Branding
Strategy
Social Media

Smoke & Slaw: a Southern BBQ brand built around a Jazz Fest origin story

BBQ street food brand identity, guidelines and ongoing social

Client

Smoke & Slaw

Services

Branding, Strategy, Social Media

Year

2026

Outcome

Brand identity and ongoing social presence for Smoke & Slaw, a Southern-style BBQ catering brand.

Smoke & Slaw is a Southern-style BBQ catering business founded by a former police officer who'd been chasing a specific taste for years: the Cochon de lait Po-Boy he'd had at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. The food was already there. We built the brand to match, and we now run the ongoing social presence behind it.

The outcome

A complete brand identity and ongoing social engine for Smoke & Slaw, anchored on a single line that travels with the business: "Are you ready to feast?"

Delivered:

Brand strategy through a discovery day session focused on the founder's story, the menu and the event-catering audience
A full brand identity: bold display wordmark, a crossed flame-and-utensils icon, a red-led palette, supporting typography and a brand voice
A complete brand guidelines document so the team can apply the system without coming back for every new asset
A media tool kit covering social templates, event-day collateral, packaging applications and the website
An ongoing social retainer keeping @smoke_n_slaw alive between event dates

Since launch, Smoke & Slaw has built recognition in the event-catering circuit, and enquiries about catering bookings have lifted noticeably.

The challenge

Smoke & Slaw had something most food businesses don't: a sharp origin story. A former police officer with years of Jazz Fest attendance, a specific food memory (the Cochon de lait Po-Boy slider), and a catering operation already attracting paying customers.

What it didn't have was a brand that did any of that justice. Without a defined identity, the catering side was running on word-of-mouth and the founder's natural energy, with nothing visual to anchor the operation as bookings scaled.

The brief had three parts:

Translate the founder's specific origin story into a brand identity that earned its place at food markets and events
Build a system the team could apply themselves across packaging, social, event-day collateral and digital touchpoints
Set up an ongoing social presence so the brand could keep showing up between event dates

Our approach

We started with a discovery day focused on what made Smoke & Slaw specifically Smoke & Slaw, not generic Southern-style. The Jazz Fest origin, the specific menu inspiration, the founder's instinct for what works at events.

Key creative decisions:

An identity rooted in a specific place, not a generic theme. The brand references real Louisiana cues rather than catch-all Americana. Palette, typography and graphic language came from real reference points in the founder's story.
A line that earns its place: "Are you ready to feast?" Active, inviting, deployable across the website hero, social, event collateral and signage without needing to be re-thought every time.
A crossed flame-and-utensils icon. Simple, ownable, recognisable at thumbnail scale on social tiles and packaging.
A red-led palette and bold display typography. High contrast, energy-first. Reads from across an event ground and holds its own next to food photography rather than competing with it.
A toolkit designed for an ongoing operation. Social templates, event-day collateral patterns, packaging layouts. The team can produce on-brand assets on the day of an event without sending anything back to us.
Multiple concept routes tested against the founder's story. Three to four directions during concept development, with the final identity emerging from feedback on the small details: typeface weight, palette balance, graphic restraint.
An ongoing retainer to keep the brand alive on social. Catering is event-based; the social presence has to keep showing up between events. We handle the ongoing rhythm.

What it does for Smoke & Slaw

The brand carries the founder's story into rooms where the founder isn't. Event organisers booking catering see a brand that matches the food. Social audiences see consistent presence between event dates. Enquiries have lifted since launch, and the catering operation has a visual identity that can scale with the business.