If you call Tony’s Taco Shop, the voice on the other end will give you a happy greeting, affirm that you’ve reached Tony’s, and ask you what you’d like to order. If you’re lucky, that voice just might belong to Alfonso Hernandez, founder and owner of the establishment.
When we first stepped into their brick-and-mortar shop in north-east Salem, they were already at a stage where they were smoothly running 4 franchises all across the state of Oregon. Four franchises, however, do not provide enough space to house all the passion Alfonso has for Tony’s. Tony’s still had room to grow, and we were perfectly matched to help them do it. Thus began our year-long journey in guiding the evolution of their brand.
Our mission was clear: to pave the way for growth while keeping the heart of the brand intact.
Being in service for over a decade, Tony’s had established itself as more than a restaurant. It was the “after-school hang-out spot” for the local highschool students. It was the place to visit after watching a soccer game, the “quick bite” construction workers look for at lunch. Everyone had an idea of what Tony’s was- one of our goals was to unify those ideas into a solid and consistent brand by redesigning the logo and creating a brand guideline.
Meet the chili pepper. It’s red. It’s bold. It’s Tony’s Taco Shop.
Tony’s chili pepper is a classic Salem icon. We understood from the get-go that our rebranding will be less about creating new elements and more about restructuring, refreshing, and defining existing elements. So we gave the chili pepper a make-over. It sports a sombrero adorned with chips, a thunderbolt representing efficient service, and a mustache the color of earth, stylistically based on the mustache of the iconic Mexican revolutionary known as El Caudillo del Sur.
Developing Tony’s Digital Presence
With the brand strategy completed, the foundation was set. We were now ready to go live! While this included everything tangible (e.g implementing designs into packaging, changing menu boards and drive-through displays), we put a tremendous amount of effort into breaking into a then-virtually untapped market for Tony’s: the digital world. In this virtual space, we executed System Optimizations (Delivery Systems, POS Systems, Google My Business profile, Google Maps, Apple Maps), Website Development, Search Engine Marketing (SEO, PPC, Social Media Ads), Social Media Management, and Content Creation.
The Grand, Grand Opening
Why grand x 2? This summer, Tony’s Taco Shop opened a brand-new store in south-east Salem. This was to be their new staple store, and was special because everything about this store was to be derived from the brand identity we developed together. Our team was involved down to the interior design of the building itself. When we stepped inside, we saw a living, physical manifestation of our ideas. In a moment that was representative of our entire collaboration thus far, the experience was quite grand. Grand enough that it’s worth saying twice.
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