American Natural Awarded Best Original C-Store Design

Convenience Store News magazine just announced that King-Casey has taken the top honor for the Best Original Design in the magazine’s 12th annual awards program. The competition recognizes convenience stores whose designs excel in areas such as branding, interior layout, use and effectiveness of signage and logos, and exterior property. Winners were selected based on innovation, creativity, and the positive impact of the design and/or remodel on the retailer’s overall business.
​Please scroll down to see more photos of the new concept, and to learn about King-Casey’s work on this project.

The foodservice zone is the focal point of the new convenience store. It’s the first thing customers see entering the store. It’s all about showcasing the fresh and delicious food that is made to order. There’s an element of engaging “theater” in the design and layout of the store.
​
The Objective
American Natural’s new prototype store designed by King-Casey heightens the foodservice experience through “the eatery” and on-the-go freshly prepared food.. The goal was to develop an innovative, next generation c-store that surpassed all other competing c-stores by offering consumers the opportunity to choose from an array of food and fuel options. The concept would compete head-on with QSR and fast casual restaurant brands by providing high quality food and beverages that would grow this profitable segment of American Natural’s business.

The exterior design and trade dress communicates a fast casual restaurant brand image. The activation of the logo/icon shapes are used throughout the store contributing to proprietary 3-D branding.
​
King-Casey Turns Vision Into Reality
Management’s vision and objective was for the eatery to be a foodservice destination of choice, providing fresh, healthy foods to today’s “Me Generation” shoppers. King-Casey created a contemporary, au naturale brand identity and food forward store design targeted specifically to win over these consumers. These combined with King-Casey’s proprietary COZI® methodology, result in a 3-Dimensional branded environment that showcases American Natural’s commitment to offering an elevated foodservice experience at the eatery. The net result being a memorable dining customer experience. ​

3-D branding extends to wall coverings that communicate key brand attributes, and the “freshness” promise. Graphic interpretations of the brand logo are used throughout the store as decor elements. This highly social beverage bar zone is part of the interactive “theater” experience of the eatery.
​
The Process
Assessment, Strategy Development and Brand Enhancement. King-Casey worked closely with American Natural to identify the key business objectives, as well as capturing their vision for the new store design concept. These objectives, findings and defining attributes were documented and published as a lucid brand positioning and design strategy. Collectively, these critical elements provided the road-map used by American Natural and King-Casey to evaluate the creative designs and decisions that followed.
King-Casey made enhancements to the existing American Natural brand identity to support management’s brand vision and the desired brand positioning. The new “eatery” name and brand identity communicates the fast and casual destination aspect of American Natural.
Creation of Optimized Store Design. King-Casey developed a store layout design concepts that contributed to a proprietary, 3-D branded environment. This comprehensive concept package included: site plan layout, exterior trade dress, primary signage, floorplan and customer flow, interior environment design, colors, materials, fixtures, customer communications, food packaging, and various branded merchandising elements.

Different customer zones were designed to meet the needs of different customers, e.g., communal counter seating for those customers on the go…traditional table top seating for those wishing to work or engage in conversation…
​

And, a comfortable lounge area was developed for those wishing to linger and relax. There is also the outside patio zone for customers wanting to dine al fresco.
​
​
Get A Free Copy of the American Natural Case Study
Click here or on the image to the right to view a free copy of our four-page case study on how King-Casey developed a next generation food forward convenience store for American Natural.
​About King-Casey
​For more than half a century, we have been helping companies build competitive brands by dramatically improving the customer experience. Our highly creative solutions are firmly grounded in insights derived from hard data about consumer behavior. Our solutions are designed to delight your customers and help you achieve your business objectives. We provide a complete range of services including assessment, research, branding, path to purchase communications, menuboard optimization, retail prototype design, and rollout. We will help you develop creative, innovative solutions that result in increased customer loyalty, higher sales and greater return on investment. We can make a positive impact on your business while exciting your customers with fresh, innovative and competitive design solutions. Be sure to visit our website: www.king-casey.com.
For more information please contact:
King-Casey (USA), Howland Blackiston, Principal, T: +1 203 571 1776