A sweet little throwback 💌

F&B of yesteryear, and then some.

Feb 23, 2022

Hello from the end of February! It’s been a while!

We’re sorry for the radio silence, but it’s been a busy season for the studio. Thankfully we’ve emerged from Omicron still whole, if not a little exhausted. It was a long January for everyone. And—weirdly enough—a really quick February.

During that time, we came across some of our archived F&B branding projects. Projects from the era of Food Halls and fast-casual dining, circa 2014.

In those days, restaurant branding was our bread and butter. Even if the turnover F&B was notoriously quick, we’d still put our whole heart and Halfussy into all of our designs. While we’ve since expanded our portfolio to more than just restaurants, we couldn’t help but feel a little wistful. Branding F&B was always a chance to invite a little bit of fun into our design practice, especially for our illustrators and graphic designers. Even if these concepts were fleeting at times.

Presenting: an edit of some of And A Half’s classic F&B projects, 2014-2020. Some of these concepts are still operational, while some have been closed for a while.

1. Balay Dako, Tagaytay City

Chef Tony Boy Escalante wanted this restaurant to be the Sunday lunch destination in Tagaytay. We drew inspiration from Balay Dako itself, designing the type and logo after the wooden frames and wrought iron gates.

Team: Mike Parker, Pia Samson, Kay Aranzanso, Petra Gana

2. Milk Trade, Hole in The Wall †

RIP HITW. One of our favorite brands, Milk Trade was a dessert stand that sold steamed milk, eggettes, and milk tea. Chinese kitsch and dynasty portraits were some of our main inspirations for the brand. We handpainted the bamboo dropdown and stickered the steamers ourselves. The little brand that could.

Team: Coi Serrano, Adrian Panadero, Petra Gana

3. Ping Pong Diplomacy, The Grid Food Market

PPD is a modern Chinese food concept that used to be in SM Aura. Now, they serve from The Grid online via pre-orders. Taking from the history of Ping Pong Diplomacy and its effect on Sino-American relations, we built the brand on contradictions. Our identity drew inspiration from this peculiar friendship(?) and the rudimentary elements of the diplomatic sport of table tennis.

Team: Mike Parker, Toni Potenciano, Petra Gana

4. Freezer Burn, High Street BGC †

Freezer Burn was a dessert cafe along Bonifacio High Street that specialized in gourmet ice cream and composed desserts by Chef Miko Aspiras. The look was inspired by 50’s chrome signage and refrigerator magnets. We created a custom typeface called Freezer Sans for the brand and the whole menu was made to look like magnets!

Team: Tim Lopez, Kay Aranzanso, Petra Gana

5. a mano, Powerplant Mall

a mano is an Italian restaurant that prides itself on serving fresh and faithful Italian cuisine. Using only the freshest ingredients, almost everything on the menu is made a mano—by hand. The logo and textures had to evoke the handmade feel, while demonstrating the breadth of Italian cuisine with various shapes and strokes.

Team: Kay Aranzanso, Addi Panadero, Mark Andres, Sofi Bautista

6. Rico Rico, SM Aura †

Rico Rico was a fast paelleria by the La Lola Group (Las Flores, Rambla) which wanted to make paella accessible through single servings in a food court setting. We had matador pigs, salsa-dancing hens, and even a conquistador squid. We even made a sleeve in the shape of llanera for takeout packaging. The logo was a play on thick and thin, to give the effect of a dancing logo.

Team: Bj Abesamis, Addi Panadero, Petra Gana