When brothers and co-owners Tristan & Jackson approached Play House, they emphasized how personal + meaningful it was to have just opened a brick-and-mortar café in their hometown of Battle Creek, MI; in recent years, downtown had become a transient place to do business and split-town (nicknamed “Cereal City,” Battle Creek is still home to Kellogg’s and once the home to Post). Tristan and Jackson knew there was not only the need for a great cup of coffee downtown, but more importantly, there was an opportunity to provide community in an area that desperately craved it.

After quickly outgrowing a successful walk-up coffee cart, Café Rica knew their vision for the brand wasn’t fully realized. Café Rica expressed the need for a brand that felt friendly, tropical, and approachable to the entire community. And while the old brand was already founded in their Costa Rican heritage, but there was room for improvement.

Out of the gate, we launched a refreshed brand identity and 3 cold brew cans. Together we’ve now released 3 different packaging systems including cold brew, bagged coffee, and iced tea, lemonade and canned water packaging, podcasts (design), seasonal merch releases, annual events, and more.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:

Brand Identity
Packaging Systems, Design & Production
Signage & Environmental Design
Merch Design
Menu Design
Event & Campaign Design