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egk – or the Edible Garden Kitchen – is the on-site meal service-learning program at Aldersgate campus, serving seasonal hot meals & Pantry items to the community at Seven Arrows Elementary and Roots & Wings TK. a+ was asked to support in advising on the business model, as well as branding, and setting up custom operational functionality online. We were much obliged. To this day we run operation management, web updates & design, as well as marketing. & troubleshooting. Year 4, the program is going strong, servicing over 60% of the school’s community purchasing daily egk's tasty, healthy, and consistent offering since launch. What better case-study than that?
“inspired by the school’s commitment to teaching the Edible garden curriculum, coupled with early childhood literature, we set out to create a brand (powered by delicious food) that the children would love, and parents would come to rely on.”
With the school’s existing commitment to the Edible Garden Curriculum (Seven Arrows Elementary had already published a book with a foreword by former parent Jamie Oliver), as well as had the philosophy present in it’s curriculum already for 10+ years, we wanted to draw from the core ethos of the organization’s philosophy, but give it a fresh visual take that would draw-in its community to adopt, engage, and purchase into.
Due to logistics, and at the time, safety protocols, the business first launched as a private meal service for the school’s existing community of parent’s and teachers, with the option to expand if desired.
We were inspired by Humpty-Dumpty, an “Old-Danish” aesthetic, coupled with iconic & elaborate food packaging of yesteryear, which resulted in a playful, yet rooted brand that aims to convey credibility, health, and look as tasty as the food really is.
Four years later the brand and business model are going strong; we are happy to report they were profitable since year one. a+ remains egk’s technical partner, helping the business operate the business digitally, as well as constantly working to improve and elaborate on its technical offering, so as to deliver the best possible services to its client body.
A color-palette directly pulled from archive references as well as the real-life vintage props we sourced to create the visuals for the brand. Earthy tones, mixed with a muted, yet characteristic purple, slate, and cappuccino – and our pop of citrus – yellow to bring this brand to life.
Custom photography & styling on location in Pacific Palisades, visually treated to mimic the produce & lifestyle ads from Lifestyle periodicals from the 80s and early 90s.
We wanted this brand to feel as honest & healthy as possible; as inclusive & global as possible, and as refined as possible. A custom visual & styling language was created, because we strongly believe we eat with our eyes; we are fed & satiated not only by taste, but also by beauty!
A series of custom illustrated “egks” were commissioned to create a cast of inclusive mascots, who would speak to the audience and lend the nostalgia, novelty, and playfulness we were looking to create for the brand. Custom “fruit-stickers” were created to give the brand an authentic, farm-to-table feeling.
“This brand is one of our most playful and simply lovely. We had a lot of fun with it and feel accomplished as we were presented with a unique a technical challenge vis-à-vis the business model of the brand. our most complicated, yet rewarding web-product yet.”
A custom Shopfiy back-end pushed to the limits, the product this company sells, is not just the lasagna or chicken picatta, but rather the day of the week, child it servicing, as well as the snack & drink that accompanies each meal, to a site-specific location on campus. We needed to create a UX/UI that not only serviced the business need, but also made checking out for a day – or months at a time – happen in the shortest amount of clicks possible with ease – from both web & mobile! We have iterated on the technical offering every year since, always looking to improve functionality, while increasing the offering in tandem.
“We have worked with Andrea and her professional team at a+ for the past 3+ years; they took our concept & created a beautiful website, operational work-flow, and communication strategy (which coupled with site maintenance, they execute on weekly) for our food business. Anytime we have a problem or need to brainstorm, a+ is always right there to help create, or problem solve.”
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