Establishing the Wasabi Group Brand

Over the last 20 years, Cho and his wife Tracy have found consistent success with each of their restaurants through a commitment to using the finest quality ingredients, a desire to learn and innovate, and an unrelenting passion for traditional cooking techniques.

26 Projects was approached by the owners of Wasabi Group summer of 2020 looking to bring cohesion to their Winnipeg-based restaurant group and to help further articulate the story of each of their existing restaurant concepts under this parent company. Although their restaurants – Wasabi Broadway, Wasabi Sabi, Chosabi, and Cho Ichi Ramen – are all well-known and loved by Winnipegers and travelers to the city, Wasabi Group was not formally understood by the public as the overarching family brand. Our task was to build comprehensive brand awareness for all restaurants and the restaurant group through a bold and completely refreshed online presence that appeals to a wide-ranging demographic.

Wasabi Group Identity

The Wasabi Group logo expresses a balance of modernity and tradition, as this is a consistent theme among the restaurant family in their approach to food and environment. Font selections for the word mark are both elegant and grounded, while the hand-painted red strokes express a sense of movement, and further abstract the brand’s initials, W and G. Art direction for photography captured both the elevated experience and unique offerings at the Wasabi locations, while showcasing the urban casualness of the Chosabi and Cho Ichi Ramen locations. 

Online Presence

The studio prioritized building a robust and visually engaging online web presence for Wasabi, Chosabi, and Cho Ichi Ramen with the integration of online ordering and e-commerce functionality. We researched and sourced a third-party app for the restaurant group to use and found Ambassador — a platform from Toronto that does not charge unsustainable fees commission. 

We began to populate all restaurant social media channels using the new photography and art direction we established. Because of the visual nature of their businesses, we focused our efforts on Instagram and Facebook as the primary platforms to reach and grow their audiences.

wasabiwpg.com

chosabi.com

choichi.ca

Though all within the same family, each restaurant concept is appealing to a particular taste, mood, and demographic: Wasabi is sophisticated, established, and traditional; Chosabi is cool innovative, and quick quality; and Cho Ichi Ramen is casual and humble, with traditional techniques and flavours kicked up a notch. With that, the content created for a social media needed to showcase each restaurants style and voice, while not feeling disjointed from the other concepts.

A separate e-commerce platform was developed for Wasabi Group – where all restaurants have a presence, but where the Wasabi Group can truly shine – featuring the owners’ culinary history and personal story, overarching initiatives, and an expanding online shop. The Wasabi Group website also connects three restaurant concepts by explaining the relationship between them, linking to the individual websites, and prompts visitors to sign up for the email newsletter from Wasabi Group. 

wasabigroup.com