Branding Services for Food Production Company
- Branding
- $10,000 to $49,999
- Jan. 2020 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"They are very hands on and extremely attentive to all collaboration details."
- Other industries
- Brasov, Romania
- 51-200 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
A food production company has been working with Armeanu Creative Studio for a number of years. Their latest project is working with the team about creating brands from scratch.
The company appreciated the Armeanu Creative Studio team's hands-on approach to the project as it proved quite effective. Thanks to the work done by the team, the company recorded a 12% growth in sales during 2021 over 2019 despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the owner and CEO of a food production company, with activities spanning from farming to restaurants.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
For what projects/services did your company hire Armeanu Creative Studio, and what were your goals?
Our collaboration with Armeanu Creative Studio spans for a few years. We have started with the creation of two new lines of business a new gelato brand - Cream Tailors and a food truck business -Pofta sau Foame. The gelato business has started and the food truck business turned into a 900+ seat beer hall - also with the help of Armeanu Creative Studio.
Due to the COVID situation our project evolved into a full blown Ghost Kitchen operation in which we developed all of our brands from zero with Armeanu Creative Studio. Armeanu Creative Studio had the the task of researching market competitors, coming up with possible names, brand positioning as far as tone of voice, type of attitude, etc; packaging materials, employer branding, online marketing materials, etc. Basically a complete brand from A-Z. All delivered in brand books.
SOLUTION
How did you select this vendor?
Through research and referrals. Based on this we had a meeting to further explore what they had done for other clients, their method of work, and our compatibility with their team.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
To start, they started working with our team. They had a very methodic framework and extreme attention to details regarding what we wanted and how we saw things regarding each brand. They made sure we understood each question and each aspect of what was aimed through these long process of interviewing us. They made visits in in location and interacted with our staff but also with our clients.
There was a lot of analysis that went into every aspect of our deliverables that involved our own assessment of the situation, but also their professional view of how they saw things. They presented a few different options regarding logo and positioning. Each option had many visuals and many different ways of being presented. Each was presented in detail to all of our team and discussed at length with us. All of our feedback was reincorporated in maybe other options or adaptations of what we wanted.
This by no means means that Catalin Armeanu Studio did not make sure their professional point of view was clear and very well explained, so to make sure that all correct and relevant information was known and incorporated in the project. Deliverables were finalised once all possible subjects regarding a brand were exhausted and after all of our team members were satisfied with the results.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked directly with the owners and all of their team - being as different things were done by different people.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
1. Regarding Pofta sau Foame. Even though this project was initially meant to be a food truck project, we had an oportunity to rebrand one of our locations and we decided to reposition the brand. With the help of Armeanu Creative Studio, we redid part of the branding and position of the brand. We redesigned the whole location and turned into a new Pofta sau Foame beer hall - in line with our initial work. Today the location is the most successful location in the most touristic town in Romania.
Likewise, compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019 when the location was not rebranded, today in 2021, comparing like for like - meaning the months with no restrictions in 2021 with the same months in 2019, we have over 220% growth in sales volumes. Regarding overall sales we have over 12% growth 2021 vs 2019 even though we were highly restricted from January to June.
These results are due to a full on rebranding and repositioning of the location - a lot of it with Armeanu Creative Studio. All of our location, from outdoor to indoor, employees, online visuals, packaging materials, all types of materials have been done with them. It is an ongoing process, and we are always working on this location with them. This is one of the most successful brands in our Ghost Kitchen operations - being a top 5 player in delivery in our town - while being the newest entry on this market.
2. Cream Tailors - Our first locations opened this year. We had a long process of adaptation and re-adaptation with this brand. A lot of minor but significant details were added through the process of developing the recipes. We had great success with this brand and it is the one brand and concept we love the most.
3. Ghost Kitchen brands - we have started launching our delivery-only brands. They are very well received, all of the them being in top 3 in their individual categories.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
They are very hands on and extremely attentive to all collaboration details. We had regular meetings - before COVID more face-to-face; after a lot of ZOOM meetings. These meetings were set up depending on the complexity of the project and also the rush that something needed to get done. During certain periods we had daily meetings, other periods maybe weekly.
A lot depended on processes that we had to finish in our regular business to make sure we can move forward They are highly involved in understanding the business and making sure they do not miss details - so besides independent research that they do, they have a lot of analysis interviews in our organisation plus visits in location to understand the different processes. In our collaboration, they never missed a dead-line.
To aid the process, they always send different materials meant to ease the decision making process. We communicate mostly through whatsapp groups, created for different projects, where all decision factors that are involved in a certain project are there. All these discussions and decisions are then reconfirmed through e-mail chains for each project. Likewise, they have set up a google file sharing organised for each project so we can all follow progress.
One extra thing, which has always been an issue for us, they are the only company we worked with, that would not only not get offended if we second guessed ourselves and wanted to reopen and change or reanalyse a project that was considered finalised, but created an environment that encouraged discussion and even changing what was initially finalised if the new context so imposed.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Their ability to learn and go into very deep knowledge of the specific industry we work in and the specific products we were branding. Also, we believe their unique approach to extracting what we actually want from a project was absolutely impressive - as it seems fail-proof. I can say that it worked and quite a few brands we developed together. Also, we were impressed with their ability to always deliver on-time high quality work.
As a side-note, we are not an easy to please client, we have worked with 2 different companies before them.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
All issues that might have needed improvement have been discussed with them through time and any minor improvements that needed to be done on both sides were done. At the moment - after a few years of collaboration, our partnership is the best it has ever been - and we believe it will hold this way.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"Hands down 110% what we wanted and above our expectations."
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"Never missed one deadline. All projects were done on or ahead of schedule. Schedules were very tight due to high constrains regarding new projects."
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"Compared to what they deliver probably one of the best cost vs quality. They are by no means the cheapest. They are probably the best at this price."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"5