Premium Sushi's Corporate Identity

This is how Premium Sushi creates a wow-factor and boosts sales with a new house style

In the distance, you hear a scooter approaching. Ding-dong. Already?!

Within half an hour, you have the sushi from that new place in Hoeksche Waard in your hands. You plop down on the couch, remove the plastic lid from the Chef Selection box, pull apart the chopsticks, and dip your first roll into the provided soy sauce. For a brief moment, you imagine yourself in Japan, as the bottom of the box gradually becomes more visible.

While you're still savouring that delicious sushi, you immediately know where you'll order from next time, but which place did you actually order from? This is exactly the question entrepreneur Koen from Premium Sushi wants to tackle with their new branding, because just like meeting new people, don't you want your name to be remembered after the first introduction?

Branding: the solution for many challenges

Providing the fastest delivery and highest quality sushi in the area is one thing, but that alone isn't enough in today's world of delivery and takeaway. Your brand needs to be rock solid to compete with the many rivals, order after order. On top of that, there's the plastic ban coming soon, where from 2024 all hospitality businesses must move away from plastic, which is heavily used in delivery and takeaway.

"Then I started thinking: since everyone will suddenly switch to cardboard food boxes by then, the price will surely increase. So I need to get in early."

A quick search on Google yields many results: hundreds of different suppliers of simple cardboard boxes, but do they really look that special? No, that won't make you stand out. Since Premium Sushi would be switching to more sustainable material anyway (in advance), this seemed like the perfect moment to start with some marketing.

"Everyone takes pictures of their food nowadays, and people will never see that a plastic container is ours. You just need something special that no one else has, and that's personal branding." 

But a visit to Westfield Mall of The Netherlands coincidentally offers the solution: La Catrina. A Mexican restaurant in the busy shopping centre caught attention with their powerful visual identity on food boxes, supplied by The Branding Club.

La Catrina | Westfield Mall of The Netherlands

Shrimply the best

Inspired by La Catrina's food boxes and driven by a decreasing number of food boxes in Koen's warehouse, they immediately contacted The Branding Club after their visit to the shopping centre. The solution to their problems: a large order of branded food boxes. It then dawned on Koen: they really didn't want to put their logo, made in Canva, on such a large order as this.

"We initially thought it was quite a lot of money, but in the end, we are really very happy with what it has brought. And it went quite smoothly!" 

Back to the drawing board! Together with the designers from the Design Studio, they met at Premium Sushi to get acquainted with each other and, of course, with the concept. Strongly attached to the colours pink and black, these would have to remain in the new design. Such a guideline does not limit the designers' creativity, because after a number of design proposals and feedback sessions, all elements have already been designed: Premium Sushi's new house style is born and recorded in the brand book!

"Then they suddenly came with a proposal and we thought: wow! We were really happy with that, and we had never seen such designs before. It was bold and had character." 

The real work only begins after the design phase: translating the house style. Premium Sushi is a new business that has been actively advertising since its launch. The new house style elevates this to a new level. All expressions, from a shopping cart and banner to a revamped website, have been given a new look. Thus, the elements from the brand book form the basis for all Premium Sushi expressions. This is important for brand recognition, but also convenient for, for example, the employee managing social media. The brand book creates a clear visual identity, both for potential guests and everyone working with the brand book.

And is the brand book also future-proof? Absolutely! Koen likes to think ahead, which is why he is already working on developing a franchise book. The guidelines within the brand book will be implemented by future franchisees so that the same house style is used in every franchise. 

More loyal guests from the very first order

That powerful hospitality branding pays off in many different ways is a fact: in the article What does branding yield for hospitality businesses? we discuss these extensively, but for Koen, the brand book primarily provides structure, clarity, and peace of mind.

"You just have a reference point. You have the fonts, colour types, the logo, the secondary logos, and you let them recur everywhere, so it's very easy. It's just very pleasant to work with." 

However, the biggest advantage is a significant sales booster: outside of the holidays, Koen expects a 40% increase in turnover after the implementation of personalised hospitality products. This turnover will largely come from repeat orders.

Previously, the percentage of guests who ordered with some regularity was about 5%. This percentage is naturally not sustainable enough for a long-term existence. Koen found out why this was the case by asking one-time guests. The answer is actually quite obvious: this large group of guests had simply forgotten where they had ordered the delicious sushi.

"That first time is simply the most important. If it's not special, or doesn't give people a good feeling, then they won't order again." 

As we said, just like meeting new people, a positive first impression is crucial to ensure your name is remembered. This also applies to the hospitality industry, where competition is fierce and word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of spreading appreciation for your brand.

The secret here lies in branding: a personalized house style that (potential) guests recognize, remember, and never forget.