Farm Food Drink SPOTLIGHT - Bean Boy Creations
Table of Contents
Kevin Meadows is a serial food business entrepreneur. For over sixteen years he has dabbled in producing food for the farmers market consumer, and knows what people like. After making hummus recipes for his personal use, friends convinced him that he should sell them, and Bean Boy Creations was born.
Bean Boy was juried into the Vancouver Farmer’s Markets, and things took off. And then COVID came along and closed most of the markets and craft fairs, so Kevin had to look at a way to shift his business to make it more sustainable. He took advantage of the Food Business Refresh program, its funding, expert advice, and support, to implement a pivot plan.
The reliance on markets and fairs is limiting, so the marketing plan is to expand into regional grocery chains to make Bean Boy Creations a more viable business. To maximize that potential, Kevin came to Farm Food Drink to uplevel his branding.
The Project
Even though there was established brand equity (awareness/recognition), there still needed to be a concerted effort to polish and address requirements to be listed in a regional grocery chain. Farm Food Drink Creative determined that the brand elements were distinct, well positioned, and competed well, they just needed tweaking to present a more visual cohesiveness and professional refinement.
Kevin knew that in order to grow, he needed a wholesale strategy to get into regional grocers. But when you’re a sole proprietor entrepreneur, you typically spend most of your time working in the business but not on your business.
Farm Food Drink was engaged to round out Kevin’s knowledge of the necessary steps to take in order to grow the wholesale aspect successfully. Refining the brand, enabling retail conversations, and establishing a web presence will create a solid foundation from which Bean Boy Creations can grow.
The Creative
The existing Bean Boy hippy-style brand already reflects the company, its personality, and quality ingredients. We took the opportunity to finesse the logo and label elements to make the brand retail-ready, so it competes well on display within its category.
Care was taken to protect the brand equity and current positioning. With regulatory requirements, some additions had to be navigated (space on the packaging) at the same time that subtle tweaks were being made to the overall brand.
Logo
The Bean Boy logo was distinctive and charming, but the colour blend in the bean was out of place and not consistent across all labels. Along with some minor touch ups, now the colour of the bean is varied and has a hint as to the flavour – e.g. red for chili, purple for curry current.
Labels
In retail, there is little control of how product is displayed. A Bean Boy example is their shelf position at a large health-food chain. Displayed in a fridge, on a shelf at eye level, there was no way to see the lid-only label to identify brand or flavour.
Farm Food Drink Creative designed an additional label for the side of each container, so that it is visible no matter where it would be displayed. That also included some technical adjustments:
- CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) compliances
- Changed spelling of humous to hummus – a more recognizable, industry standard term
- Removed reference to 95% organic (due to regulations)
- Added French for retail compliance
- Added ‘Crafted on Vancouver Island’ for place marketing identity
The Result
Kevin has received rave reviews of the new logo and branding based on the new professional design. As he delivers product to markets, he sees the new look as a refresh for his loyal customers, and an appealing attractor for new purchasers.
The new brand assets will better position Bean Boy within its category for retail grocery and specialty food stores. These upgrades will help draw attention to the unique and amazing flavours of the dips themselves. (They’re good, try the Curry Current dip!)
Client Reaction
The brand update was just the beginning for Kevin. Next is a branded Sales Sheet for wholesale and retail opportunities, plus a new website to establish a more robust online presence.
“I was a bit nervous about having someone mess with my brand,” shared Kevin. “But the Farm Food Drink team was respectful, informative, and such lovely people to work with.”
From Tammi Hall, Farm Food Drink Creative Director, “The foundation of Kevin’s brand was good. It has a colourful, playful quality that makes it memorable to loyal customers and would stand out among competitors. We didn’t want to lose that whimsy. Our approach was simply to elevate and refine the existing brand for better retail appeal.”
Kevin has excellent contacts and relationships with people across B.C. After the summer market season, Bean Boy will be ready to spread hummus love into many more outlets throughout the province.
If you need some creative input and want to add a bit of polish to your marketing and brand elements to ensure you meet retail standards, contact us for start a conversation.
Farm Food Drink Team
