To stay fresh in a competitive landscape, Joe Coffee decided it was time to change up their look and rebrand before they fully immersed themselves in their plans to expand their already popular coffee shop business. Their new transformation will span all of their 20 New York City cafes and all their digital properties. Besides their brand revamp, the successful coffee shop has also opened their 20th New York City café this past November, which is part of their first-ever stand-alone roastery in Long Island City, Queens. The latest location is the first to open with the updated branding.
“We started as one shop in Greenwich Village in 2003 and it just grew as a family business over the course of the first 15 years,” explains Joe Coffee CEO & Founder Jonathan Rubinstein. “When we started, the idea of specialty coffee literally didn’t exist. That idea of café culture appealed to us, so we thought why not make great coffee?”
A huge push for the company’s new transformation was an investment from Danny Meyer’s Enlightened Hospitality, which provided the needed assets to take on such a large task that required two years of work. But despite the new brand identity, patrons can expect the same warm hospitality they’ve been accustomed to over the years. As New York’s homegrown specialty coffee roasters and pioneers of the local Third Wave coffee movement, the investment also helped Joe Coffee grow its online presence, wholesale and catering business, and establish new cafes.
The catering side has really taken off for Joe Coffee, with Rubinstein admitting that they do about 400 events a year, taking their various coffee selections to weddings, trade shows, and any kind of event that requires a good cup of coffee. “We have 13 espresso machines that we send out to the event and an entire staff.”
“I think the way a lot of people look at brands today is that it needs to speak to them,” said Rubinstein. “With a priority of taking care of our customers, we needed to create a new mission statement or a vision, which is a new focus we worked on for this rebranding. People already expect to drink good coffee in our stores (that’s sort of like a non-negotiable these days), so it’s the rest of the experience that makes you stand out. We may have a new look, but our patrons can expect that same welcoming and quality experience from us.”
The new Joe Coffee brand identity is company-wide, with a new color palette, custom hand-drawn logo, refreshed typography and iconography, and in their updated packaging and merchandise. Also, within the next year, certain cafes will get interior upgrades to create a more comfortable and inviting atmosphere.
Given that community building is vital to the coffee brand’s mission, Joe Coffee created a specialty mark that was inspired by the original café so that the community can still identify that they’re enjoying a Joe Coffee beverage. The signature Joe Coffee bench will instantly be recognizable to anyone who has ever enjoyed a cup of Joe Coffee, while still being fresh and new.
To create such a noteworthy new look, they enlisted renowned designers Godfrey Dadich Partners (GDP) to help better define their core values, which are curiosity, craft, commitment and community.
Now with a bold new look, Joe Coffee will now look to the future as it plans to expand to other parts of the U.S. Joe is steadfastly committed to education, sourcing with integrity, and its deeply rooted desire to build, maintain and strengthen community at every level from producer to customer. That consumer also now includes Metro New York and the nation’s restaurant and foodservice operators who can utilize Joe’s bulk pack lineup to create a signature coffee menu.
To learn more about Joe Coffee, visit their website
