Sumido

Brand Story

Sumido is a Japanese Hikiniku restaurant where every hamburg steak carries the discipline of Kyoto craftsmanship — unhurried, precise, and deeply satisfying. The name echoes 炭堂 (Sumi-dō), a hall of charcoal, evoking the smoky warmth of binchotan-fired kitchens and the intimate atmosphere of a Kyoto machiya side street. The brand mascot — a round, charcoal-black creature with a red maw and a raised finger — is not cute; it is confident, a little mysterious, and utterly serious about meat. Sumido exists for food lovers who understand that the best bite is one that took years to perfect.

Mission

To serve Japanese hikiniku hamburg with the quiet precision of Kyoto craftsmanship, making every guest feel the depth of flavour that comes from doing one thing, obsessively well.

Values

Craftsmanship over convenience
Restraint as a form of respect
Depth of flavour above spectacle
Honest ingredients, nothing hidden
The ritual of a proper meal

Colours

Primary

Ink Black
#1A1A1A — Primary brand colour; used for logo wordmark, mascot body, headlines, and heavy backgrounds

Charcoal Red
#C8221E — Accent and action colour; used for kanji stamp, sub-tagline type, CTAs, and highlight marks

Washi Cream
#F5D6AF — Background base; replicates the warm off-white of the logo field and traditional washi paper

Secondary

Binchotan Ash
#4A4A4A — Secondary text, captions, and UI dividers — softens pure black in body copy

Umami Brown
#6B3F2A — Warm earthen accent for food photography overlays and secondary graphic elements

Miso Gold
#C9973A — Subtle highlight for premium dish callouts, price tags, and seasonal menu badges

Typography

Zen Antique Soft — Display / Headlines
Shippori Mincho — Body text

Logo Variants

Primary — Full Wordmark (on cream)

New variant

Voice & Tone

Speak like a chef, not a marketer: Write as if the head chef is calmly explaining why this dish is the way it is. No hype words, no exclamation-mark enthusiasm. Confidence comes from specificity — 'hand-mixed wagyu hikiniku rested for 24 hours' says more than 'premium quality beef'.
Japanese restraint, bilingual execution: Posts should feel at home in both Japanese-influenced aesthetics and the Chinese-language Xiaohongshu community. Use short Japanese words or kanji as texture (not decoration). Chinese captions should read naturally — never machine-translated. English is the third language, used for headers and global reach.
Silence is part of the brand: Not every post needs a call to action. Some posts exist only to make the viewer stop scrolling and feel the warmth of the food. Let photography and one line of copy do the work.
Never perform cuteness: The mascot is character-driven, not kawaii. Avoid diminutive language, emoji clusters, and anything that reads as playful fast-food. The mascot raises one finger — it is telling you something important, not waving hello.

Language

Do say:

'Seared over binchotan — nothing more, nothing less.'
'Every patty is mixed by hand. Every time.'
'A meal worth being quiet for.'
'炭の香り、挽肉の誠実さ。' (The scent of charcoal, the honesty of ground meat.)'
'Season's hikiniku — available until it isn't.'

Don't say:

'Yummy!', 'So kawaii!', 'OMG so good 😍😍😍'
'Best burger in town' (we serve hamburg, not burgers)
'Unlimited / all-you-can-eat / value meal'
Any reference to pork or non-halal ingredients
'Modern Japanese fusion' — we are not fusion

Moodboard