Frawley | Branding and Marketing Agency

Rebranding a Family owned Italian Restaurant

Thinking about How to Grow your Business?

Two heads are better than one!

Client Testimonial

Hugh McMahon, Director

“Bella Italia undertook a rebranding project with Frawley. We really didn’t know where to start at the time. Frawley provided a solution for us and really helped us to focus on the strengths of our business, our story and our brand.

We found them to be a very dynamic team to work with. They guided us through the reasoning for all the changes that they suggested and followed through for the whole project. They were with us through every step of the way, from the original concept, through to the customer research, site visits, packaging, design, layout and branding. We were absolutely thrilled with the final results. We definitely have become more focused, and know in what direction our company should be going. We can highly recommend Frawley for their talent and expertise in this area. Well done to Tony and all the team.”

The Background

For many Limerick people, Bella Italia is an institution, having first opened its doors for business in 1990. To celebrate its 25th year in business, Frawley’s challenge was to develop and position Bella Italia for growth in the coming years.

Down through the years, the business evolved and survived very turbulent economic times, continuing to flourish from year to year. In recent times the market has become very competitive with many new businesses now competing on Bella’s doorstep. The business owners wanted to stand out from the crowd and focus on those people who are looking for fresh, authentic Italian food in the heart of Limerick City.

Brand Positioning

A Fratello & Sorella Story

We dug deep into the brand and carried out customer and internal stakeholder research to ascertain Bella Italia’s ‘who’ and what exactly makes it unique. It became very clear that this is a family story. We felt that this story specifically needed to be told, developing a new core message, ‘A Fratello & Sorella story’ (meaning ‘a brother and sister story’) for the business, to help position it for growth. We carried this through to a new brand identity incorporating the core message and then executed this along with their brand story across multiple touch points including signage, menus, video, photography, packaging, labels, social media and a new mobile-responsive website. As the next chapter in their story unfolds, we wish them every success. #afratello&sorellastory

Brand Identity

During our research, Caroline commented “It’s all about the Tomatoes!” The tomato is the simplest of ingredients and is the cornerstone of Italian food. We created a symbol consisting of 3 interlinking tomatoes that represent the key ingredients of the Bella Italia story: the Bella Italia family, their loyal customers and their love of cooking consistently great food. This simple, hand rendered illustration evokes the passion and energy behind the Bella Italia name. The symbol is supported by an energetic font, stylised to suit. The colour palette is simple. Red and green serve to communicate not only the tomato motif, but also the love the Bella Italia team has for creating authentic Italian dishes. Black is timeless and sophisticated and its perfectly suited to this established brand.