Eat rolls out new identity and interiors

Food and drink chain Eat has unveiled its new branding and interiors by The Plant and Stiff and Trevillion, which will debut in a concept store on the Strand in London tomorrow.

The new Eat logo and interiors
The new Eat logo and interiors

In September The Plant revealed it would rebrand Eat for the first time since the chain’s launch in 1996. The consultancy was appointed to the project in June this year.

Justin Hallström, designer at The Plant, says, ‘We tried to create something a bit more hand-crafted to reflect the food. The logo has a lot of equity so we only slightly tweaked it to make it more friendly and approachable, and to update it to make it a bit more modern.’

Eat packaging
Eat packaging

The hand-crafted feel of the new branding is reflected in a new typographic style, according to The Plant, and using updated graphics that references the idea of ingredients coming together ‘in the way you would put together a dish,’ according to Hallström.

The Plant introduced a new colour palette with red, greens, yellow, pink and grey, replacing the previous brown and white. These are used to differentiate the food offers, such as grey for coffee, egg-yolk yellow for soup and terracotta red for hot food.

Illustrations for Eat
Illustrations for Eat

Hallström says, ‘It was a big thing to bring in a lot more colour.  We wanted to bring in a bit more life and energy.’

The new positioning has introduced new ‘key thoughts and messages’ for the brand, created with copywriter Jamie Huxley, which are shown across in-store graphics. These messages including ‘We add the finishing touches right from the start’ and ‘a healthy obsession with food.’

Eat's new concept
Eat’s new concept

The new Strand flagship store, with inferiors by Stiff and Trevillion, will feature Eat’s first open kitchen, aiming to put  ‘the preparation and serving of the food at the centre of the customer experience.’

Digital menu boards will be used to show customers what will be on the menu for the next day and the next week; while a new self-service area will include a breakfast offer in the morning an afternoon tea from lunchtime.

Eat new uniforms
Eat new uniforms

Artist Joel Penkman, from the Handsome Frank illustration agency, is producing four egg tempera food illustration paintings for the space.

Sarah Doyle, marketing director of Eat says, ‘ We are very excited to be unveiling EAT.’s new look which we feel reflects the core principles on which our brand was originally founded. It is modern and stylish, yet also has a natural, simple and handcrafted feel, which reflects the essence of our food. The new design marks the start of a new stage of growth and expansion for the business.’

The new branding and store design will roll out across Eat’s existing and new stores, including a new site opposite Reading’s Oracle shopping centre,  from early next year. 

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Comments
  • constanza gaggero November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Whishy washy – Is it just me or it does looks like everything else? Sad, it was quite a statement

  • karen morton November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I like the earthy wooden panels with chalk boards on the sides which is in keeping with the earthy aim. Like the last comment I think that the packaging lacks imagination and the use of colour is liking to what has been used in contract catering for the past 15 years. Good luck to them anyway, The EAT at Heathrow was heaving yesterday morning at 6.00 a.m. so anywhere they have a captive audience for a quick tastey bite – the change won’t matter much.

  • Irfan Ahmed November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    They’ve used a really elegant and intelligent approach. A natural evolution of a well established brand.

    Like the traditional typography but there IS a lot of it about. But I guess it being traditional means there will be by definition. Great work nonetheless.

  • Stephen Mortimer November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Doesn’t look that different to Pret. Slap a Pret logo on the poster and hey presto. Its OK but its just following a trend and is lacking personality.

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