Our client, FOUND Hotels, recently opened a new location in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, which will soon be followed by an original food and beverage concept attached to the lobby. We were tasked with developing the brand concept and collateral including logo and menu design.
One of the project challenges was coming up with a concept that would feel unique to San Francisco but could be used in other locations. This is definitely a design problem we find ourselves working to solve often in a world where aesthetically, no one wants a chain restaurant or hotel, but operationally it doesn’t make sense to start from scratch with every concept as a growing brand.
We started, as we often do, by researching the history of the building and location. In this case, we discovered the story of “The Tenderloin”, which goes something like this:
“San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood takes its name from a particularly crime-ridden district of post-Civil War New York City. Legend has it that Captain, Alexander S. Williams, an NYPD inspector with a reputation for corruption, was transferred to this precinct in 1876. In response to his new assignment and the hush money he was likely to earn from gambling operators and madams in the area, he infamously remarked, "I have had chuck for a long time, and now I'm going to eat tenderloin.”
We immediately imagined a little hand-drawn policeman with money flying from his uniform pockets. The restaurant concept followed; a diner that would be open day and night, serving up both martinis and milkshakes to all the local characters. Quintessential old-time Americana that works in any city, but with a logo adapted to reflect each city’s infamously sketchy character.
