FUEL Modern Eatery

Branding a place for healthy food

FUEL Modern Eatery is a nutritious dining space at a fitness center with nearly a million annual visitors in Tucson, Arizona. I defined and directed the restaurant’s identity and physical experience, such as the logo, menus, and environmental signage, as well as overseeing and curating the physical space, which included selecting materials, colors, and models of chairs, booths, walls, and kitchen tile.

The creative direction positioned the restaurant as clean, cozy, and health-conscious dining. The restaurant offers local, delicious food, and includes an electrolyte water bar with 6 enhanced waters on branded taps to help your body recover after a workout.

Rapid design that spanned across touchpoints

The eatery was set to launch within only a couple months before the original concept was developed, and I was selected by the University of Arizona (who owned the property) among other proposals to execute the identity I presented. I then worked with various stakeholders to embody the notion of local, healthy items and visualize exhaustive integration with the architectural space as it was being constructed.

Beyond the initial proposal, much was needed for the concept to come to fruition. I met with dining service managers, the institution’s marketing department, site architects, and various vendors and contractors. Working under constraints, adjustments and revisions were made accordingly. Budgets guided furniture selection and limited imaginative installations. Interviews informed restaurant names I had come up with. Accessibility and building codes restricted the use of restaurant layout and seating choices (i.e., originally planned to use Barcelona chairs as booths, but the seat height slants too low to be accessible to standard tables).

Deliverables

Brand experience, logo, custom typeface and named electrolyte waters, tap handle, labels, indoor and outdoor signs, menus, newspaper ads, website mockup, interior design