Boudin SF Plastic Free Food Packaging project is born from ArtCenter College of Design's first 100% plastic free packaging course. Students were challenged to rebrand a fast or fast casual food brand, and redesign their packaging system to be fully sustainable, using no plastic or bioplastic. Students were also challenged to use new and old materials including biomaterials such as wood pulp, plant cellulose, food waste, grass, algae, and mushrooms that are sustainably sourced, and at the end of their lives, can be composted into bio-mass to regenerate depleted farming soils.

The original brand itself is a bakery and restaurant chain originally from San Francisco, California, known for its sourdough bread. It was established in 1849 by Isidore Boudin, son of a family of master bakers from Burgundy, France, by blending the sourdough prevalent among miners in the Gold Rush with French techniques and longevity. Today, it is famous for its "Bowl of Soup", which is a sourdough boule with clam chowder inside of it. This rebranding and packaging design is recognizing sustainability as longevity and delivering Boudin SF's same spirit but with a 21st century vibe.

Final outcomes are including physical food packaging appearance models that indicate the size, dimension, and functionality for real paper pulp containers. Results also include reusable cotton carrier bags, environmental-friendly wrap papers, container tags, to-go menus, and business cards.

The core goal: 100% Plastic Free Food Packaging

In ArtCenter College of Design's first 100% plastic free packaging course, students were challenged to rebrand a fast or fast casual food brand, and redesign their packaging system to be fully sustainable, using no plastic or bioplastic. Students were challenged to use new and old materials including biomaterials such as wood pulp, plant cellulose, food waste, grass, algae, and mushrooms that are sustainably sourced, and at the end of their lives, can be composted into bio-mass to regenerate depleted farming soils.

The visual rebranding for Boudin Bakery & Boudin SF is based on the core notion of taking something old and making it new again, specifically making Boudin feel like a contemporary bakery and restaurant with a strong heritage and history. After thorough research for the current Boudin Bakery & Boudin SF, the “Boudin Yuccies” rebranding concept focuses on the following six key attributes: established, artistic, friendly, stylish, contemporary, and sustainable.

The rebranding initiates from creating the visual identity and identity systems that largely apply to Boudin products, packaging, and environmentals. By presenting audiences with cleaner typography and more illustrative graphic elements, new visual systems intentionally aim to offer customers a feeling that Boudin has transformed into a brand with a strong contemporary style. The overall visual systems and materials would also focus on bringing the idea of embracing San Francisco history, Boudin history, and the San Francisco style of craftsmanship. With this rebranding approach, Boudin Bakery & Boudin SF group will be confident enough to not only mainly keep their traditional and loyal customers, but also potentially attract Millennials who are willing to try new things.

More importantly, the “Boudin Yuccies” (Young Urban Creative) concept would reveal a strong statement on largely applying sustainable materials through their packaging and to-go/delivery products. New materials that may be applied into the packaging are recyclable paper, linens, and composable/biodegradable paper pulp.

With this new rebranding concept, Boudin Yuccies, the bakery & restaurant group would bring its iconic San Francisco tourist attraction identity into a new brand figure with its modern San Francisco Bay/Silicon Valley philosophy of sustainability and longevity.