Hoffman Gardens
Delivering heat from farm to table.
Hoffman Gardens is a locally-owned hot sauce maker operating out of the South Shore of Massachusetts. Born from a labor of love, their business has struck the balance of flavor and heat with their very own home-grown ingredients. They’re a small venture with big aspirations to not only touch their local community, but also reach far beyond it.
The hot sauce market is projected to grow nearly 50% by 2030. Hoffman Gardens Hot Sauce and their signature products needed a bold branding system and unique packaging that could exemplify their flavors and help them stand out in a crowded space of established and upcoming competitors.
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Freelance Designer & Illustrator
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Art direction
Brand identity systems
Label & package design
Illustration
Product Photography -
January 2024 - Present
Process
The owners dream of expanding, scaling, and selling their products at the retail level. They wanted the Hoffman Gardens brand to look established and feel right at home on the shelves of a big box retailer without sacrificing their origin as a small-town startup.
Creative freedom with naming and design was also important to them. I approached the Hoffman Gardens branding with the intent that it would complement their existing and future offerings without competing with them. It works as the connective tissue of the suite of sauces, allowing each to still feel distinct.
Pineapple Xpress
Pineapple Xpress was the first sauce bottled by Hoffman Gardens, and the first project I worked on for them. The owners came to me with a clear idea of what they were looking for including desired fonts, colors, and inspiration. They entrusted me to unify their disparate ideas into a cohesive design that could span multiple SKUs, allowing them to market it with different levels of heat intensity.
Verde Y Blanco
After the success of Pineapple Xpress I was encouraged to bring more of my own ideas into the fold with their follow up sauce Verde Y Blanco. I leaned into my love for character-driven storytelling and bold color, personifying the sauce’s two main ingredients as luchadores battling for flavor supremacy.
Results
Hoffman Gardens has continued to see growing success since getting involved with the first launch of Pineapple Xpress back in 2024. Both it and Verde Y Blanco are award-winning flavors that have beaten out local and national competition. I’m excited to see how these products and my designs stand out among the competitors on store shelves now that they have acquired a wholesale license.
