Brand Identity & Marketing Collateral Design for Wade’s Jr. – Spartanburg, SC
ADG built the complete visual identity for one of Spartanburg’s most anticipated restaurant launches – from a modernized iconic logo to every customer touchpoint in between.
The Challenge: Wade’s Restaurant had built nearly 80 years of loyalty on Pine Street, but demand had outgrown the original location. The family was ready to bring their cooking to Spartanburg’s west side in a faster, counter-service format — and they needed a brand that could carry that weight. The challenge wasn’t starting from scratch. It was honoring something iconic while building something new enough to stand on its own.
The Solution: ADG designed the complete brand identity and marketing collateral system for Wade’s Jr., starting with a modernized illustration of their signature yeast roll character – cleaned up, energized, and given a “Jr.” personality that feels like the natural offspring of the original. We extended that identity across every customer touchpoint: packaging, apparel, kids’ menus, environmental signage, billboards, and retail collateral. The result is a system that launched a new restaurant while feeling immediately familiar to anyone who knows the Wade’s name.
”Wade's Jr. is a natural next step for our brand, allowing us to serve more of our Southern comfort food in a format that fits modern lifestyles."
Anna Lindsey LilesThird-Generation Owner, as quoted in FOX Carolina
Being selected to brand Wade’s Jr. was not something we took lightly. Wade’s Restaurant has been a Spartanburg institution since 1947, a 2024 James Beard America’s Classics Award winner, and one of the most recognized names in the Upstate. When the Lindsey family announced they were expanding with a modern, to-go focused concept at 3008 Reidville Road, the design challenge was clear: build a brand that feels like a natural evolution of something beloved – not a copy of it, and not a departure from it.
The centerpiece of the Wade’s Jr. identity is the logo. Wade’s original brand featured their iconic yeast roll as a character – a signature so recognizable it had practically become the face of the restaurant. Our job was to take that character and give it a “Jr.” treatment: same DNA, new energy. We modernized the illustration, cleaned up the linework, and gave the character a younger, more expressive personality that fits a faster, more casual concept. Think of it as the original’s kid – same family resemblance, different vibe. The result is a logo that longtime Wade’s fans will recognize immediately, while feeling fresh enough to anchor a brand-new restaurant.
From there, we built out a full marketing and brand collateral system designed to launch a restaurant from day one. The brand was refreshed with updated veggie characters and a new logo inspired by the iconic yeast roll – and that vegetable motif carries through everything: a custom repeating brand pattern that tiles across to-go bags, cup wraps, and backgrounds throughout the system.
The collateral suite covers the full customer journey. We designed branded cups, to-go bags, and packaging; kids’ activity menus with seasonal themes; curbside pickup signage explaining the two-step order process; comment cards and feedback collateral; recruitment billboards driving applicants to wadesjr.com/apply; and apparel in multiple colorways featuring both a building illustration and the badge mark. Every piece was built to work together – so whether a customer is seeing the brand on a billboard on Reidville Road or pulling away from the curbside lane with a bag in hand, the experience is consistent.
