Short version:

Culinary Backstreets is a leader in culinary travel, inspiring smarter travel and providing a true sense of place through food. Working in more than 20 cities around the world, Culinary Backstreets provides immersive food tours and multi-day trips, along with publishing articles and guidebooks about local culinary culture. Through our work, we aim to honor, champion and help sustain the work of culinary artisans and to ultimately connect them with curious travelers.

Long version:
Culinary Backstreets is a pioneering travel and publishing company that works to inspire smarter travel and exploration by connecting curious eaters with local communities and the unsung culinary heroes of the backstreets. Founded in 2012, Culinary Backstreets works in more than 20 cities around the world, providing immersive food tours and multi-day trips, along with publishing online articles and printed guidebooks. Culinary Backstreets’ worldwide team is made up of passionate locals who have a deep knowledge of and connection to the communities they work in. Through them, we are able to take travelers into the heart and soul of local culture in a way that’s grounded in respect and genuine insight, going beyond the usual. It’s travel, with bite.

Culinary Backstreets’ mission is to provide a path for discovering the true sense of place through food. We do that by crafting narrative-driven culinary travel experiences and by sharing our rich knowledge of the places we work in. We see food as a bridge, promoting connection and a deeper understanding of cultures, heritage and history. Through our work, we aim to honor, champion and help sustain the work of culinary artisans and to ultimately connect people.

A Human Connection Over Every Plate 
Food is our bridge, promoting connection and a deeper understanding of cultures, heritage and history.

Local Experts, Deeply Rooted 
Our local experts proudly open a door into their communities, offering access grounded in respect and genuine insight. 

Amplifying Voices, Highlighting Untold Stories
Through carefully crafted immersive experiences, we take travelers into the heart and soul of local culture, introducing them to the unsung heroes of the kitchen.

Beyond the Usual, Inspiring Exploration 
We feed curiosity for exploring local culinary culture and savoring the unexpected, moving beyond cliché and engaging directly with those who uphold generations of  tradition.

Respectful Engagement, Unforgettable Access
We provide genuine “insider” access to the people and places travelers wouldn't normally reach on their own through immersive, respectful and worry-free experiences. 

Supporting Communities, Preserving Traditions
We promote travel that sustains traditions and empowers communities through mindful exploration and equitable economic support.

Passionate People, Collaborative Culture
We gather exceptional people working collaboratively to create respectful experiences through outstanding storytelling.

Brand Personality Adjectives:

Activist
Approachable
Bold
Charismatic
Compassionate
Creative
Curious
Enthusiastic
Fair
Friendly
Fun
Genuine
Hard-working
Helpful
Honest
Humble
Imaginative
Inclusive
Kind
Knowledgeable
Laid-back
Loyal
Nostalgic
Open-minded
Passionate
Playful
Respectful
Responsible
Romantic
Sentimental
Sincere
Social
Spontaneous
Strong
Supporter
Trusting
Understanding
Warm
Wise

For internal employees: All logos and icons can be found here.

Primary Logo

There are two versions of the primary logo: vertical and horizontal. 

Vertical Logo Version: 

Horizontal Logo Version: 

Secondary Logos

A variety of secondary logos are available for use in applications where the primary logo might not be possible. 

Vertical Logo Versions: 

Horizontal Logo Versions: 

Iconography

Fork & Knife Pin Vertical

Fork & Knife Pin Slanted

City Specific Icons

A selection of city specific icons can be used in the context of communicating about that city. 

Athens

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

Bangkok

Barcelona

Bilbao

Buenos Aires

Guadalajara

Istanbul

Lisbon

Los Angeles

Marseille

Mexico City

Naples

New Orleans

Oaxaca

Osaka

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

Palermo

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

Paris

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

 Porto

Queens

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

Rio

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

San Sebastian

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

Seoul

Solid Color Logo	With CB Name	Icon & City Name Only	Icon Only - Color	White Icon Only	White W/ City

Shanghai

Tbilisi

Tokyo

Logo Applications

This section provides a quick guide to using the Culinary Backstreets logo effectively. It includes logo variations, minimum size requirements, color considerations, and clear space guidelines.

