Project Overview
Emerald Hills Café & Roastery provides the local community of Emerald Hills with fresh pastries and prides itself on its coffee that is roasted in-house with the roaster displayed prominently in the store.
Emerald Hills Café & Roastery has been in business for a couple of years since 2016, even surviving the 2020 pandemic. The business has gone through a few changes in ownership over the years, with the current owner being Edwin Gonzales Jr. who works alongside his family.
The goal of this rebrand is to craft a new visual identity for Emerald Hills Café & Roasterythat reflects the vision that Edwin has for the café. This redesign will overhaul the currentidentity and better convey, as Edwin himself says, the “artistry” & “evolving” nature of Emerald Hills Café & Roastery
Audience Profile
The current customers are working adults who are primarily in their late 30s-40s. They are also primarily residents of the Emerald Hills neighborhood or visitors passing by Redwood City. Most don’t travel very far to get here, not any longer than a 15-minute drive.
The big draw for Emerald Hills Café & Roastery is their serious commitment to quality coffee. With most reviews on Yelp praising Emerald Hills for Edwin’s passion for coffee which shows inthe product. One Yelp review mentioned this key thing, “If this cafe was in downtown RWC, it would probably be mobbed all the time, but since it’s up in the hills and only gets local customers, it’s rarely super crowded”. If there was an audience that Emerald Hills could attract, it’s those over in the bustling downtown of Redwood City.
The Creative Brief
Existing Identity
The current identity does feel modern and clearly conveys the service they offer. However, since this logo has been in use since 2016 and has never been updated, it reflects the brand values of previous ownership, not Edwin’s. The current logo has a rugged feel to it and odd extras. Such as the extra line going through the R’s counterspace and the addition of a slab serif on just the tail of the S. The icon of the roaster is a nice touch, but from afar it gets lost, perhaps the icon could be better served elsewhere. Overall, Emerald Hills’ identity feels mostly disjointed and not coherent with a strong message. A rebrand seeks to solve these issues.
Competitive Positioning (Three Market Competitors)
The biggest competitors are Chez Nous Café, Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee. Starting with Chez Nous, its advantages are, the larger size of the interior which is much more inviting than Emerald Hills, larger selection of pastries and food items. However, Chez Nous lacks in customer service and drink quality, according to reviews on Yelp & Google. With Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee, the largest advantages are their brand and location. Their brand being iconic and the locations being right in the heart of downtown Redwood City. They both however lack in drink quality according to reviews.
Targeted Message
We know you care about high-quality craft coffee that gets you through the day, so look no further than Emerald Hills. Our coffee is precisely cared for from start to finish, from sourcing, roasting, and to pulling that perfect shot. By supporting Emerald Hills, you not only help us, but the farmers we source from because of our commitment to giving them their full dollars’ worth of their incredible coffee.
