Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Small Natural Food Store - Name & Tagline?

Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/9/2013 at 8:16 PM ET 250 Points
I'm opening a very small shop selling quality, all-natural, pre-packaged snack foods (e.g. bars, nuts, health drinks) and local foods (e.g. jams, dried mushrooms, seasonings, granola, etc).

Location: a quirky seaside village called Cowichan Bay (often called Cow Bay) on Vancouver Island.

Target market: boaters, kayakers, tourists, cyclists, hikers, West Coast tree-huggers, etc.

Style: rustic market with wholesome, high-quality products.

I need a name and tagline. So far Ive come up with:

Nourish - natural foods & snacks.
Full of Beans - wholesome energy foods
The Little Bay - natural local foods

But those names are taken.

I would be grateful for any input. Thank you so much,

Rebecca Jones

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Mike Steffes on 11/9/2013 at 10:59 PM Accepted
    Smaller shops often benefit from showing some personality. Something to help cement your shop into the customers' thinking. The owner needs to be very on-board with the whole thing, though. Personality is something that can be run with- logos, color schemes, etc.

    For example (I think this works with rustic):

    Cow Bay Naturals
    "Local foods & natural snacks that'll moove you."
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/10/2013 at 12:02 AM Member
    If your audience is local, then play off your location ("Moo: A Natural Food Store" or "Cowowie: Naturally Delicious Foods").
  • Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/10/2013 at 1:00 AM Author
    Thanks for your suggestions Mike and Jay. I like the idea of working the location into the name.

    Jay - I think I put myself off humorous names with so many cow-related puns going around my head ... The Cow Shed, Feed Lot, etc. I was worried about being tacky. But I can see that trying to be too classy might just be boring and un-memorable instead.

    Mike - thanks for the shop personality tip. I can see how important that is now you mention it. I like 'Cow Bay Naturals' and putting the humour in the tag line worries me less than in the name somehow.

    Thank you both. I really appreciate you taking the time to consider this!
  • Posted by mgoodman on 11/10/2013 at 11:08 AM Accepted
    I'm with Mike and Jay. Reference the location and have some fun with the name.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 11/10/2013 at 11:21 AM Member
    Bullseye - natural local foods that hit the spot

    The Milkcan - natural local foods (or Dairy Yard, Milk Yard)

    Pat's of Cow Bay - Step in for something natural

    Cowbell's / Cow Belles

    Udderly Natural - Foods from Cow Bay

    Cream of the Crop





  • Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/10/2013 at 1:28 PM Author
    Thanks mgoodman.

    Saul, those are hilarious! Cow Bay had an ice-cream shop called The Udder Guys until recently. The only problem is that we won't have any dairy products in store - there is already a cheese shop in the village. Lots of fun ideas to play with though - thanks :)
  • Posted by Moriarty on 11/11/2013 at 4:48 AM Member
    I've been thinking about this over the weekend, and Saul's ideas are always brilliant. I'm not quite so sure about the stepping in business though. I use a lot of that sort of stuff on my vegetable garden, and it's not the sort of stuff I want to step in ;-)

    I was thinking more of the "Agricultural Feed Merchants" aspect of your business. Along the lines of "Cow Bay - Hikers' Feed Merchants" or somesuch?

    Does this appeal, or should I find another angle?
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 11/11/2013 at 5:20 AM Member
    Beefy's - Natural food for energy

    On the Hoof - natural food for active people

    Fodder

    The Filet Inn - food with form
  • Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/11/2013 at 11:41 AM Author
    Hi Moriarty.

    Saul's ideas are definitely great fun, but not quite the direction we want to go in. Personality is good, but we are also trying to reflect what we do. There will be no refrigerated products to start with, so no milk or meat! I think also that locals might be quite tired of the Cow puns so it could work against us. (Cowichan is a first nations name meaning 'warm-lands' that does hold some local pride)

    Our focus is on healthy, wholefoods - mostly local and pre-packaged (honey, granola bars, spices, hummus, etc) to start with. We hope to provide fresh fruits & veg and possibly baked goods eventually.

    So far, we're leaning towards names such as Nourish, Pantry, Wild Oats, Natural, etc. but haven't found a way to put them all into a shop name and catch-phrase that rolls off the tongue nicely. I think Mike's 'Cow Bay Naturals' is closest to the mark.

    I should perhaps clarify that when I say Nourish is 'taken' - I mean online and elsewhere. Not in Cowichan Bay specifically, so we could still use it in a form of 'Nourish Cow Bay' or something. But that's not quite right.

    Thank you for your consideration Moriarty :D

  • Posted by saul.dobney on 11/11/2013 at 3:55 PM Accepted
    Harmony Natural Foods / Harmonium

    Flapjacks

    Cloverpatch Foods

    Sustain Food Store

    Nutriful Food

    Natural Bounty (of Cow Bay)

    Cowichan Goodfood Store

    Foragers Natural Pantry
  • Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/11/2013 at 4:09 PM Author
    Thank you Saul! Some great ideas - I particularly like 'foragers' and 'sustain'.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 11/11/2013 at 6:01 PM Member
    hi again, my thoughts were running along the lines of backpackers

    Backpacker's Sackfillers
    Backpacker's Fuel Stop
    The Hiker's Knapsack [filler]

    and yes, Saul's ideas are wonderful! He's snaffling most of my points now ;-)
  • Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/11/2013 at 6:16 PM Author
    LOL! Loving the sense of competition between you marketing geniuses :D

    I like the 'fuel stop' idea Moriarty. I don't want to focus too much on backpackers or hikers as it's a fishing village, next door to a kayak shop, so more for boaters - and local residential customers.

    Anyway - I have lots of ideas now and appreciate them all. Shame you can't share points :)
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/11/2013 at 7:16 PM Accepted
    Small & Natural
    Mrs. Jones' Natural (Food Store)
  • Posted by Moriarty on 11/12/2013 at 3:38 AM Accepted
    Actually it is possible to share out the points. But I'm no good at systems ... so I haven't a clue how to do it :-(

    When you say "next door to a kayak shop, so more for boaters" - now that takes me to sunny weekends at Henley ... no! Other kinds of boater ... now sailor types like chandleries and victuals. I knows this because friends of mine used to drive container ships here and there and spoke of things nautical.

    Cowichan Bay Chandlery [could be misconstrued? But it is one of the jobs of a chandler after all, even if you don't sell ropes and rigging].

    Bay Nauticals

    The Yachtsmans' Food Stop

    I think I'll leave it for Saul to pick up on these - for all his pinching of points, he inspires wonderfully! If he's anything like me, it'll be much the same for him too. He'll probably come up with something better - that's how focussed brainstorming works, after all. It's also incredible fun.
  • Posted by mrsjonesjams on 11/14/2013 at 12:23 AM Author
    Thank you everyone for your considered responses. While I haven't chosen any exact suggestions, the suggestions have been incredibly useful in helping me come up with a name. I think it will be 'Cow Bay Pantry - local & natural foods' or something similar.
    I've chosen all useful posts to win points :)
  • Posted by Moriarty on 11/14/2013 at 5:29 AM Member
    Good luck and please let us know how it's going!! "Cow Bay Pantry" sounds the kind of thing that'll have hikers and yachtsmen feeling hungry ... :-)
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