Founded on two generations of family history, and a culture which puts food at the heart of the home, Little Yellow Rice Co. brings tried and tested family recipes to supper club tables across Leeds.

After returning from Penang, Malaysia in 2019, Hannah and Rob launched Little Yellow Rice Co, a Peranakan cuisine experience that serves plates of simple and flavourful food to a table full of strangers. We were approached to create a brand identity that was contemporary and colourful, simple and fun, while paying homage to the rich history behind the project.

In around 1920, Ooi Too Juan left his ancestral home, the Ooi (Yellow) Klan house in Hainan, China and travelled to Malaysia, setting up a kopi house in the suburbs. This community centred, quality-focussed hospitality venture of Ooi Too Juan is what Hannah and Rob wanted to replicate and build upon.

Starting this project, we were able to strike at the core of authenticity and use our first hand experience and research from Malaysia to pour into the design process. We paired street-hawker style typography with traditional Nonya colour schemes, referencing shop front patinas and other authentic touchpoints to add depth to individual elements.

Original family photographs were used to build a visual, scrapbook style timeline that was rolled out across a range of media. Having a visual continuity as rich as these images kept our other design choices focussed, especially when we came to the menus.

At Hannah and Rob’s request, the menus were to form an integral part of the supper club experience, introducing the diners to the family history as the meal progressed. We also created hero images for the main dishes giving the uninitiated diner a heads up of what to expect.

Interactive social media designs were functional, made to engage viewers and to educate them. We also made a small website to provide a space where Hannah and Rob could promote upcoming events, easily manage bookings and update menus.