Katikai GLuten Free
Gluten-Free, Minus the Sad
Gluten-free food shouldn’t taste like cardboard. Rebecca knew that long before she decided to do anything about it.
Katikai is already a fixture of Katikati school days. Behind the scenes, she’d been quietly building something else: a gluten-free range with real recipes, real practice and a lot of love.
Now it’s launching, and it needed a brand that said so.
The Story
It started with a focaccia. Rebecca made some for my child (it’s bloody delicious!), and it’s still the first gluten-free thing she ever created. Everything else grew from that loaf.
So when the range became a real business, the question wasn’t what to put on the label. It was how to show a community that’s used to ad hoc, off-the-shelf options that this was made for them, on purpose.
Rebecca had the brief nailed. Fun. Inclusive. Full of personality. Nothing bland, nothing beige.
Same family, own address
The original Katikai brand was already working, so the new one couldn’t be a stranger. It also couldn’t be a copy. We kept the character-led identity and the tone of voice, then gave it its own palette and its own star.
Look closely and you can see they belong together. Look at it on its own and it holds up just fine.
The Transformation
A Palette With Its Own Personality
Deep plum and soft powder blue take the place of the original’s chocolate tones. It’s rich, a bit unexpected, and nowhere near the clinical white-and-green look gluten-free food usually gets.
A Focaccia With Attitude
The brand’s face is the loaf that started it all, complete with a shaka. It’s playful and instantly recognisable, and it’s clearly related to the Katikai characters without borrowing them.
Words With a Spine
Same warm, cheeky voice as the original, aimed at a different problem. “No more apologising for what you can’t eat.” Nobody gets left at the edge of the table with this brand.
Branding You Can Hold
Round stickers, attention grabbing business card that doubles as an order form. It all works as a system, not a one-off.
Key Benefits
Feels Like Part of the Family
Existing Katikai customers will recognise it straight away, so the new range starts with trust.
Stands On Its Own
Its own colours and its own character mean the gluten-free range doesn’t sit in the original’s shadow.
Gluten-Free Without the Sad
The humour and the character take it out of “free-from aisle” territory and give it personality in a category that tends to play safe.
Made With Love, Shown With Love
The brand matches the care that went into every recipe.