Size

The Culinary Backstreets logo should never be smaller than 1.5 inches on its shortest edge.

City logos should never be smaller than 1/2 inch on its shortest edge.

The Fork & Knife Icon should always be large enough to be able to easily see that it is a fork and knife. 

Spacing

The Culinary Backstreets logo should always have room to breathe from both the edges of the design and from other elements within the design. Please leave an exclusion zone equal to the width of the fork & knife pin on all sides of the logo.  See below:

Logo Misuse

Show inappropriate ways to use logos. (example below)

Company & Product Names

Company Name
Culinary Backstreets

Sometimes referred to as CB, but this should generally not be used as a customer-facing reference for marketing purposes or as part of product name or in any sort of branding. CB may be used sparingly for editorial purposes when space or brevity is a consideration, such as in newsletter subject lines or in subsequent references to the company in newsletter texts. Please avoid referring to the company as CBS.

Culinary Backstreets {City} 

The specific city should always come after the brand name when referring to our work in a specific region

Product Names

Product names should always be capitalized when referring directly to a product. 

Example: 
Our Culinary Backstreets Trips

On your Food Tour with Culinary Backstreets

Check out our Athens City Guide

City Guides

our complete collection of content for a city

Stories

Our editorial pieces are referred to as Stories

Food Tours

We can use other description phrases to describe our tours like culinary adventure, walking excursion, culinary walk, etc, but when referring to the product directly it should always be referred to as a Food Tour  

Culinary Trips

We can use other description phrases to describe our trips like multi-day culinary immersion, etc, but when referring to the product directly it should always be referred to as a Culinary Trip and then Trip after that.

Backstreet Box

A collection of iconic items that bring the spirit, magic, and flavor of a city into customers homes

Books

Referred to by Title or collectively as Culinary Backstreets Eaters’ Guides

Backstreet Passport 

Our loyalty program should never be referred to as a “loyalty program” when customer facing.  It should be explained that it's a way to earn rewards with us.

Gift Certificate

Not gift card.

Our People

Tour/Trip Leader 

• Your tour leader will meet you at XYZ place at 11am to start your tour
• Our trip leaders will help you uncover the hard-to-find spots of the city and its surroundings. 

Contributors  

• Can be used for writers and photographers

[City] Team 

• Encompasses guides, contributors, bureau chiefs – i.e. Athens Team 

The Entire Culinary Backstreets Team

• The Culinary Backstreets team, from administration to city level

Guest Services & Operations Team

• Used to refer to our administration and booking team
• Anyone other than guides who is dealing with guests and potential guests 

Brand Words & Bad Words

We do not use logo lockups of the cities and the brand logos, but when needed the two may be used together in a design as two separate elements.

When there is a need for a co-brand lockup try at all times to make both logos take up the same amount of space.

Specifications:

• A 3px black line should be used to separate the logos
• The distance between the edge of the logos and the line should be equal to the width of the Knife & Fork Pin in the Culinary Backstreets icon
• The length of the line should be equal to the length of the Diamond Map icon.
• If full color logos clash, use full black logos for each brand.
• Use either vertical or horizontal Culinary Backstreets logo depending on which works best.
• The order of the brands, unless stated otherwise in the contract can appear in any order.

Primary Brand Color

Secondary Brand Color

City Specific Colors

City colors should only be used to represent that city and should not be combined in designs.

Color Ratios             

Brand Colors vs City Colors

• CB Red can be combined with city color palettes.
  • Use black or white logo with city branded designs.
• CB Grey can be used with brand color palettes.
  • Black and white can be used with all color palettes.
• DO NOT combine multiple city palettes
  • Designs that combine multiple cities into one should rely on the brand palette (multi-page designs can use different city palettes on different pages, but the overall color theme should rely on brand palette)               

Color Misuse

Museo Cyrl 700

• DO NOT overuse this font
• Titles only
• Should not be used at all in designs where the logo is large
• Is not used on the website (outside logo)

Avenir Black 95

Avenir Bold

Avenir Regular

Scaling should be roughly to these proportions:

• Title - 100%
• Heading - 70%
• Subhead - 45%
• Body Text - 40%

This section dives into the world of Culinary Backstreets' visual storytelling through photography and video. We'll explore our approach to capturing the essence of our experiences, offering guidance on imagery that reflects our brand values. 

