Who’s hungry?
My boyfriend’s daughter has been working for Pat’s Pizza for years now. Before that, she worked at Wawa. What’s the connection? Food. She’s thriving in her element now, having made food while working at Wawa then spicing it up in the kitchen at Pat’s when she’s not delivering. Because at Pat’s she and her coworkers have free reign to try new recipes or just make different concoctions for her on-shift meals, she’s more or less taught herself a few things about how to operate in a kitchen and how to make food that tastes like a million bucks.
Throw in there she’s lived in Puerto Rico for a short while and got to indulge in her own culture in a native setting, and now you have an awesome combo of knowledge, experience and skill.
A few months ago, she brought ingredients to make tacos at a small, outdoor, socially distant gathering we had at her father’s house. Her fiancée frowned and was like, “Who brings tacos to a barbecue?” We laughed, but not for long.
She didn’t come with Old El Paso boxed shells and ground beef with OEP taco seasoning mixed in—she came with birria she made herself, soft corn tortillas, cheese, and other fresh ingredients she prepped herself. Her griddle was already at the house in the backyard, so she turned it on and ignored our laughs. A half an hour later, we were messy on the mouth, asking her to make more.
Eventually she was posting on instagram that she was cooking and if anyone wanted any, she’d make some for a cost. She wasn’t expecting a huge turn out, but today, she has an LLC, insurance, and just purchased a trailer in preparation to take this show on the road.
What started out as an experiment turned into a chased dream she’s got a hold on. We (her father, sister, fiancée and I) went with her to her first festival. It was small, in the parking lot of a hair salon, but she brought in over $1000 in cash and virtual payments.
Prior to this event, I got a text message.
I don’t normally bend over backwards for clients. I just don’t have the time in my day to make sure you have a design for yesterday, today. I’ve turned away clients with obnoxiously short deadlines. They scoff, I sleep like a baby.
Here was my response. She understood, but also explained that this event was a big deal and she wanted to look professional. The governor was going to be in attendance!
So, I cracked my knuckles and we got to work. I told her up front that with this job needing such a quick turnaround, both of us needed to be on our A game with communication for this to work the way we want it to. She agreed and was actually really on top of talking with me.
This isn’t really anything to brag about in a normal situation, but we were able to knock out the logo of her dreams in about four days. Truth be told, she was quicker than I was to answer.
The way she described her vision came from some inspiration she found online through Google and Pinterest. She wanted something circular, something relatable, something friendly, but edgy. The first one on the contact sheet was what immediately imagined, but to ensure I was hitting most, if not all, if the possible creative iterations (of course, in the big picture, possibilities are endless) based on her descriptions and inspo. had a few favorites of my own, but her heart fell directly on the first one, as she said it was exactly what she wanted.
My experience with working with small business owners/dabblers is that they don’t expect an entire design package—you know, the consultations, the concepts, the various stages, and typically movement is quick with these types of clients, which doesn’t give me the practice I need with working bigger clients in the future. I try to push it, but I don’t force it—that’s how to lose a client in a few simple words.
I did, however, force the process to at least move in stages: concept, narrow, color, revisions, final.
The selected logo didn’t go through much revision. In fact, the ONLY revision was to add the Puerto Rican flag. I decided to do this in the color stage because it would make the most impact.
FRK color concepts
RGB-based file - sorry for the overly vibrant colors!
She’s a proud Puerto Rican, so her reaction was that the flag needed to be SEEN. Like, not up front and center, but clearly the option where it was just in the ring was not going to work. I agreed—no one would pick up on what’s actually going on there. The last one was the winner and that was her final declaration.
What’s nice about the logo and what it represents makes the applications available endless.
We were able, in a short time, to get novelty items like stickers, tee shirts, aprons, a tablecloth, and digital usage together for the events coming up for the new business.
WIP: Freakin’ Rican Kitchen magnets
Along with being the designer for a business that is taking off faster than the Road Runner on a usual day in the Canyon, I also got to help with logistics during the Salon Fade Fall Festival event in Barrington, NJ. I was the order-taker, as I was the only person there with the most customer service experience and comfortable with handling money/math. (Ironic, since I’m also infamous for being an Asian who can’t math. We can discuss that later.) This was the business’ first event (the first one where the governor was going to be fell through for us—something about permitting, methinks) and it was a SUCCESSFUL first event. The ROI was small, but the experience and education was there, and it gave Jasmine the confidence to keep on.
If you’re in the South Jersey area, and have a hankering for birria or Spanish rice, check out Freakin’ Rican Kitchen on Instagram and Facebook. You can order through their Jotform, too.
P.S. There’s a vegan option! I haven’t tried it yet because it’s keeps selling out. ;)