Little Turk & Co is a new food van serving up Turkish-inspired street food in the Fleurieu.
When Berrak and Paul first bought their little vintage food van, they knew what they wanted to do with it food-wise but building a brand was outside of their experience. So I put my hand up to guide them through the process.
[Full disclosure: Paul is my brother, so I have a vested interest in its success, and not just for the free gozleme.]
Brand personality
Our first step was working out the brand personality, and to do this, we focused on brand archetypes. I love working with brand archetypes for several reasons – partly because I love working with archetypes, period, but also because I find they help to create a tangible understanding of the brand.
Once you see a brand as a personality – a character in a story, even – it gives you a filter you can pour all ideas through.
For example, would someone who is the Lover archetype really surround themselves with dark, drab colours? Would the Jester’s website sound prim and proper? Thinking of them as a characters helps quickly visualise what is true to the brand and what isn’t.
And that’s really useful for pushing beyond personal taste. You might love navy blue but if your brand archetype is the Jester, you’re going to need to consider something more lively for your brand identity.
Once we had their brand archetypes clearly defined, everything began falling into place. It gave us their voice, a clear brief for the designer and even their name…
That name
Little Turk & Co was actually a ‘joke’ that Berrak and Paul mentioned during a phone call. A joke because Berrak is literally a little Turk, and my brother, who often teases that he does as he’s told, is the ‘& Co’.
As one of their brand archetypes is the Jester, what better name than one that makes people laugh and shows the business laughing at itself? Plus, it’s accurate and gives you a pretty clear idea of who they are.
The logo
The name decided, next we needed a logo. I called in Naomi from Naomi Giatas Design to develop the logo.
The brief asked for a monochromatic logo that was modern, minimal and playful, with a focus on typography rather than an image. The key words I gave her were: fun, sociable, handmade, fresh, local.
It also had to be something that could be applied to signage, printed on clothing or turned into a stamp for adding branding to packaging.
This is the result:
I love the font (it feels reminiscent of balloon animals to me), and the use of shape to represent the gozleme dough. The Turkish moustache emphasises the brand’s playfulness. At least, that’s how I see it.
Online presence
With that in place, my focus was on the website and socials, and using these to tell their story in a way that represents their brand and provides enough information to potential customers and suppliers.
I also brought in Naomi again, this time for a photoshoot to create a stockpile of images we can draw on.
Naomi taking photos of Paul and Berrak in the van. A hard task, spending a sunny day at their Carrickalinga property eating our way through… um, I mean, photographing our way through… a selection of their gozlemes.
Working with family
It’s no secret that working with family is just as likely to be a nightmare as a joy. Fortunately, this project has been a very happy one. Having a framework to guide the process and keep us on track helped, but really, so much of it has stemmed from Berrak and Paul’s willingness to trust me to guide them.
They’ve remained open to having their ideas interrogated to get to the best solution, they’ve sat with the unfamiliar and embraced not knowing, and they’ve done it all with a laugh and (usually) a plate of something delicious to keep us going. And in doing so, they’ve ended up with branding that truly reflects the heart and soul of their business.
I’m so excited to have their website and socials up and running and can’t wait for them to be out and about so others can enjoy the delicious food they’ll be serving up.
Go check them out at littleturkandco.com, give them a like on Facebook (@littleturkandco) or follow on Instagram (@littleturkandco).
And keep an eye out for them in the Fleurieu, where they’ll be filling up lots of bellies with gozleme and Turkish-inspired treats on weekends and at events.