Since 1985, Tel Aviv Bakery has been a leading kosher bakery serving Skokie and the surrounding Chicago area. Following its acquisition and merger with Challah House, a family-run home bakery founded by a husband-and-wife team, the business entered a new chapter. The merger expanded the bakery’s offering and introduced a warmer, more contemporary approach to baking, but it also created confusion among two loyal customer bases who still understood the businesses as separate entities.

The owner approached me to develop a new brand identity for the recently merged bakery. The challenge was to create a clear and unified brand system that could communicate the merger, introduce the expanded product offering, and bring both audiences into one shared bakery experience.

During the discovery phase, I explored several strategic directions that reflected different strengths of the business: its history, its local Chicago roots, its modern appeal, and the everyday warmth of fresh bread. Initial identity concepts were developed and presented for each direction. Through feedback and refinement, the strongest direction emerged around elevated simplicity: a bakery rooted in daily bread, neighborhood ritual, and quiet confidence.

The final identity introduced a warm, neutral palette, a restrained visual language, and graphic motifs that balanced heritage with modernity. The system was designed to feel familiar and local while giving the bakery room to grow across ecommerce, delivery, packaging, social media, and future retail locations.

The new brand voice was first tested through merger announcements that introduced the two bakeries as “baked into one.” From there, I developed an implementation plan for management, outlining the rollout of key deliverables across digital, print, and customer-facing touchpoints. Manna’s website was redesigned around the new identity and voice, helping launch a new offering for the neighborhood: kosher baked goods available for home delivery, fresh from a local bakery.