‘We wanted something to represent us and that has meaning’

Traditional Colombian bakery La Caleñita took part in Shop Front, a partnership with LCC design students to create striking new identities for 25 local businesses.

Elephant and Castle’s food scene has long been hailed for its diverse culture. For many in the capital, there is no other collection of restaurants that better mould themselves to the tempo of its residents’ daily lives.

Communities are often signposted by their restaurants and cafes, clustering together to serve up specialities of their respective cuisines: Ecuadorean, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Dominican and Colombian. Many are gathered in quiet corners or shelter themselves beneath railway arches.

One such arch, ensconced within Eagles Yard, is number 143. Hidden away within it, you must make your way through a corridor surrounded by other small businesses; a hairdresser’s above and a financial service vendor to the right. The light at the end of the tunnel is La Caleñita – a Colombian bakery and restaurant and well-known hub for the Latin American community.

“It is a place you can call home.”

In Autumn 2017, husband-and-wife team Oscar and Valeria of La Caleñita took the step to branch out to attract new customers and applied to the Southwark High Street Challenge. Funded by the local council, the project – entitled Shop Front – involved local traders working in partnership with LCC’s Business and Innovation team, along with five design students, to create new logos, brand identities and branding materials for their businesses.

It is clear that patrons at La Caleñita regard it as a second home; the atmosphere is relaxed, much like that at the end of a large family party; with the buzz of chat simultaneously excitable and subdued.

“We are always busy and have many regulars,” said Valeria. “There was a time when all of our regulars were Spanish speaking, but we wanted to attract more English-speaking customers. We do not speak English very well, so it [could have been] difficult to get help with new designs for our logo because we need to be able to explain exactly what we want to a designer.”

La Caleñita was one of 25 local businesses involved in the project. “Shop Front was great for us in particular because we were able to work with people who could speak Spanish,” Valeria explained.

Veronica Otero, the project’s co-ordinator, acted as the prime point of contact and translator for many of the local businesses involved, including La Caleñita. “Veronica was very helpful to Oscar and me; she met with us and showed us how design can help us,” said Valeria. 

Being a Spanish speaker, Veronica was able to liaise with Valeria and Oscar and give them confidence in the project and LCC. Valeria spoke of the extra mile that she went. “We were given a letter in Spanish to explain that the project was free for us; we really appreciated that.”

For small businesses such as La Caleñita, finding time to participate in the design workshops initially seemed challenging. Valeria explained how grateful she and Oscar were for the efforts of Veronica and LCC’s design team. “We had many meetings here in La Caleñita; it was better for us to be here to attend to our customers; our designer was very flexible.” 

The name La Caleñita is derived from caleña, which refers to a woman from Cali, (as one would call a Londoner from London), Oscar’s home city in southwestern Colombia. This maternal vibe denotes the sense of comfort and community that radiates from La Caleñita and encapsulates Oscar and Valeria’s position in Elephant and Castle’s Latin American community. “It is a place you can call home,” Valeria says with a warm smile.

“We wanted something to represent us and that has meaning, we want customers to know who we are and understand us”

Their new logo, created by Design for Graphic Communications student Stanislava Stoilova, features the vibrant yellow, blue and red colours of the Colombian flag; bolding showing off La Caleñita’s heritage. “We wanted something to represent us and that has meaning, we want customers to know who we are and understand us,” Valeria emphasised. Stanislava also added a hand-written style for the logo, hinting at La Caleñita’s homemade products and ethos.

La Caleñita serves many traditional Colombian delicacies including almojábanas (a cheese bread), carimañolas (a torpedo-shaped meat pie), and of course, traditional Colombian coffee. La Caleñita is filled with the distinctly warming scent of fresh coffee, and beans can be heard constantly on the grind.

The atmosphere is a relaxed one, much like that of the end of a large family party

Most regulars cradle a cup in their hands, many opting for the ‘tinto’ style, which is black coffee with panela, an unrefined whole cane sugar, on the side. One woman sits with a steaming café con leche, which directly translates to ‘milk with coffee’, which is very similar to the Italian caffè latte.

“My favourite food we make here is pan de bono, which is a warm bread, and I like empanadas, too. They normally have meat and potato in them but I prefer vegetarian,” says Valeria. “A lot of people ask for our Colombian porridge – that is a favourite.”

“[Stanislava] designed new menus in English and Spanish, to help us attract new customers; we want people to try Colombian food, it is delicious,” Valeria added.

Oscar and Valeria have seen the difference the new-look menus have made to their business. “The English menus have definitely brought more English-speaking customers here,” said Oscar, “and the design goes well with our new logo.”

After Shop Front, Oscar and Valeria have continued to work with LCC, and took part in the ‘Where Walworth Eats’ project in 2019. They have also supported a Refugee Journalism initiative at LCC by catering for an event. “I think it is a good idea for local businesses to work with the university,” Valeria said.

La Caleñita is an example of a small business with a big vision, not to go global or make millions of pounds, but to make a real difference in their community and welcome everyone to experience their ‘little Colombia’, as Oscar calls it.

La Caleñita has developed a strong relationship with LCC. Valeria said: “The Shop Front project was our first time working with LCC and we enjoyed it very much.” Oscar added: “LCC has helped us make La Caleñita even better.”