We've Repolished Our Brand!!

Change is inevitable. It’s exciting and nerve-racking, but necessary nonetheless! With it comes a dose of closure and better insight about what the future holds. That's what happened a few months ago while we muddled as a team over our brand. The gut feeling that we needed 'something better' was really a confirmed sense that the old logo didn't evoke our vision. Basically, it wasn't showing - and telling - people who we really were.

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When we first opened our doors three years ago, our brand was exactly what we needed. We took a leap in Knoxville, incredibly rich with food gurus, organic farm markets, and a heap of ripe (and trendy!) knowledge of the growing culinary world. Our little restaurant of a dream grew a thousand-fold into a world-class ‘must-try’ spot and grew even more quickly amongst the people of Knoxville than we anticipated. But as we grew, we felt that many elements of our brand felt incomplete and didn't match our identity. Details such as our limited color-palette, logo, and typography lacked cohesion. We began to ask ourselves whether existing parts of our brand truly communicated our commitment to innovation and a first-class experience. In the end, we agreed it didn't. In our hearts, we knew that our identity had shifted, and that simplicity and innovation - living side by side - was part of who we were.

Finally, at the end of 2018, we took the plunge and made the commitment to refresh our brand. Our vision was to create a presence that reflected the growth we’d experienced over the last three years. In tackling this, we wanted our new brand to have the sophistication and depth that evoked the bigger picture of why we do what we do while still being fun and inviting. We worked with Oh Yes Communications who partnered with us from our social media to other marketing efforts. And as a team, we began an exciting and vulnerable process of clearly defining who we were.

From the very beginning with the Onboarding Process, we defined where we envisioned ourselves by asking our customers for feedback about what they loved (or didn’t!) about us. And that required us to be fully committed and transparent. The process was informative but was also out of our comfort zone. That being said, we’re so glad we pushed through the resistance that each phase brought to the process. Our “why” came into sharp focus: commitment to delivering an innovative dining and craft cocktail experience to the Knoxville restaurant scene while also investing and mentoring the next generation of up and coming chefs.

That's where we are now. There is more intention in every aspect of our new brand. There is a clear understanding of who we’ve grown into and our mission. We don't just deliver food - we deliver an experience! Take a look:

And we love the finished product! The sultry jewel tones in our new color palette convey warmth and a high-class dining and craft cocktail experience that we aim to deliver each and every time our customers come in contact with our staff. Smaller details, like the upside down crown in our previous brand, stayed, but with improvements that involved refinement of the linework to once again communicate our attention to detail in every aspect of what we do. Our new logo features beautiful yet simplistic line work around our name that was pulled from the floor plans of the restaurant. Our new look is also fun and playful, while still channeling our intimate nature. Overall, this modern look allowed us to highlight the things most important to us: our people, our dining, our cocktails, and our community!

Our brand doesn't stop there. We want you - our customers - to become a part of our story. So we're translating the brand over to future menu redesigns, server attire, fun collaborations, enamel pins for guests, and fun swag for our events and customers. Stay tuned for all the fun.

Ultimately, we know that each step -  towards excellence in every little thing we do - reaches far beyond the walls of our restaurant. Drop us a line, connect with us on Facebook or Instagram, or leave us a comment below. We can't wait to hear what you think!

Sondra Richardson