Global brand design consultancy, Elmwood, has created a new restaurant brand set to catapult chicken to the top of the concept dining pecking order. Promising the ultimate chicken experience, Reys aims to become the new benchmark for great tasting chicken. Having opened its first restaurant this month in Cambridge, Reys is positioned at the higher end of the casual dining sector and is inspired by traditional French rotisserie chicken – a method of cooking that keeps the birds succulent and full of flavour.

Elmwood was asked to develop the name and brand identity from scratch, and bring this to life across a wide spectrum of touch points including the website, menus and signage. The creative was founded on the key insight that Britons eat their way through an astounding 25 million chickens every week. But while Brits clearly love chicken, there’s one creature that loves it more – the fox!

The brand name needed to reflect both the consumer’s appetite for chicken, as well as founder, chef and restaurateur Neil Nugent’s French rotisserie inspired dining concept. By shortening the French word for Fox ‘Reynard’ to a more casual ‘Reys’, the entire creative process had a clear character for inspiration. While all aspects of Elmwood’s thinking is inspired by the idea of a fox, the character references are purposely very understated throughout the creative execution. Reys’ tail appears very subtly within the brand marque, and he’s something of an enigma that customers can spot around the restaurant, across various touch-points. Elmwood also delivered a specific tone of voice piece, creating a personality for all brand communication.

Nick Hynes, Head of Verbal Identity at Elmwood says, “Just as important as the logo, typeface and colour palette, is the way Reys addresses its customers through the written word. This is a crucial component in distinguishing the new brand. We put in place practical guidelines to help Reys achieve an engaging and witty tone of voice – from the message customers see when they book a table, right through to flagging when specific sauces are out of stock.”

Neil Nugent, Reys Founder says, “It’s been a great creative journey, from naming through to our digital applications, with Elmwood taking care to ensure that all brand touch points were considered. We look forward to seeing how the Reys story develops.”

Kelly Broomhead, Account Director at Elmwood says, “This is exactly the kind of wildly creative brief we love to get our teeth into. Bringing a new idea to life and seeing it grow over time is hugely rewarding, and with the aim for more restaurants to be opened across the country, there’s scope for our brand work to reach the masses.”