San Juan, Puerto Rico 2016

Al Buen Gusto, Cafetería Gourmet Saludable

client: Franklin Staback and Dania Rodríguez

This ongoing design project began in 2016 with the idea of launching a family owned, family run café for a couple of entrepreneurs looking to reinvent themselves amidst a deep economic recession. Cooking, which had been a family hobby for years, became their new livelihood and a way threading a community around their food. The concept for the café was (and still is) to provide affordable, healthy, and tasty food to a variety of customers in the heart of a residential and business cluster in San Juan. The café offers a range of goodies and meal options, from a classic breakfast to an afternoon espresso.

I began working with the clients from the very beginning, on both the project concept and name. They settled on “Al Buen Gusto”, which roughly means “With Good Taste”. Then came the process of establishing the brand, the color scheme and the logo. The distinctive “OK” sign signals both quality, customer satisfaction and friendliness. And a gradient of warm colors invites clients in with a mixture of coziness, flexibility, and also order. The café offers a multiplicity of amenities that encourage customers to host a business lunch meeting or enjoy a casual brunch.

We began the renovation of an existing food establishment with very little time to opening date and a very seriously tight budget. Therefore, the spatial design had to be concise and rely heavily on bold graphics, signage, color, and applied surface materials. All this while also leaving room for growth and refinement. The biggest move was actually the removal of the existing storefront, to let in light and create a strong visual connection between passersby and the lunch-time buzz.

To this date, the brand has a strong social media presence, and the café continues to update its products and offerings. To keep up with the changes and challenges, I continue to be fully engaged with the clients in producing all the signage and promotional materials. On its third year, this family venture has endured two devastating hurricanes, spontaneous political turmoil, and the COVID-19 crisis. Cheers to many more years of success and happy costumers!

The news outlet ABC 5 ran a piece on Al Buen Gusto after hurricane María.