Overview
Rackson Restaurants approached me to create a website that better reflected their company culture and effectively communicated their brand identity. Their previous site lacked clear messaging, cohesive branding, and failed to attract potential employees and investors. The challenge was to design a platform that showcased the restaurant group’s values, highlighted their team and locations, and made it easy for their team to maintain and update content independently.
Through an analysis of their existing website and competitor restaurant groups, I found that most sites in the industry often relied on stock photography and generic content, which failed to convey the unique personality and culture of the brand. Rackson Restaurants provided photography of their actual locations and employees, allowing the website to feel authentic and relatable. Insights from this research emphasized the importance of integrating this content into a design that was visually appealing, easy to navigate, and optimized for recruitment and investor engagement.
We opted to create a couple of homepage mockups in Elementor before developing the full site. One concept focused on storytelling through photography and culture-focused sections, highlighting employees and restaurant locations, while the other emphasized clear calls-to-action for job applications and investor inquiries. These mockups allowed the client to select the approach that best represented their brand and guided the visual direction for the rest of the site.
In addition to the website, I designed branded materials to support Rackson Restaurants’ employee engagement and recruitment efforts. For a hiring event, I created eye-catching flyers that clearly communicated the opportunity while reflecting the company’s culture. I also designed employee appreciation postcards featuring fun, playful imagery inspired by items from their fast-food chains, giving the materials a lively and approachable feel. These pieces reinforced the brand’s identity, celebrated their team, and helped foster a sense of connection and excitement among employees.
The website was built using WordPress and Elementor Pro, with a custom CMS that allowed the Rackson team to update content easily without relying on a developer. I created dynamic templates for locations, team members, and news updates, and trained their staff on using Elementor to manage content independently. Leveraging their original photography, the site presents an authentic, engaging view of the brand, while clear messaging and strategic layout support recruitment and investor outreach.
The result is a responsive, high-performance website that reflects Rackson Restaurants’ culture, attracts new employees and investors, and provides a scalable, easy-to-maintain platform for ongoing growth.
