"Launch Kit was brought on board as the designer and developer of HopCat's new web presence."
Best known for their iconic Cosmik Fries and unique style, HopCat is a staple of Grand Rapids. But they're more than that. They're a landmark in East Lansing, Detroit, Holland, Kalamazoo, Broad Ripple, Lincoln and soon to be Royal Oak.
HopCat is a beer bar that is on a mission to serve the best damn beer complimented with legendary food dishes. Their bold style is unmistakable and their dining experience backs it up.
After many years of making its brand a household name, HopCat set out to polish its web presence through a fresh website for each of its nine locations.
The HopCat marketing team had seen Launch Kit on Instagram engaging with the Grand Rapids community. We hopped on a discovery call and knew we were on to something. Location-specific websites with a mothership site all housed under a single domain.
Launch Kit was brought on board as the designer and developer of HopCat's new web presence. We set out to build the main site that contained general information, brand history, and corporate contact info. Beneath that we created a unique site for each location.
Each location's website would showcase its unique food and drink menu along with all necessary contact info, table reservation links, etc.
Launch Kit's Designer, Michael Bova went to work on creating a unique design in Adobe XD that embodied the HopCat brand from head to toe. With brand colors of black, orange, and yellow, a bold design was in order. Bova created an aesthetic that taps into texture, imagery, color, and advanced layering.
An engaging home page video was brought up and the entire team was quickly onboard. Launch Kit Videographer, Frankie LaPenna stepped in to produce a short film at the East Beltline location featuring a handful of drinks and food menu items. The video was inserted into the design on the home page of the primary HopCat home page.
The design was then brought over to Webflow for development. Launch Kit works exclusively with Webflwo to create pixel-perfect custom websites.
Launch Kit Developer, Jack Darnell stepped into to elevate the website functionality. Using UnTapped's API, Darnell was able to create an integration that displays a live beer menu on each location's website in real-time. This is beyond the basic embed that you find on most local beer pub websites. Darnell's JavaScript was able to populate a custom design that Michael Bova created. Thus keeping the beer menu on brand and consistent with other web pages.
A multi-reference CMS collection was created to showcase food menus that are easily updated with the flip of a switch. A good user experience means thinking of the customer's front end and the team members' back end, inside and out.
After a handful of coffees and plenty of visits to various HopCat locations, we are honored to roll out a totally unique online presence for HopCat.
We are proud to share this work with Michiganders and beyond. We believe it is a true representation of team members firing on all cylinders. Bringing value to the table where they know best.
We're excited to have HopCat on board as Launch Kit's newest web member. As a web member, our in-house team will continue to maintain and update their websites through our digital collaboration platform.
Launch Kit and BarFly Ventures look forward to the future as partners in managing the HopCat online presence.
