Following the announcement that US Foods planned to divest CHEF’STORE, leadership established a new mission, vision, values and strategic direction to help define what the organization stood for and where it was headed next.

The strategy itself existed in words, but it did not yet have an identity or a framework for bringing associates along with it. The challenge was to turn a collection of leadership principles into something people across the organization could recognize, understand and use—not simply communicate once and move on from.

The work needed to:

• Give the new strategy a clear and recognizable identity

• Make complex leadership messaging easier to understand and remember

• Connect internal strategy to the existing CHEF’STORE brand and store experience

• Create a system that could work across communications, environments and everyday associate touchpoints

• Build consistency as the strategy evolved over time

• Turn operational expectations into language associates could more easily adopt

From operating within US Foods’ values framework to establishing a distinct CHEF’STORE identity, strategy and set of behaviors associates could understand, own and put into practice.

I took the strategic content provided by senior leadership and developed the creative framework that gave it an identity, structure and rollout strategy.

My responsibilities included:

• Developing the visual identity and logo system for Inspire & Grow

• Creating the Own the Icon strategy to connect internal communications with CHEF’STORE’s evolving in-store visual language

• Building the overarching creative system across mission, vision, values and strategic priorities

• Translating long-form leadership messaging into clear, digestible visual communications

• Developing the artwork and applications across posters, video, guidebooks, recognition tools, digital communications and associate materials

• Extending the system through a later strategy refresh as values and operational priorities evolved

• Reframing the proposed BRAND operational acronym into READY, creating a more intuitive idea built around the question, “Are you READY?”

• Presenting and advocating for creative solutions designed to improve clarity, recognition and adoption

Build an Identity, Not Just Materials

The initial request provided the strategy but no creative identity. Rather than treating each value, priority or communication as a separate deliverable, I developed Inspire & Grow as a unified internal brand that could give the strategy recognition and continuity over time.

Connect Internal Strategy to the Customer-Facing Brand

I developed Own the Icon around product-based iconography already becoming part of the in-store experience. This allowed internal communications to feel distinctly CHEF’STORE while creating a visual connection between the associate experience and the environment customers saw every day.

Design for Repetition and Recognition

Organizational strategy cannot rely on a single presentation. The system was designed to work at different levels— from comprehensive guides and leadership communications to posters, recognition tools and everyday desk materials—allowing the same ideas to appear repeatedly without requiring the full strategy to be explained every time.

Evolve the System Without Starting Over

When leadership refreshed the strategy two years later, I retained the established visual equity while reorganizing the content around updated values, customer priorities and operational expectations. The framework could evolve with the business rather than becoming another short-lived internal campaign.

Make Operational Language Easier to Adopt

When an operational framework was initially proposed as BRAND, I saw an opportunity to make the idea more intuitive and actionable. I developed READY and positioned it around a simple question—“Are you READY?”— giving associates a more natural way to remember the behaviors expected in a well-run store.

Strategic Impact

The work created a bridge between senior leadership strategy and associate understanding, organizing mission, vision, values, customer priorities and operational expectations within one cohesive communication system.

Brand Impact

By connecting internal strategy to CHEF’STORE’s in-store iconography and broader visual language, the work reinforced a more unified brand experience rather than allowing internal communications to develop as a separate corporate identity.

Organizational Impact

The framework gave leadership and cross-functional teams a repeatable way to communicate strategic priorities across multiple touchpoints and over multiple years, while concepts such as READY made operational expectations easier to recognize and discuss.

Creative Impact

What began as copy evolved into a complete branded ecosystem spanning identity, iconography, presentation systems, environmental and associate communications, recognition tools, video and long-form strategy materials— demonstrating how creative direction can make organizational strategy more visible, memorable and usable.