Soul & Smoke
Soul & Smoke is a fixture among Evanston barbecue enthusiasts. The chef started it with drop-off and corporate catering only, but it was quickly expanding. Soul & Smoke needed a brand story to support its rapid growth.
Role
Content Strategist
Copywriter
Year
2020
Team
Account Director
Studio
Glantz
Overview
Soul & Smoke started as a pop-up passion project for Executive Chef D’Andre Carter and CEO Heather Bublick. They ran it out of their primary business, catering company Feast & Imbibe, but Soul & Smoke quickly developed a loyal following. “These are the best ribs I’ve eaten since 1982 in Alabama,” one fan enthused.
Soul & Smoke needed to refine its brand so it could keep up with rapid growth. I joined the content strategy team to concept and write Soul & Smoke’s brand story and a biography for Chef Carter.
Process
What is a brand story?
A brand story humanizes the basic details about your brand: who you are, what you do, why you do it, and what makes you unique. Sharing this information in a narrative style creates a genuine connection with customers. It taps into their emotional needs as well as their practical ones.
Soul & Smoke’s brand story was able to be applied across a variety of touch points. It was posted verbatim on the website, for example, or could be leveraged as fodder for individual social media posts. Such consistent storytelling established a memorable brand that stood out in the market.
Authenticity through research
Conversation is one of the most honest and authentic way for a content strategist to learn. It’s often an excellent source of authenticity. Through interviews with Heather and Chef Carter, I learned the colloquialisms, emotions, and flavors that ring true to Soul & Smoke customers.
I augmented these insights with research about the history of barbecue and other barbecue joints. I also conducted a survey of Evanston locals about their favorite comfort food restaurants.
Creative concepts and writing
I developed two concepts for Soul & Smoke’s brand story. The first, titled “Barbecue People,” emphasized how barbecue is shared: humbly, with family and friends. The second, “The Altar of Barbecue,” highlighted the craft of cooking and positioned barbecue as an art that should be revered.
Soul & Smoke selected The Altar of Barbecue. I then used the voice and tone established in the brand story to write a biography for Chef Carter.
The Altar of Barbecue
Tucking into a plate piled with barbecue is a messy pleasure. The experience is comforting and complex—not unlike the people sharing in it.
At Soul & Smoke, we treat barbecue with the reverence it deserves. We are consumed with the details: the meat-to-bone ratio on our ribs, the creaminess of our mac and cheese, and the combination of spices in Chef Carter’s signature sauce. And as a classically trained chef, he’s primed with the palate and patience to pull those nourishing, heart-warming barbecue flavors from the smoke.
We pour our soul into this food, because barbecue is a craft worthy of devotion. It’s the food we want to eat, and the food we love to cook. Let us tend to the comfort food so you can focus on the people sharing it.
Soul & Smoke brand story
Chef Carter’s biography
Chef D’Andre Carter has earned a national reputation as an elite fine-dining chef, but his true passion — obsession, even! — is barbecue.
It all started at his grandma’s house on the South Side of Chicago. There, helping her cook Sunday dinners for family and friends, Chef Carter learned that it’s not just the flavors that make a meal memorable: it’s the people you share it with, too. Good food tastes good and makes you feel good.
After graduating from his grandma’s kitchen, Chef Carter went on to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and worked his way up in Chicago’s fine-dining scene. Today, Chef Carter is legendary for his gourmet approach to humble barbecue. His signature sauce mixes St. Louis flavors with his proprietary spice blend. Ever the student of the craft, he’s continually refining his menu and experimenting with smoking techniques.
One thing that never changes: Chef Carter’s commitment to creating restaurant-quality dishes that pay respect to barbecue’s joyful, nostalgic, and timeless flavors.
Executive Chef D’Andre Carter’s biography
Outcome
Soul & Smoke’s brand story supported the restaurant as scaled its operations and grew its loyal following. Today, Soul & Smoke barbecue can be found at its food truck, in food halls, and at two brick-and-mortar locations in Evanston and Chicago.