The Empanada Kitchen Sauces

Design Agency: makebardo
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: The Empanada Kitchen
Location: Queenstown, New Zealand
Packaging Contents: Sauces
Packaging Materials: Glass

About
They are The Empanada Kitchen and their philosophy is: Simple Things Done Well. Their focus is on small-town South American and European street food for the working class hero. Mauro’s food-centric family and heritage has made him curious to keep experimenting and evolving. Their experience has culminated in the belief that people appreciate and savour raw simple flavours, without any “enhancements”. They don’t want people to forget what good food is supposed to taste like. Their aim is to avoid monotony, by changing our flavours all the time, and constantly experimenting with different products, and collaborating with other local Queenstown makers.

Based in Queenstown, in the heart of Central Otago, New Zealand, they believe in good and honest food, done simply, done well.

Context
Create a subcategory of the products in the brand. In this case our client needed a visual identity to make their packaging design for The Empanada Kitchen sauce product line. This was a new range of product that needed to be part of the whole family brand but with a different character.

The Sauces
Aji: Truly a taste of South America, Aji sauce is a hot zingy blend of acidic, smoky and peppery flavours, making it the perfect match for dishes with chicken, grilled meats, and seafood. Try it on fried eggs, or use it to add some spice to your culinary works of art.

Bagnetto: Typical from the Piedmont region of Italy. Amazingly good with braised and grilled meats, drizzled over crushed boiled potatoes, and can be enjoyed on toasted bread or as a dip.

Chimi: Chimi sauce brings the awesomeness to your dishes. Use it to marinade your bbq meats, pour it straight over your roast meats and veggies, add it to your stir-fries, mix with mince to make meat patties or with eggs to make omelettes.

Pica Oil: This infused oil matures for a month to intensify the aroma and unique flavour. Try it on eggs, pizza, grilled meats or add it to vinaigrettes, soups, and marinades.

Solution
We approached this project with the premise that in the main identity we used the illustration as a protagonist. In this case the typography would be our ally in developing a solid and strong identity, with other tones of communication being more gourmet and adult. For this reason we picked black as the main colour to emphasize the noble spirit of this subcategory of products.