Bipartisan Cafe: Website Redesign

Sometimes when you own your own business, your business ends up owning you. When Peter and Hobie first started Bipartisan Cafe in the Montavilla neighborhood of SE Portland, they had no idea that things would grow so quickly. Growing from 2 employees to more than 20, fast forward 10 years and a once-small cafe had become a full-fledged coffee operation.

When we first sat down with the owners of Bipartisan Cafe, the goal was simple: get us updated on the web, our presence is dated and tired! Looking at the project, we knew there was so much more value to be had within the website than just giving it a facelift — and bringing value to the brand’s site is exactly what we did.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Bipartisan Cafe’s website needed a serious facelift, but there was so much more that their website could do for the business.

As part of the redesign, we also moved their site over to a self-hosted WordPress platform, giving them greater SEO value on the frontend, and greater ease of use on the backend.

To help the business owners out, we also created a complete job application form on the site, so they wouldn’t have to deal with filing and tracking resumes while trying to run the cafe.

We built in a robust events calendar, complete menu, and created a blog on the site where current events, recipes, and images of the cafe’s art collection could be discussed and presented as part of the business’s brand.

Post-launch, we created a unified social media strategy that incorporated an already detailed monthly newsletter, together with in-house Twitter engagement, weekly blog posts focused on neighborhood news and relevant keyword searches, and a streamlined Facebook presence to improve traffic to the site, as well as the cafe’s profile in the world.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

“We knew we wanted a website to represent our coffee shop, but had no idea how to go about it. After shopping around, we chose Novel Creative Agency. Their portfolio is professional in every sense of the word, but beyond that, their work is beautiful.

Carrie and Matty answered all our questions in a way that gave me confidence we’d chosen the right team. Carrie’s efficiency matched with Matty’s knowledge and ability to listen to us so that he could ask pertinent questions made me feel like we were going to get the website we wanted.

They kept us on track, which was great because like any restaurant owners, we’re busy! At planning meetings, I felt listened to and respected, and anything that seemed difficult to me, they were able to step in and guide me – the team doesn’t let hang-ups keep the process from moving forward.

Their ongoing support is just what we need to keep our site from becoming stagnant. Their combined skills and communication are timely, and take a tremendous amount of stress away from the whole website design and marketing process.

Our experience with Novel has made getting our website done how we want it not only stress-free, but also fun and exciting, and I didn’t expect that at all. I feel lucky to have been on this ride with Carrie and Matty!”

— Hobie Bender, Co-Owner and Co-Founder of Bipartisan Cafe