Headquartered in Montreal, Shifu’s goal is to become a recognized brand throughout North America for Chinese quick-service food.
In English, Shifu means “master.” The name was chosen as a tribute to Mr. Ping, who started his journey as a dishwasher, eventually opened his own restaurant, and after a 30 year career, passed the reins to his sons and friends. They’re ushering in a new era with eco-friendly operations, modern technology, and a new restaurant name and branding.
The team came to me with a chef logo they already had. They were open to evolving it a bit. But we decided this didn’t feel like a modern enough solution, and didn’t help to break stereotypes associated with Chinese food and customer service. A better idea: in Cantonese cooking, fire creates “the breath of the wok” (wok hei), and Shifu’s namesake chef rules this element in the kitchen. So instead, we went with an “S” crafted to suggest fire and movement.
The Shifu block lettering is geometric and modern, but still references Chinese calligraphy so people will know it’s a Chinese restaurant.
A set of secondary logos with enclosures (graphic designer jargon for shapes that hold things) are useful for making branded materials. You’ll see them appear in patterns and packaging.
The green and orange color palette is designed to stand out from typical red and black Chinese restaurant design. And it looks great with food photos.
Store photos by @senpaimedia
I had some copywriting fun in the sample posts above. This brand has an energetic vibe that includes humor, so these are examples they can riff on.
Below is a mockup of one of Shifu’s many take-out packages. The signature fire pattern includes hidden Shifu S logos. A dozen different lids can be mixed and matched with bottoms to create a riot of orange and green boxes—super photogenic. Customers keep posting pix on social media and mentioning them in Yelp reviews. Best of all, every package and utensil used in the restaurant will go into the same waste bin for industrial composting.
The first Shifu restaurant is now open in Montreal. Yelp reviews are mentioning the branding, which is very gratifying. Mission accomplished!
