra lines. No over-design. The layouts are clean. The design holds back, on purpose, so the food and the space can speak loudest. Print materials follow that same tone. From menus to collateral, everything stays consistent. You walk in and feel like the brand belongs there, because it does.
The website follows the same rhythm. It doesn’t try to be trendy. It feels like an extension of the dining experience. It’s clear, easy to navigate, and full of intentional design moments. No filler.
Frena didn’t need flash. It needed clarity, warmth, and alignment. The result is a modern brand that honors the roots it came from while owning its place in the now.
4. Copps Island Oysters, Updating a Family Business for a Bigger Market
Copps Island Oysters has been run by the Bloom family since the 1940s. For decades, the business stayed tight, selling direct to restaurants and wholesalers. But when national attention started hitting them hard, Copps Island had a problem: the brand looked old and invisible. Nothing about it spoke to new customers. Nothing about it felt ready for direct-to-consumer sales.
Craft & Root stepped in and ripped the whole thing apart down to the shell. First, we built a new brand identity that kept the hard-earned credibility but cleaned it up with modern, masculine energy. No fake nautical clichés. No anchor tattoos. They designed a logo system with bold, sharp typography and clean lines to reflect the strength and history behind the product.
The color palette locked into deep blues, weathered grays, and sandy neutrals, the kind of colors you see on an actual dock. Every choice connected straight to the real, physical experience of working the water.
We handled new photography through a custom shoot with Lindsey Swedick, focusing on the real work: hands hauling oysters, salt-stained boats, gear beat up by years of actual use. No staged stock photos. Every shot told the truth about the product and the people who built it.
Craft & Root rebuilt the website from scratch. We gave Copps Island an online home that spoke clearly to two audiences at once: wholesale buyers who need volume and direct consumers who want fresh oysters shipped to their front door. The site uses big, bold photography, simple layouts, fast navigation, and calls to action that push people straight into buying, no hesitation.
Packaging got the full premium treatment. Craft & Root designed oyster boxes that would survive shipping, look sharp on delivery, and feel worthy of the product inside. Labels, bags, and other print materials all carried the same tough, clean style.
We didn’t stop there. We expanded the brand reach with merchandise: hats, shirts, and accessories that lean into Copps Island’s authentic, coastal roots without trying to manufacture some fake surf shop vibe. Everything feels earned because it is.
Today, Copps Island stands as a true East Coast seafood brand, one that’s built for growth without losing a single ounce of the history that got them here.
5. Intelligentsia, Creating Consistent Looks for a Coffee Legend
Intelligentsia made their name selling some of the best coffee in the country, but the brand visuals started to look like they were being stitched together by twelve different people with no map. Every time a new roast dropped or an event launched, the assets felt scattered. No flow. No muscle memory for the audience to recognize and connect.
Craft & Root locked in a solution straight out of the gate. We worked with photographer Lindsey Swedick to build a new base of custom photography. We didn’t shoot random latte art or fake cozy shots. We shot real baristas, real cafés, actual equipment in use, and beans that looked so fresh you could almost hear them crack. Every photo was framed and edited to match a consistent visual tone, vibrant but never oversaturated, polished but never fake.
For every coffee drop and event, Craft & Root built custom design packages:
- Email newsletters with clean layouts, sharp copy, and headline blocks that pushed the product without bloating the message.
- Paid social media ads sized right for Instagram Stories, Facebook carousels, and targeted banner placements.
- Static and animated content for new blend launches, featuring simple movements and micro-interactions that kept the vibe alive without overwhelming the screen.
- Point-of-sale posters and displays for in-store promos, keeping print materials just as polished as the digital work.
When we touched animation, we kept it tight, illustrated steam rising from a cup, a quick bag reveal, subtle bean movement, no bloated motion design, no distracting flair. Every animated asset ran clean at a fast pace to match the speed of scrolling, without killing the coffee’s authenticity.
We also dropped new merch:
- Ceramic mugs designed with bold block logos and simple Intelligentsia color hits.
- Natural cotton tote bags with minimalist illustrations that tied back to the core brand story.
- Branded t-shirts and hats with typography that matched in-store menus and online banners.
Nothing got outsourced halfway. Craft & Root wrote, designed, art directed, and pushed everything through a controlled system so that if you landed on an email, a website page, or a store shelf, you knew without thinking: this is Intelligentsia.
The result was a brand presence that didn’t crack under pressure. Every drop, every event, every new release stayed locked on target.
