Azafran Rebranding and Makeover Strategy
Azafran is a 30 year old healthy-casual restaurant chain from Costa Rica. It was founded in 1991 by its Peruvian owner and had a lot of influence from this cuisine. It was a well-know classic restaurant among older people, but the younger millennial consumers did not have it in their top of mind. Moreover, as this generation of entrepreneur-minded individuals grew up, many started opening their own trendier and more modern looking restaurants, making the restaurant market much more competitive.
In 2016, Azafran had 3 different restaurants. Two where located in an old mall and another one was located in the executive center of San José. They maintained a classic dinner appearance and their focus was mainly the lunch menu aimed for executives that worked in nearby offices.
The logo already had 25 years of being used, so the rebranding designed for the brand maintained most of the graphic elements but freshened the brand with newer, trendier fonts for their graphics. The icon was given a stamp look and feel, to align with the concept of healthy handmade food.
Based on research made on new consumer habits, two new restaurant locations were planned. One opened in 2018 in Lindora, a higher-scale neighborhood that was rapidly growing, and the other was scheduled for 2019 inside Oxigeno, a large new shopping center that was opening with the concept of a human playground.
The older cafeteria concept was replaced with a fresher concept, which aimed to create Instagram-friendly spaces where customers would feel more inclined to take pictures of their experience and share them on social media. The icon was replicated as a neon sign and as a moss sign in the inside, giving the restaurant a more fresher look that aligned more with the healthy-casual concept. Plastic tables were replaced with marble tables, creating a perfect background for the over the top millennial foodies that loved to share their plates on Instagram.
The menu was also redesigned to have more dishes that millennial customers were more likely to share. Additionally, the plating of older classic dishes was redesigned for this purpose. A brunch menu, as well as a cocktail menu designed by a professional mixologist were created to expand the restaurant lunch experience and target new customer niches.
The new menu maintained Azafran’s classic dishes and expanded their selection of healthy options, as well as their Peruvian-influenced dishes, with unique Peruvian classics such as the fried Nikkei ceviche and the fish chifa.
A weekend brunch menu was designed alongside the cocktail menu. Brunch events with live mixology and music were planned to be held on weekends in the new location to create awareness of the new restaurant.
Inside the kitchen, processes were optimized with newer cooking technology. New plates were created with recipes cooked in sous vide, making it possible to serve healthy flavorful dishes in only a few minutes.
Thanks to social media, consumers’ knowledge of healthy foods and ingredients started growing and quickly changing. Consumers that cared about their health were constantly looking for the new “it” healthy ingredient of the moment and were eagerly sharing it when they found it. Restaurants that kept up to date with these trends benefited from the social exposure health-conscious millennials gave them every time they shared their new healthy latte. To strengthen Azafran’s healthy concept, a superfood smoothie menu was designed, as well as a latte menu that included healthy options such as golden milk and a matcha latte. Superfood ingredients were also incorporated in dessert recipes, such as golden berry macarons, matcha alfajores and dragon fruit chia pudding.
In terms of social media, multiple photography sessions were planned to create fresher, higher quality images that portrayed Azafran’s healthy dishes more attractively. These images were used by the digital marketing agency on the old Facebook page and on a new Instagram page that was created for the new younger, millennial customers.
