Bon Appétit Management Company approached us with a paradox.
The company is an industry pioneer operating over 1,000 cafés in 33 states and serving some of the most influential institutions. They are recognized for their leadership in sustainability and food ethics, yet their website has remained unchanged for twenty years. Built in 2006 and incrementally patched over time, their site functioned and conveyed information, but lacked the clarity, passion, and strategic presence of the company it represents.
Bon Appétit is not a typical food-service provider. They design, build, and manage bespoke culinary environments for corporations, universities, and specialty venues. If a company wants to open a café or dining program, Bon Appétit begins by asking deeper questions: What do your people love? How do they gather? Which cultures and cuisines define your community? From those answers, they conceptualize the space—kitchen placement, flow, materials, spatial design—then execute and manage the program end-to-end.
After launch, they don’t walk away. They operate and refine the experience daily. Chefs cook from scratch. Ingredients are sourced with intention. For decades, they have led initiatives around farmworker welfare, antibiotic reduction, sustainable seafood, and zero-waste systems.
Their website, however, did not tell that story with the clarity it deserved.
Our task was twofold: reimagine Bon Appétit’s digital presence and gently refresh their brand. Bon Appétit’s equity is immense. The brand is respected, awarded, and built on decades of culinary and environmental leadership.
Fedele Bauccio, the company’s CEO, has built Bon Appétit on a simple belief: food is something special. In one early conversation, he shared that they once turned down a lucrative contract because the prospective client wanted employees to eat as quickly and cheaply as possible and then return to work. Bon Appétit’s answer was direct: meals are meant to be savored. If the philosophy does not align, neither does the partnership. That principle became a compass for the entire project.
The branding refresh respected that legacy. We preserved the iconic “Bon Appétit” logo, refining only the original letterforms and updating the words “Management Company” to a modern, confident typeface. Visually, the changes are subtle, yet the brand feels sharper and more intentional.
The website, however, required bolder thinking.
From the beginning, this was a deeply collaborative process between our team and Bon Appétit. Before the design, we built the narrative. We developed a comprehensive storyboard that maps the site's emotional and informational journey. Bon Appétit does not sell cafeterias. They sell philosophy, partnership, and proof. Every page needed to reinforce that: from scratch cooking, environmental stewardship, culinary excellence, and operational scale.
From this foundation, our UX team translated the story into structure. Wireframes prioritized hierarchy, clarity, and user flow. In parallel, Bon Appétit shared visual references that resonated with them: expressive and layered. Our designers synthesized those references into a mood board. Conversations were open, honest, and grounded in reasoning.
Color became an early discussion point. Through dialogue, we arrived at a visual language that felt unmistakably Bon Appétit: confident, modern, and pleasantly surprising for the industry.
The most defining decision of the project was our shared commitment to authenticity. No stock photos appear on the site. Every image and video is a real moment. We organized a dedicated photo and video shoot for the homepage, traveling to Philadelphia, PA, to capture Bon Appétit in action at a college campus. In addition, Bon Appétit provided access to a rich archive, allowing us to curate genuine moments from across their locations.
Our technical execution matched the strategic rigor. The site meets WCAG 2.2 Level A accessibility standards, establishing a strong foundation for inclusive access. It also marked Bon Appétit’s first implementation of Google Analytics, creating a framework for ongoing, data-informed evolution. While performance metrics are still accumulating, the operational impact was immediate. Internally, teams reported stronger clarity in positioning. Externally, stakeholders described the experience as modern, bold, and unlike anything else in the industry.
Jenny Slafkosky, Vice President of Communications, captured it perfectly in her public announcement: the new website is “bold. brash. like nothing in the industry. So it’s exactly what you’d expect from Bon Appétit.”
For us, what made this project exceptional was not only the outcome but the partnership. From day one, this website redesign was collaborative, transparent, and built on trust. Bon Appétit treated us as an extension of their team. They listened. They challenged. They gave us the space to think deeply and execute boldly. In return, we brought strategic rigor, design leadership, and a commitment to authenticity.
Today, bamco.com reflects who Bon Appétit truly is: a national leader with a conscience, a culinary company with conviction, and a brand unafraid to stand by its values—even when it means walking away from opportunity. The platform now supports that story with clarity and confidence, positioning them for measurable growth in recruitment, engagement, and new partnerships as analytics begin to inform the next phase.
Our collaboration continues through ongoing maintenance and strategic support. The launch was not a finish line. It marked the beginning of a new digital chapter for a company that has always believed food deserves more time, more care, and more intention.
In many ways, their philosophy mirrors our own approach to design. We don’t rush. We don’t cut corners. Great work deserves patience, precision, and respect.
Ready to build a website that doesn't just look impressive but actually delivers ROI? Let's talk about turning your digital presence into your most powerful revenue driver. For more information, you can reach us at (973) 867-7042 or say hello at info@edesign.bg.