SOS Chefs

SOS Chefs

Where the Pros Go

Since 1996, chefs around the world have relied on SOS Chefs to bring exotic and uncommon spices to their kitchen. They have thrived on bringing the first, and best of what is available from the bounty of the world. Their motto “where the pros go” is quite literal: their storefront is a revolving door of the cities most renowned chefs, and special orders for high-end, one of a kind dishes are a daily occurence.

SOS Chefs has been a Manhattan institution for decades, but despite their store being frequented by the most well known chefs in the city, their online presence needed a refresh. Our goals with this project were twofold: to seamlessly switch the SOS Chefs online store to the Shopify platform, and to instill customer confidence with a modern and attractive look. We leveraged photos from an in-house photoshoot of their unique store, and created a satisfying and on-brand user experience to complete a cohesive website that has led to a huge increase in the business’ online sales.

BRAND STRATEGY
BRAND IDENTITY
PACKAGING DESIGN

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
PRINT DESIGN
DIGITAL AND SOCIAL DESIGN

Spicing Things Up

Properly executed animated display ads will always catch the eye. With all of the beautiful ingredients and spices to choose from at SOS Chefs, we had a selection of hundreds of eye-catching photos, from our photoshoot, for animated banner ads. We created simple, yet effective .gif animations with bright green pistachios and vividly red dried berries to add splashes of color, and convey a small part of what it is like to be inside the beautiful East Village storefront.

When SOS asked us to design a new price sheet to send out to their clients, we incorporated on-brand textures, fonts and photos that were cohesive with the digital assets that we had created previously, and that they had found success with.

Hydrate Your Soul

When SOS Chefs came to us for help with a new saffron-infused water they were developing, we were immediately excited to be a part of the branding and bottle design process. Knowing that we would have a clear label to work with, and would have yellow water with orange saffron accents shining through it, we designed the Zaff logo and label to complement the aesthetic of the actual saffron water itself, and to fit the sentiment of the tagline: “Repair your mind, hydrate your soul, seek clarity”. To frame the poem that they wanted on the back of the bottle, a crocus was the perfect answer: the bright purple and green coloring and loose pseudo-painting style can be seen through the bottle, complementing the logo, and giving a nod to saffron’s origin.