Arnold Wong, a chef with a successful career in San Francisco, was the force behind a new fast-casual dining concept serving healthy Asian cuisine in a hip, urban atmosphere. The chef and investors came to 4040 with the premise for the restaurant including a set of values to inform the core of the brand: sustainable, authentic, fresh and edgy. The establishment intended to serve a late-night crowd targeted a younger audience.
We created a complete conceptual branding system for the prototype, leading with the name Big Boss, after a film starring kung-fu icon Bruce Lee. The graphic style combined a gritty urban feel with traditional Asian art, and the interior of the restaurant would be comprised of recycled and highly renewable materials. This atmospheric
presence, along with a menu featuring organic and locally grown ingredients, drives home Big Boss’s core principle of sustainability. The system was designed as a flexible
toolkit to accommodate expansion.