The C&C Restaurant Group owns and operates a number of well-known restaurants in Glasgow’s City Centre, West End and Southside. Maguires were brought on board midway through 2021 to provide creative content and brand direction for two of their best-known restaurant brands, plus another exciting venue that was to launch in July.

The first of which was Halloumi, a Greek-Cypriot Mezze restaurant chain with locations in the heart of Glasgow City Centre and the trendy Southside. 

The client was keen to retain the existing logo type but felt the brand needed a distinctive tone of voice and a bolder creative positioning across their social channels.

We began by developing an expanded logo marque to incorporate a brand strapline, followed by a fresh graphic style and a wider colour palette. This graphic style took the form of a modern pattern device that referenced traditional mosaics, but featured a minimalist take on various ingredients and Greek iconography. The blocks of the pattern could then be deployed together, or separately, as part of a regular series of short animations designed to bring to life an irreverent new tone of voice, with offers and one-liners.

Regular food photography and short films were also provided on a monthly basis by our in-house team at Maguires, driving increased engagement over the 6-month period to date.

In the Summer of 2020, Rioja Finnieston underwent a dramatic transformation from a late-night bar and informal tapas spot to a refined, high-end Spanish restaurant, headed up by Michelin-starred Catalan chef Miguel Angel Mayor. Having mastered his craft in the legendary El Bulli restaurant, Chef Miguel moved to Glasgow to present his new concept and challenge preconceived ideas of fine dining. With such a unique and exciting venture, Maguires were delighted to work and collaborate with Chef Miguel.

Since Rioja re-launched in July 2021, Miguel’s concept has showcased the best of both Scottish and Iberian produce with a breath-taking array of ever-evolving dishes, all presented with playfulness and creativity. Our team has sought to capture the essence of Miguel’s gastronomic vision through photography, film, graphics, sound, and words. Beautiful and well-crafted food photography is key to our approach, as are the ‘Food Stories’ film series which articulate Miguel’s story and his approach to Rioja’s signature dishes.

Our social campaigns for Rioja launched in July 2021, with exceptionally high levels of engagement throughout. Facebook and Instagram combined have seen over 16,477 likes on organic posts, with 723,779 impressions and a 128% increase in phone calls, prompted by social media content (data extract from July-Oct 31 2021).

As Miguel’s concept evolves into 2022, so will our agile social strategy – ensuring Miguel’s innovative techniques and world-class food is showcased with both finesse and respect.

In recent years, Glasgow has developed a rich and diverse culinary scene with new restaurants and cuisines appearing on every main street. When new-kid-on-the-block Roberta’s burst on the scene in August 2021, Maguires were tasked with establishing a unique tone of voice and visual style for this glamorous City Centre restaurant and cocktail bar.

Serving primarily Italian food, Roberta’s is far from your typical ristorante, with plush velvet and leather finishes, rich warm woods, and a beautiful marble long bar for the late-night cocktail crowd. The undoubted hero of the culinary offering is the authentic wood-fired pizzas, handmade on site by famed pizzaiolo brothers Ciro and Massimo Potenza and cooked in a bespoke Neapolitan pizza oven imported from Italy.

The client was looking to capture the general buzz and ambiance of Roberta’s, so our creative studio developed a punchy new typographic style which initially featured in a series of pre-launch teaser animations and has continued to feature throughout our campaigns. Our film and photographic team also worked on site to capture the unique Roberta’s atmosphere, with pizza spinning, cocktail slinging, and story sharing all caught on camera to create a series of captivating social films.

Since launch in August 2021, Roberta’s social and digital numbers have increased, with over 2,000 on their mailing list and over 347,975 social impressions, ensuring their audience numbers are increasing month on month and engagement continues to grow.