Brand voice, positioning + copy with Squarespace web design

Vision:

A beautiful website for the spectacular sensory experience Zach Morris and partners were creating at Bloomsday Cafe, a new all day cafe and natural wine bar.

Obstacles:

Conveying the heart, soul, and philosophy of service and sourcing behind Bloomsday. It’s not just a pretty cafe; it’s an embodiment of deep values.

We could call owner Zach Morris a lot of things: entrepreneur, restauranteur, sommelier, traveler, foodie, environmentalist, old school, new school, idealist, realist. I’d call him a kind person who values creating beauty and connection, taking care of the earth and each other, and having a damn good meal with a few strong drinks while we’re at it.

But you can’t just slap that on a home page with a pretty picture and call it a day.

Zach had a lot to say about what Bloomsday Cafe is and what he hoped it would become after his team finished renovating its historical location in Philly’s Head House Square. As we geared up for Bloomsday’s grand opening in June 2019, it was my job and absolute pleasure to distill Zach’s deep values and creative vision into writing and design that depicted Bloomsday as a cafe with a conscience, a sense of humor, and something to say about kindness, weirdness, and the age-old human experience of gathering over good food and drink.

Solutions:

Brand voice, positioning, website writing, and custom Squarespace design

We started with Clarity Sessions that dug into Zach’s goals for his website, brand, and business. We knew we wanted to express the following through Bloomsday’s site and writing:

• The sensory delight that is Bloomsday cafe: by day, a spot for incredible coffee, pastries, and small plates that are composed and served with true care; by night, a natural wine bar with an excessively creative cocktail menu and culinary delights informed by the cafe partners’ travels, local and global upbringings, nearby farms, and sustainable food sourcing

• What sustainability, preservation, and provenance mean to Zach and how his views inform the practices of Bloomsday — reducing or reusing waste (hello, vermouth, pickling, and curing!), sourcing fresh and local ingredients in small batches, selling products from suppliers they know, believe in, and want to support, among many other methods of showing love to our plant and the people on it

• The service Bloomsday believes in: kindness always. Living wages. Acknowledging and celebrating differences.

• Highlighting Bloomsday’s unique little bottle shop where you can get amazing local and/or natural spirits

• Setting the stage for future events centered around the pleasures of potation, caffeination, and fermentation – hosted by/in Bloomsday or cohosted with friends around Philly

Zach and I also discussed a site design that would feature beautiful photography of Bloomsday’s physical environment and artful food and drink, as well as their whimsically offbeat branding from True Hand Society.

Zach was familiar with how user-friendly Squarespace is after building the website for his other restaurant, Green Engine Coffee Co. — another delicious and dreamily beautiful spot — so he was psyched to proceed with Squarespace for Bloomsday, too.

Success!

Generous of spirit, abundant with spirits, weird, and wonderful, Zach’s new site brings Bloomsday Cafe’s brand alive online. It’s beautiful, kind, and a little off-kilter – just like Bloomsday.

Bloomsday Cafe was named to Philadelphia Magazine’s Best of Philly list within a month of opening! If you’re in Philly and want to get a drink, explore a project, or catch up, let me know: I’ll meet you at the green door.

View Bloomsday Cafe’s site here, which includes updates made by Zach since our work completed in 2019 — including pivoting to a wine pub during the pandemic.