Hot Chicken Takes Over North Market
This is me. And my buddy Joe Deloss. In front of the pallet wall that Karl Hein and I built in the original (can't believe I have to say that now, with #4 coming this Fall) Hot Chicken Takeover at the North Market. A few days before this photo, I "borrowed" a bunch of pallets; 4 at a time, from the back of a warehouse building in the snow and drove them back and forth until we had enough for Karl and I do deconstruct and make this huge wall that we hand-painted.
This was one of the coolest, most difficult, most unique and most rewarding projects for my cause-marketing agency, Longstride. I was helping Joe open his new social enterprise that had a tiny cult following in a neighborhood far from this location, that now had terrible parking and a very hidden upstairs entrance. We needed HCT to stand out. We needed it to look and sound as genuine as it really is. And we needed people to find the damn place.
Colder, Warmer, Hotter.
We needed to literally direct people to the new restaurant upstairs. And utilize all the space we had, in the most human way possible. This exterior wall was visible from the first floor of the North Market, so we painted it, branded it, put cardboard signs up and wrote wayfinding signs that just made total sense for the situation and for the brand itself.
UGC on chalkboards
As you walk up the stairs to the entrance of HCT, I wanted something modular that could change and update frequently, and allow customers to speak for the brand. It's social proofing at its finest, it sets the tone for the day and it incentivizes more customers to comment and review in hopes that their quote is chosen next.
The Menu
Hand-painted, hand-crafted chalkboards to complement the overall aesthetic. With some genuine copy descriptions.
Real Menu Boards
These are the real ones hanging in the shop, for context. They look way cooler in person if you can trust me, because I don't have a great photo of them yet. My B. Just being honest.
Pallet Wall
As mentioned earlier, we put this thing together in a garage. It's become an iconic element to the branding and environmental space here and in the new HCT shops. It's part of the overall direction and vision Joe had when describing the vibe he's going for: "Urban Abandoned."
Wayfinding upstairs
The place is called Hot Chicken TAKEOVER. And we had a lot of work cut out for us to get people to go upstairs for the only restaurant on the second floor. So we used the space to our advantage, guerrilla style and literally took over the stairwell.
Etc. (*)