6. Schaller & Weber, Refreshing a Classic Meat Brand for Today’s Shoppers
Schaller & Weber has been cranking out old-school, high-quality meats since the 1930s, locking down a legendary spot in New York’s Upper East Side. Their products made it into homes, five-star kitchens, and onto the tables of serious eaters. Even names like Martha Stewart gave them the nod. But the brand? It looked like it hadn’t changed since the first Eisenhower term. Craft & Root got called to drag it into the modern market without touching the soul that built it.
The first move Craft & Root made was ripping into the basics, redefining the fonts, adjusting the color palette, and tightening up the layout system. We cleaned up all the visual language without killing the heritage vibe. New typography hit harder but kept a classic backbone. Color updates gave the brand richness instead of faded deli counter nostalgia.
Then we attacked the touch points people actually interact with:
- We redesigned packaging across their product lines, charcuterie, sausages, and deli meats, keeping a clean, minimal look with bold product names and sharp layouts.
- Print collateral got reworked with better hierarchy, smarter use of color blocks, and fresh iconography that nodded at traditional German meat culture without feeling stuck in a time capsule.
- Campaigns for new product drops, celebrity chef partnerships, and Whole Foods launches got built out with branded newsletters, social media ads, and paid promotions that carried a cohesive visual punch.
Schaller & Weber’s digital storefront wasn’t getting the job done either. Craft & Root gutted the e-commerce website and rebuilt it clean. Fast navigation. Strong product visuals. Mobile-first layouts. Big blocks of copy that sell the craft and quality without turning the experience into a history lecture.
Craft & Root didn’t farm out random assets either. Every poster, every package, every web page came back to the same visual system. Nothing got tacked on. Nothing drifted off-brand.
Today, Schaller & Weber shows up the way it deserves to, lean, sharp, grounded, and ready for modern shelves, screens, and lunch table
7. The Boil, Showing Off Big Flavor with Bold Design
The Boil throws down real Creole seafood boils in Manhattan, plastic bags filled with buttery, spicy crab, shrimp, and crawfish, dumped right onto paper-topped tables. The flavor smacks you. The smell hits you before you even sit down. The problem is their old branding showed up weakly. Basic logo. Boring containers. No punch, no heat, no hint of the full-blown party going on inside.
Craft & Root went to work to build a brand that could keep up with the noise and the flavor. We started by redesigning the logo. The new mark is loose, gritty, and hand-drawn, with rough edges that feel like they were scratched into the side of a cooler on a fishing boat. The typography leans heavy, aggressive, and dripping with energy.
We created custom illustrations, claws snapping, shrimp splashing, seasoning clouds bursting, each one designed to look like it came alive straight out of a seafood boil bag. The lines are thick and a little dirty, the way real Creole cooking feels when you’re elbow-deep in crawfish and butter.
Craft & Root didn’t stop at a few assets. We touched every physical thing a customer would see or hold:
- Menus were rebuilt using bright background splashes, oversized seafood sketches, and loud font headers that look like they were painted with a brush dipped in cayenne.
- Takeout containers were redesigned with full-wrap prints, illustrated patterns of shrimp, lobsters, and crabs tangled in nets, sealed up in bold black-and-red branded tape so the experience stayed loud even when people ordered at home.
- Print posters and flyers leaned into explosive layouts with zero clean white space, a deliberate move to keep the vibe sweaty, messy, and alive.
Animation assets carried the same mood. Quick, sharp movements that feel like cracking a crab claw or shaking a bag full of spice and steam.
Craft & Root didn’t treat the packaging like an afterthought. We treated it like a mobile ad campaign. Every container is a walking, spicy, seafood-soaked shout that drags attention from across the street.
The Boil’s brand now lives loud: in the restaurant, in the customer’s hands, in every photo snapped for Instagram. The new identity captures the noise, the laughter, the spice, the sweat. Every piece of the design system tells the truth: if you’re eating here, you’re about to get messy, eat heavy, and leave happy.
Nobody Cares About Your Product if Your Brand Sucks, Let’s Change That
You can have the best oysters, the crispiest chicken, the freshest coffee, or the spiciest crawfish boil in town. None of it matters if your brand shows up looking tired, lazy, or forgettable. People aren’t going to sit there and “give you a chance.” They’re gonna keep walking, keep scrolling, keep ordering from someone else.
Craft & Root doesn’t play small. We build brands that look sharper, shout louder, and stay stuck in people’s heads (and wallets) way longer. Logos, websites, packaging, campaigns, the whole arsenal, built right and ready to wreck the competition.
Reach out to Craft & Root. Let’s build a brand that actually does your product justice.
