Caffeine & Cake was developed as a daytime coffee sub-brand for Dodo Pub Co., designed to make its neighbourhood pubs feel more welcoming outside traditional drinking hours.

The project included positioning, naming, a full visual identity and the design of compact coffee concessions that could be introduced into existing pub spaces. It was trialled across two sites as a way to grow daytime trade and reach customers who might not otherwise choose to work, meet or spend time in a pub.

Several Dodo pubs were located in residential neighbourhoods and market towns where daytime footfall was relatively limited, despite there being an opportunity to serve local coffee-shop customers.

The challenge was partly one of perception. The pubs needed to feel comfortable and credible as daytime spaces for coffee, cake and laptop working, without losing their existing identity once the evening trade began.

Caffeine & Cake was conceived as a clearly defined concession within the wider Dodo world: independent enough to appeal to a coffee-shop audience, but practical enough to operate from within an existing pub. The operating model centred on a small number of trained baristas, improving the quality and consistency of the coffee while allowing each concession to be run by one person.

A complete identity was created across typography, colour, illustration, menus, packaging, printed collateral and signage, supported by the layout and interior design of the concession counters.

The concept was trialled in two Dodo pubs and initially succeeded in attracting a different daytime audience and giving the sites a more credible coffee offer. It demonstrated that an existing hospitality space could be repositioned for a new part of the day without requiring a completely separate venue.

The longer-term model was ultimately overtaken by changes in customer habits following Covid. Although the original concessions did not endure, the project remains a useful example of using brand, layout and operating design together to test a commercial opportunity within an existing estate.

Capabilities

Brand Strategy • Positioning • Naming • Identity System • Creative Direction • Typography • Colour Palette • Illustration • Art Direction • Brand Guidelines • Interior Design • Layout Planning • Signage • Menus • Packaging • Business Cards • Print Collateral • Brand Rollout