Case Study | Black Acres Roastery
About the Company
Based in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, Black Acres Roastery has quickly established itself as one of the coffee industry’s true rising stars. A labor of love for owner Travis Bell and his devoted team, the artisan coffee roaster strives to make good coffee available to all.
With humble beginnings as a packaging-only operation run out of a small room in a Health and Wellness center, Black Acres Roastery now has two brick-and-mortar cafe locations, including one in Baltimore’s famed and recently renovated Lexington Market, with several more locations in the planning stages. Distribution partnerships have turned this small, largely local coffee business into what has become a nationally distributed, nationally recognized brand with placement in Trader Joe’s and airports across the country.
With a commitment to the ethical sourcing of ingredients from Ethiopia to Colombia, every cup of Black Acres coffee tells a story. Through their unique and thoughtfully-curated flavor profiles, and with a dedication to the communities in which they serve, Black Acres Roastery has emerged as a recognized name in the coffee industry, ready to emerge on the national stage in 2023.
Working With tonesetter.io
In October of 2017, owner Travis Bell used tonesetter.io to assist in the development of an MVP (Minimally Viable Product) Brand Identity System for a startup coffee business he had been planning over the course of the prior year. Through a collaborative, fast-paced, and iterative process of brand development, Black Acres Roastery emerged with a comprehensive Brand Identity System, designed to reflect the company’s core values, enabling the company to successfully go-to-market.
Visual Elements of the Brand
From their iconic primary logo - an evocative custom mark with vintage styling, and featuring hand-drawn, interlocking branches - to an urban-inspired alternate logo featuring vibrant colors with edgy, hand-drawn text, the visual elements of the brand are cohesive yet adaptable, able to be used in a wide variety of applications.
Communicating & Exemplifying Core Values
Black Acres Roastery is not only a passionate leader in the coffee industry, but a rising Black-Owned business with a unique focus on building and promoting engagement in the community. This is evident in overt messaging both on packaging and in content created by tonesetter and internally at BAR, in the events they choose to host and participate in, and in the relationships the company maintains with local and national business partners.
From art style to social post copy and everything in between, it is critical that your core values are an authentic representation of your people, your company culture, and your mission. Few companies do that better than Black Acres Roastery.
Ongoing Consultation with tonesetter+
With a brand built and thriving, Black Acres Roastery uses tonesetter+ to preserve and maintain its brand. Over the course of our engagement, tonesetter.io has developed artwork for 31 custom labels, 3 can designs, 2 printed bags, and dozens of other pieces of merchandise and marketing collateral. From on-going creative consultation to the production of custom artwork for cold brew cans, coffee bags, merchandise, and social posts, tonesetter.io is a trustworthy, active, and engaged steward of the Black Acres brand.
What they said about tonesetter.io
“I can honestly say that without tonesetter+, there is no Black Acres Roastery. Our customers love our brand, they are loyal, and they stay engaged. tonesetter.io not only built it from the ground up, they maintain it with thoughtful creativity.
The novel creative strategies tonesetter.io has developed for our business have unlocked new revenue streams we are capitalizing on to this day. Coupled with the striking, on-brand artwork they are creating for our products and marketing efforts, we are getting a ton of value from this program.”
Travis Bell, Owner of Black Acres Roastery
Connect with Black Acres Roastery
Want to learn more about Black Acres Roastery, or sample some of their fantastic coffee? Visit them on the web at www.blackacrescoffee.com