Crunchtime Brand Identity Overhaul

Project Background & Challenge

In late 2022, Zenput, the restaurant tech company where I worked as a marketing designer, was acquired by Crunchtime. This acquisition was part of Crunchtime’s strategy to consolidate its position as an industry leader, following its acquisition of two other startups: Brandmate and Squadle. With these new products in tow, it was clear that the existing brand identity, which had been in place for over 25 years, was no longer fit for purpose. The brand guidelines were outdated, the logo was unscalable, and the visual identity lacked consistency, with various versions of an old "Chefy" symbol being used indiscriminately. As a whole, the branding and messaging no longer aligned with Crunchtime’s values or market positioning.

Approach

To address these challenges, the newly formed Crunchtime marketing design team, consisting of myself as the main marketing designer and the creative director, collaborated closely with an external agency. We also worked with our VP of marketing and senior director of product marketing, who provided crucial insights into product history, competitor landscapes, and creative strategy. Over three months, we meticulously developed and refined a new logo and brand philosophy that would accurately reflect Crunchtime’s modern identity and appeal to our core customers: quick service restaurant corporations such as Taco Bell, Chipotle, and Jersey Mike’s, as well as the restaurant operators, managers, and crew members who support these businesses daily.

Logo & Brandmark Analysis

The final logo design embodies professionalism, approachability, trustworthiness, and personality—key attributes we identified as essential for Crunchtime’s brand. The wordmark’s clean, rounded, and bold typography communicates reliability and modernity, crucial for a tech company serving the fast-paced restaurant industry. The accompanying brandmark, composed of dots that increase in size and color intensity as the move from bottom left to top right, symbolizes the optimization and streamlining of operations, reinforcing Crunchtime’s role in enhancing restaurant efficiency.

Website Design

With the new logo and brand philosophy in place, we turned our attention to revamping Crunchtime’s website. Leveraging my web design and UX knowledge, I wireframed and designed a significant portion of the site, ensuring that crucial elements like product information, customer stories of note, and essential call-to-actions—such as “request a demo” and “join a product tour”—were prominently featured. We collaborated with a website development company to bring this vision to life on the Hubspot platform, resulting in a user-friendly and visually consistent online presence.

Marketing Branding

We extended the new branding across all marketing assets to maintain a cohesive visual identity. This included redesigning case studies, sell sheets, presentation decks, social media graphics, product explainer videos, email graphics, spot illustrations, product marketing diagrams, and iconography. Each piece was carefully crafted to align with our refreshed brand identity, ensuring that all customer touchpoints reflected Crunchtime’s professionalism, approachability, and commitment to enhancing restaurant operations.

Outcome

The result is a cohesive and modern brand identity that stands out in the competitive restaurant tech landscape. Our new logo, brandmark, website, and marketing assets not only reflect Crunchtime’s growth and position as a trusted partner in the industry but also promise our customers upward growth and profitability. By modernizing the visual language and enhancing the digital experience, we ensured that Crunchtime’s brand identity is as strong and reliable as the products it offers, helping to secure continued trust and success in the market.