CLIENT:		EL CAYUCO RESTAURANT ACAPULCO, MEXICO
PROJECT:		BRAND DEVELOPMENT
SERVICES:		VERBAL BRAND NAME CREATION BRAND IDENTITY DESIGN POSITIONING TAGLINE CREATION STRATEGIC BRAND CONSULTING POSITIONING CONSULTATIONS MARKETING COLLATERAL DESIGN
INDUSTRY:		RESTAURANT
YEAR:		2008

SYNOPSIS: Acapulco’s newest Restauranteurs approached Mindcandy Studios for assistance in the development of a brand for their second seafood restaurant. Mindcandy Studios assisted the owners of “El Cayuco” in strategic brand consultations and verbal brand name creation for this small but unique restaurant. Our goal was to create an unforgettable brand name and highly unique brand identity that connotes the “catch of the day” served in a family-oriented environment. “El Cayuco” Restaurante serves traditional, home-cooked seafood dishes using only the freshest seafood available from vast coastal regions of Mexico.

RESULTS: After an extensive and exhausting analysis of hundreds of existing seafood restaurants in Acapulco, we helped to create the brand name “El Cayuco”. A “cayuco” is the ancestor to modern day canoes and kayaks. Used to this day in Mexico, Central America, the Amazon regions of South America and the continents of Africa and Southeast Asia; “cayucos” are made of a single tree that has been carved and shaped into what is known today as a canoe. Its beauty is in its simplicity. Cayucos have played a pivotal role in the development of civilization. Man has been using “cayucos” for centuries in rivers, lagoons and the open seas in tropical regions as a means of transportation, commerce and basic survival. Of course, the traditional function of these small vessels still prevails when fishermen take them out in the early morning or at dusk. One fisherman uses a paddle or a long pole to navigate while the other uses a small net for fishing. The brand identity that Mindcandy Studios created for El Cayuco does a phenomenal job of capturing the essence of this image.

The strength of the brand name “El Cayuco” connotes at the same time a small and family-oriented restaurant. It provides a friendly environment while serving traditional style seafood dishes made from the “catch of the day.” On a linguistic level, the word “cayuco” is short, easy to spell and part of the vernacular of the coastal regions of Mexico. Restaurante El Cayuco, a short walk away from the beautiful white sand beaches of Acapulco, serves traditional, family-style seafood with a “twist.” They hired an experienced chef to create dishes unlike those that are served in many seafood restaurants in Acapulco.

El Cayuco serves regional seafood ranging from fresh jumbo shrimp from Veracruz (Camarones a la Diabla en salsa Adobo) to the incomparable flavor of huge Red Clams (Almejas Rojas) and the smaller brown clams (Almejas Chocolates) that are flown in daily from Mazatlán in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. These incredible shellfish are opened in front of you to enhance the experience of dining on the freshest seafood available in Acapulco. You’re just a “twist of lime” and a “splash of salsa away from Heaven!”

In an effort to distinguish the El Cayuco brand from other seafood restaurants in Acapulco, we decided that we needed to develop a menu with unique items not normally found in the hundreds of seafood restaurants in Acapulco. Therefore we created dishes that include their now famous Paella “El Cayuco”, a “rice and seafood extravaganza” that includes blue crabs, shrimp, fish, clams, snails and octopus. Other items that help distinguish the El Cayuco brand are their British-style, beer-battered fish and chips, jumbo shrimp shish-ka-bobs and their incredible marlin soup.

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