Our research revealed that Qdoba Mexican Grill would most powerfully convey the high quality and freshness of the restaurants’ food at this moment in American culture through the language and the symbolism of the artisanal food movement: hand-crafted ingredients, seasonal offerings, small-batch production, hand-drawn menus, “flaws” that emphasized humanized production techniques, understated factual language describing locality and provenance – as opposed to conventional quality puffery of the category. This led us to a distinctive and highly resonant positioning for Qdoba: artisanal Mexican cuisine.

We developed a graphic style that celebrates hand-crafted preparation through a unique combination of hand-drawn sketches and photography that strongly differentiated the brand from its competitors. We also brought “artisanal” elements to life within the logo, typography, color palette, and design system. In quick-service restaurant retail, the brand’s most powerful and enduring impression is generally made in the store environment. So, for Qdoba, we developed strategic objectives for everything from store uniforms to menu boards to the appropriate style of in-store music. We even created new HR ads and collateral to help recruit new staff that share the brand’s artisanal values.