Editorial, Tour & Trip Photography

Food is a focus for us, but it is not the be-all-end-all. Storytelling is at the heart of what we do, and our photography must be consistent with that; honestly reflecting the spirit of an individual and/or the ambience of a place. Regardless of the subject, all images for Culinary Backstreets should be naturally lit, emotionally compelling, and well-composed. (Overly staged or stylized photographs, on the other hand, are not in line with our brand.)

We regularly commission photography for our three major brand outputs: our editorial coverage, our culinary walks (run daily in nearly 20 cities worldwide), and our multi-day organized trips (run several times a year). The following pages have information on each of these commissions, along with reference imagery and prior examples. The photography commissioned is also used extensively in our social media channels, our weekly newsletters, in targeted marketing emails and in a variety of other marketing campaigns and programs. This is to say, the images you capture will be used extensively and are an essential underpinning of CB’s public outreach.

Please keep in mind that all (or the majority) of the images we publish on the site are in landscape orientation, and that the final featured/top image will be cropped to dimensions of 1920x600 – so please, shoot wide! When time permits please also try to capture images in portrait orientation as well, for use on social media (scroll below for guidance).

Posed but natural portraits of the owners/chefs/main characters of the article or of the tour/trip you are documenting

An exterior shot of the restaurant / the neighborhood

Interior shots of the restaurant - great to get some people eating and full tables

Action shots of the owners/chefs in the restaurant, in the kitchen, serving, talking with customers, etc.

A selection of dishes from different angles – go for a good mix of shots, ones that encompass the vibe, as well as more glossy shots of the plates on their own 

dishes, as well as (for instance) a table set with several different dishes to reflect the atmosphere. 

Any detail shots that you find interesting of the kitchen or the dining room

To contribute social media video/images for the Culinary Backstreets accounts, there are a couple of general tips to consider: 

• Use natural light if at all possible. If it’s not sunny, try to take advantage of whatever lighting is available. If there’s natural light, that’s the best possible situation. If not, try to make sure that your subject is visible on camera, lit in a way where you can see the action that is happening.
• Use the rear camera as much as possible instead of the selfie camera.
• If the sound is important to the video (i.e. if you’re cracking a creme brulee or capturing the crackle of a fire), please be conscious of the sounds that are happening. Ambient sound is great (birds, the hum of restaurants, cooking/kitchen sounds), but if you’re recording next to a personal conversation or people chatting, that’s not ideal. If you’re asking someone to answer a question, it should be in a quiet space where their answer is at least loud enough for me to transcribe into captions.
• Move your phone closer to the subject instead of using the zoom feature, if possible.
• Shoot vertically as much as possible, with both stills and video.
• Try to mix up shots between holding still while letting the action happen around you, and moving with the action. 
• If you are holding still and recording a setting, count to 5 at least. This will ensure that the clip is long enough to use.

SAMPLE SHOT LIST

• Exterior videos of the street, shop, neighborhood - anything that gives people a sense of place and what the energy of the neighborhood on the tour is

• Action shots of the owners/chefs in the restaurant, in the kitchen, serving, talking with customers, etc; natural moments and shots of shop owners and tour goers interacting. For instance, show the owners bringing products to the table for tour goers to try, or shop owners slicing meat, but showing their faces

• A selection of dishes, food and various products, showing people digging into them, the owners bringing them to the table, etc. Can be closeups (but not TOO close, the dish shouldn’t take up the entire frame)

• Any detail shots that you find interesting of the kitchen or the dining room/Interior shots of the restaurant or shop - these can be closeups of photos on the wall, or of the menus, or tablecloths moving in the wind. It’s always an extra bonus to show people interacting with one another!

Culinary Backstreets Street Grid Pattern

Corners: rounded - 12px radius

Buttons: rounded - 6px radius

Text Links: colored to match page styling (brand color or city color)