Meaty rebrand for Cranks chain

Health food restaurant chain Cranks is reinventing itself again with a new image, and with meat on the menu for the first time.

The rebranding follows a 2m cash injection from Capricorn International and majority shareholder Piper Trust.

The concept, Vitality and Health, is being implemented at the chain’s flagship on London’s Marshall Street. Interiors are by Design Solution, while the reworked Cranks logo, packaging, point-of-sale material and colour scheme are a collaboration between Gabrielle Shaw Communications and Chocolate.

A Canary Wharf café has opened, and the four other outlets will be refurbished in the next six months, with new sites to be announced. The chain aims to be 20-strong in three years’ time, and airport sites are being considered.

The new concept is described by a Cranks spokeswoman as, “the ultimate re-energiser for people on the go”.

The chain has had a number of incarnations since founder David Canter created the original look in the early 1970s.

Cranks ditched its wickerwork image in favour of a more sophisticated profile 12 years ago, with the then Newell and Sorrell on identity and Austin-Smith Lord on interiors (DW 3 October 1986).

Piper Trust, which has been Cranks’ major shareholder since 1992, then brought in architect BPTW to refurbish the interiors.

Fast-food concept Cranks Express was introduced by Piper Trust in 1996 with interiors, menu design and signage by Design Solution.