BUBA CHURROS

Gourmet Churro

Keys: Redesign, Product, Gastronomy, Candy

One of the main references of the gastronomic branch of Morro de São Paulo - Bahia, Buba Churros, since its foundation, has been winning consecutive awards as the best street food rated by users visiting the region. First place on TripAdvisor, the company has an excellent recognition from regular visitors, being an attraction for night tours on the Island. On the other hand, its old visual identity did not follow part of the company's evolution, presenting some structural and aesthetic problems, making it difficult to apply and to unfold institutional pieces.

Redesign

With a gourmet aesthetic, the implicit idea of providing a premium version of a churros is to provide a different user experience. At Buba Churros, this experience is given by the affection deposited in the production of food and, consequently, in its taste. The owners are very concerned with always offering the best ingredients and combinations, fulfilling the credibility gained with the public. The objective of the process of building the new visual identity was to recreate part of this affection in the “making” of the company, with products of excellence and service close to the public.

The concepts inherent to Buba Churros products and services, such as authorship and proximity to public aspects, were reflected in the development of the logo. For this reason, an exclusive cursive typography was created, designed manually to explore a more intimate concept of identity. In addition, in the typography, an element was added that also alludes to the quality of the products offered, the chef's hat represented in the logo has this function, as it is easily associated with the gourmet segment by the public.

Three patterns were developed in the graphics section. The elements created resonate the churros in different formats and also other ingredients added to the product. This aesthetic complements the playful and delicate concept intended for the brand. An important change occurred with the change in the color palette; this decision went through the identification of restrictions that the shades of brown and pink presented to each other, having little contrast for reading, requiring in most cases a white outline to solve this problem. This same characteristic can be seen in the previous version of the brand. The new palette features brown and yellow as institutional colors, allowing for a greater variety of application variations for the brand.

Along with the development of the new logo, a second signature for the brand was created. This version is linked as a support element or for situations in which the reduction impairs the reading of the main brand. The monogram, made with the initials of the name, features a box that alludes to the shape of the churros seen from above.

Stationery

Buba Churros presents less demands on its stationery, so the budget can be implemented in the creation of pieces with more refined finishes. For example, your business card has a specific cut, in the exact format of the brand's special signature. In addition to the attention to finishing, there was a concern to alternate institutional colors as the main chromatic elements, to accurately increase the relaxed and playful characteristics of the identity.

Packaging

From this project, the company started to personalize its packaging. In large part, this is one of the most important institutional applications, due to the fact that it is strictly linked to the product supplied by Buba Churros. In addition, it has become a standard behavior among users who frequent the site to take pictures of churros and post on their social networks. With its own packaging, this type of situation ends up generating a passive disclosure of the company made voluntarily by users.

Another developed application completed a demand identified in the prospecting process for this project. The company did not have a suitable solution for customers who bought churros for travel or in large quantities; they were usually packed in plastic bags, with no visual content from the company and with materials that are harmful to the environment. For this, a recycled paper packaging was developed, with the company's standard and a thank you label for the purchase made.

Dynamic Menu

One of the most fun pieces to develop in the project was due to the new menu by Buba Churros. With 4 different stages of choice and over 15,000 possible combinations, the ordering process for churro presented some complications, mainly in understanding the dynamics of the service and the types of ingredients available for each stage, which resulted in a delay in the customer's choice stage.

The challenge of solving these three issues, in addition to the discrepancy in the choice of ingredients between the steps, was solved by adopting a different format for the menu. The circular model fit perfectly with all these demands, intuitively inducing the user to go through the creation cycle of their churros, beginning to understand the process with greater agility.

To speed up the selection process, owners were suggested to hold a session on the menu, focused exclusively on the most requested combinations of churros. For this session, nicknamed the team's favorite, a photo essay was developed with the chosen churros and their ingredients. The menu's success was proven in the first hours of implementation, showing an improvement in customer service time. Therefore, the company started to supply greater demands and to have smaller queues. Two other versions of the menu were also developed, one in English and the other in Hebrew, two of the main consumers of products.

Uniforms

Until the present project, the owners worked in a uniform that did not present much identification with the company, in addition to the clothes having an austere tone, consisting of a dolma in blue jeans. For this project, the idea was to break some of the rigidity of the previous model, with institutional colors applied to the pieces, with the addition of a chocolate-colored apron and a yellow dolma. The uniform has the main brand of the company, its special signature and also an application in reference to the fact that Buba Churros is the number one establishment of the users.

Food Car

The last project segment was the development of the new point of sale. As it is a device for daily use, it was extremely necessary to understand the restrictions and external factors that orbit the company's dynamics. As the cart is transported daily for 300 meters between the shed and the beach by a quadricycle, it was essential that light materials were used in its construction. In addition, it was essential that it did not contain materials susceptible to oxidation and other weather conditions.

The body was built entirely in fiberglass, with a central finish in alucobond with wood texture, an element that aims to link the development to the aesthetics of the beach. The columns and supports are made of stainless steel and covered with fiberglass and waterproof marine canvas. As the cart's activities are carried out at night, resources were used that maximized the company's identity. The cart has two inscriptions and an illuminated sign, internal light on the ceiling and a TV with promotional material. The cart has a built-in refrigerator for selling drinks, unprecedented for owners.

A new action plan for the company's social networks will be developed soon and, consequently, the creation of new advertising materials, photo essays and videos. In addition, thanks to the rapid growth of the business, the owners have future plans to open a fixed point and increase the product portfolio. So we will have more projects coming up!