Burgers & Grills

2018

Branding / Print

So begins the story of how we brought ‘tasty’ back to KB (Kuala Belait).

The 80s was such a great era, that we just HAD to bring it back. And just to name a few of the gifts that were birthed out from that decade: Mario (come on now), shoulder pads (still in style today), teen angst movies that got us all dancing like ‘The Breakfast Club’ and my god the music, who doesn’t dance when ‘Another one bites the dust’ comes on?

One of our most memorable and fun projects has to be the complete makeover of a bowling alley restaurant to the town renowned 80s diner affectionately called ‘Burgers & Grills’. And how crazy it was for us to see our sketches come to life!

The diner is parked in a entertainment complex in the quaint oil town of Seria, the pitstop for people on road trips to and fro the border that separates Malaysia and Brunei. Initially seen as just the restaurant next to the bowling alley, our vision for it was to be the time capsule that drew people in with unique decor and scrumptious eats!

The idea behind the design of the diner revolves around the bright colors by which the 80s burned with glorious flame, and the owner’s deep love of vintage cars. And wonderfully, almost like magic, these two themes fit together like a glove. (Thank the design gods, our sacrifice of blood, sweat and tears has pleased them.)

So basically, here’s what we did.

It began with several brainstorming sessions on how the diner would look like, as well as what items should be on the menu. This included several occasions where we had to flip through Archie comics to peek into Pop’s Diner for inspiration. Yes, our work required us to read comics.

Then came designing the ‘merch’ or collaterals as we call it of the diner. Now as memorable as the 80s was for some, there are a massive handful of people who never got to experience that era. So in order to connect people of all ages, we decided to use the all-encompassing power of music! We slapped on beloved lyrics from hit songs from the era on almost anything we could. And if you’re wondering, yes, listening and jamming to music was also part of the job.

And finally, there came the video. An 80s filter inspired short snippet of all that B&G stood for. Friendship, a VW Microbus (yea we actually got one!), and some ‘good eating’. I mean we were committed to this guys, so we had to go all the way.

Through every idea, note and design, we ensured that every step taken would be authentic to the case.

It was certainly a nostalgic and sentimental journey with this one.

Now that’s tasty.