Calbee Shop

Calbee premiers US snack shop in the heart of SF

Japanese snack titan Calbee enlisted btrax in creating a bespoke image for a Western audience at their flagship American shop. The new Calbee store unveiled their tasty snacks in San Francisco, complete with freshly-tailored packaging, signage, website and social media campaigns designed by btrax.

A Snack Giant

Founded in 1949, Calbee Foods Company is Japan’s leading snack producer, holding 40% of the country’s market share. Many American snackers will recognize their popular “Kappa Ebisen” shrimp chips and “Saya-endo” Snappea chips, which have been produced in their American plant since 1995. After almost a century of success, Calbee went public in 2011, with hopes of introducing more of their other products and doubling their US market share in the proceeding five years.

Introducing Calbee

Calbee and btrax designed their pilot US store to identify the needs of American snackers and gather signals that would drive future international expansion. To tailor the legendary snack brand to an American market, btrax created a modern, San Franciscan image that still reflected the Japanese appreciation for thoughtful, high-end design and execution. Calbee’s target audience was professional women who enjoy eating and gifting healthy, unique snacks. From there, btrax designed an experiential, boutique-like shop from the ground up.

Branding / Marketing Challenges

• Implement U.S. Market branding for flaghip store in North America
• Create brand awareness and a social media strategy for a new market
• Design new packaging, print material, website and digital signage
• Introduce, test and optimize new Japanese snacks based on consumer feedback

An Unforseen Challenge

On March 11, 2011, the same day that Calbee went public and began planning the store’s launch, Tokyo and entire eastern side of Japan was hit with the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Factory damages, FDA regulations, and several other factors endangered the Calbee store launch, set for July 2011. We forged ahead, keeping the same deadline, and ultimately meeting it.

Results

The Calbee store opened in San Francisco’s Westfield Mall in July 2011 and ran until June, 2012.