A well thought-out brand
Our approach was simple. We want our brand name to be the summary of all the convenient characteristics of our products.
And what's better than ... a smiling chef in his kitchen?
The Smiling Cook®
Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish painter who died in 1973, once said: “The quality of a painter depends on the amount of the past he carries with him”. Actually, this statement fits perfectly with regard to the origins and evolution of the brand The Smiling Cook®.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bart and Jan Coninx gained tons of experience in food and catering companies and in their own banqueting halls. They knew all the tricks of the foodservice and things such as product quality, fast heating, profitability and food safety were common terms for them. At a trade fair in Germany they were charmed by an IQF frozen fresh pasta, to be regenerated in just 30 seconds and which could be compared to home made fresh pasta. Their company d’LIS Food reacted immediately and started selling fresh frozen pasta. Shortly thereafter another 10 ready-to-cook, internationally known dishes such as Spanish paella, Greek gyros, Thai vegetable dish, French ratatouille, etc. joined the assortment.
All that was left for them to do was to find an attractive brand name for all those products.
In an early stage the design agency created a number of images, being elements of recognition for all those ready-to-cook dishes. One of those images was a smiling Italian chef. And since every chef discovering the convenient properties of the fresh frozen pasta and pasta sauces will surely be very happy about it, the design of the smiling Italian chef was soon chosen. |  |
It was quickly coloured with the Italian national colours and, due to a future international development, literally translated into the English language. The logo and brand name The Smiling Cook® were finalised and quickly registered.
The Smiling Cook® has since evolved further into a European brand name and quickly became synonymous for high and constant quality, extremely long shelf life (without preservatives), simple and fast working methods, fixed food cost and profitability, tailored to each kitchen (large or small) and food safe.
Chefs using these products can only … smile!
And rightly so, they have everything to smile about!
