Case Study
Indian Hut
Brand Identity & Website Design
The Brief
A brand new identity for Oxford's home of Indian cuisine
Indian Hut came to Leonard Harvey with a clear vision: they wanted their brand and online presence to reflect the warmth, authenticity, and quality of the food they serve every day. The existing identity didn't do justice to the experience inside the restaurant.
Our brief was to create a complete brand identity from scratch — logo, colour palette, typography, and visual language — and then design and build a website that would bring that brand to life online. The site needed to work for both dine-in guests and takeaway customers, and feel genuinely premium for a small-town Canterbury restaurant.
The result is a warm, elegant brand built around the rich spice palette of Indian cuisine — and a fast, mobile-friendly website that drives both table bookings and online visibility.
Project details
- Industry
- Hospitality / Food & Beverage
- Location
- Oxford, Canterbury, NZ
- Address
- 76 Main Street, Oxford 7430
- Phone
- (03) 423 3587
- Deliverables
- Brand Identity, Website Design, WordPress Development, Copywriting
- Platform
- WordPress · Elementor
- Timeline
- 2025
- Live Site
- indianhut.co.nz
The Challenge
Standing out in a crowded category, in a small town
Indian restaurants face a real branding challenge — the visual language of the category is heavily templated. Generic spice imagery, predictable colour choices, and stock photo menus are everywhere. Indian Hut needed to feel distinctly theirs — warm and authentic, but elevated and confident.
Generic category visuals
Most Indian restaurant brands look interchangeable. The brief was to create something that felt distinctive while staying true to the cuisine.
Mobile-first customer base
The majority of customers browse on mobile — especially for takeaway orders. The site needed to perform perfectly on smaller screens.
Small town, big ambitions
Oxford is a small Canterbury town. Indian Hut wanted a brand that felt as premium as any city restaurant — not a compromise.
Brand Identity
Warmth, spice, and quiet confidence
The Indian Hut brand is built on a palette of deep, warm tones — saffron, turmeric, deep crimson, and rich cream. These colours were chosen not just for their visual warmth, but because they reference the actual spices and ingredients at the heart of Indian cuisine.
Authentic flavours, crafted with love and tradition. Dine-in or takeaway.
Website Design
A digital home that matches the in-restaurant experience
The website needed to do two jobs: inspire dine-in guests with the atmosphere and story of Indian Hut, and make it frictionless for takeaway customers to view the menu and get in touch. Both audiences, one elegant solution.
Warm, immersive design
Deep, spice-toned backgrounds, elegant typography, and carefully considered spacing — designed to evoke the warmth of the restaurant before a guest even walks through the door.
Menu-first architecture
The site structure puts the menu front and centre — lunch, dinner, and vegan menus are all accessible in one tap. Because that's why most visitors arrive.
Loyalty programme integration
Indian Hut's loyalty card programme is featured prominently — earn a free naan and curry just by dining in. The site supports the in-restaurant experience.
Indian Flavours
Indian Hut
Oxford 7430
What we built
Every feature with purpose
WordPress & Elementor build
Built on WordPress with Elementor for easy content management — Indian Hut can update their menu and content independently.
Mobile-first responsive design
Fully optimised for mobile — where the majority of restaurant-goers search and browse.
Multi-menu architecture
Separate lunch, dinner, and vegan menus — all accessible from a single, clean menu hub page.
Table booking integration
Clear calls to action for table reservations via phone — frictionless for both dine-in and takeaway customers.
Loyalty programme feature
The Indian Hut loyalty card programme is featured on the site — driving repeat visits and in-store engagement.
On-page SEO foundations
Meta titles, descriptions, structured data, and Google Search Console setup — built for local search visibility in the Oxford and wider Canterbury area.
Social media integration
Facebook and Instagram linked throughout — connecting the website to Indian Hut's active social presence.
Fast page load performance
Optimised images, clean Elementor build, and Cloudflare CDN — targeting fast load times on all connections.
The outcome
A brand Indian Hut is proud to put their name on
The project delivered a complete brand and web presence that reflects the quality and character of what Indian Hut offers every day. From the spice-toned colour palette to the menu-first website architecture, every decision was made in service of the Indian Hut customer experience.
Brand identity from zero
A complete visual identity built from scratch — logo, palette, typography, and brand guidelines that Indian Hut now owns and uses across all touchpoints.
Live and performing
The site launched in 2025 and is the primary digital touchpoint for Indian Hut customers — driving both dine-in and takeaway enquiries.
A client relationship built to last
Indian Hut is an ongoing Leonard Harvey client — a partnership we are proud to be part of as their business grows.
See the finished product
Visit the live Indian Hut website to see the brand and design in action.
Visit indianhut.co.nz →