Patina Restaurant Group

"With their strategic aproach, first-rate aesthetic sensibility and distinctive voice, Mucca Design served as a positive catalyst for change within our organization." Greg Deligdisch, VP, Marketing

Two Partners, 60 Restaurants and a Brand with an Identity Crisis

When Nick Valenti of Restaurant Associates fame joined forces with LA-based celebrity chef Joachim Splichal, they created a hospitality group with over 60 restaurants and other food service operations. With bicoastal headquarters, numerous subdivisions, distinct clientele groups and diverse offerings, Patina Restaurant Group was having an identity crisis, and that was reflected in their ineffective corporate identity and fractured website. Our challenge was to help PRG define their corporate values, craft a unified message and communicate both to multiple audiences, including a younger, more sophisticated demographic.

Giving a Face to a Name

Given the size of the operation and the complexity resulting from the merger of two businesses, a strategic approach was essential. Mucca conducted interviews with the two partners, as well as senior management, gaining an understanding of their vision and consensus among the team. Through research and analysis, we distilled the client’s multiple personalities and created a brand positioning statement that defined the company’s core identity. This identity was expressed through a visual system inspired by the client’s involvement with fine arts organizations and their conviction that cooking is essentially a creative endeavor. The hand-painted letters of the PRG mark evoke this creativity, incorporating colors that have a fresh, organic quality straight from the farmers’ market. In contrast to the unconventional mark, the logotype is clean, buttoned-down and modern, a look aligning them with their target audience. Essential to the project’s success was the redesign of the website, a key communication channel and marketing tool for the company. The website now enhances the user experience and reflects a sense of lifestyle and culinary artistry, a hallmark of their new mission statement.

The Power of a Unified Voice

Mucca reshaped the client’s brand identity to communicate with their audience in a unified, compelling voice that projects a confidence gained from their renewed sense of self. We successfully repositioned PRG as a restaurant group that combines the passion and personal attention of a boutique business with the resources and professionalism of a national conglomerate. And their website not only reinforces this unity, it now drives sales, contributing to the all-important bottom line for each division.