Charolais by Austin Simmons | Brand Identity
A new expression of steak, built from the source.
When Chef Austin Simmons set out to create Charolais, he wasn't interested in opening another steakhouse. He envisioned something lighter, cleaner, and more intentional—a modern steak experience built around sourcing, transparency, and a deeper respect for the product itself.
Partnering with Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., Charolais was conceived as a modern reimagining of the category. One that replaces excess with restraint, puts ingredients before ego, and creates a direct connection between guest and source.
When developing the identity for Charolais, our goal was to create a steak experience unlike anything else in Texas—one where the beef is elevated to an art form, and every detail reflects the care behind it.
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Storytelling & Tone of Voice
Strategy & Positioning
Brand Identity & Logos
Photography Art Direction
Signage & Environmental Graphics
Menu Design & Collateral
Packaging Design
Apparel & Merch
Ecommerce & Digital Design
Website Design
Social Media Strategy
Content Creation
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The steakhouse category is saturated with sameness. Dark interiors, heavy materials, legacy iconography—most brands still rely on outdated luxury cues and performative excess to communicate quality.
At the same time, consumer expectations have fundamentally shifted. Today’s guest wants more than indulgence. They want romance. Transparency. Intentionality. A deeper connection to the source and substance behind the experience.
The challenge wasn’t simply to create a beautiful restaurant brand. It was to redefine what a modern steakhouse could feel like—elevated without pretension, emotionally warm without cliché, and deeply rooted in sourcing without falling into rustic tropes.
More importantly, the system needed to unify two interconnected brands—Charolais and Chef & Rancher—into one seamless guest experience where the ranch, the product, and the restaurant all felt inseparable.
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The modern steakhouse has become disconnected from its source. Today’s guest is more informed, ingredient-conscious, and emotionally invested in where their food comes from.
Luxury is no longer defined by excess. It’s defined by intention.
The opportunity for Charolais wasn’t to out-steakhouse the steakhouse category. It was to create a new kind of dining experience built around clarity, sourcing, romance, and control—from hoof to plate.
At the center of that insight was Chef & Rancher. Instead of treating sourcing as a supporting marketing story, the source itself became the foundation of the brand ecosystem. The beef wasn’t an ingredient inside the experience—it was the experience.
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HiFi Creative Team
Allison Rosenwinkel - Creative Director
Sarah Hinman - Senior Designer
Ash Cottrell - Project Manager
Creative Partners
Gin Design Group - Interiors
Filmlab Creative - Photo & Video Production
Aaron Tharpe - Production Director
Ryan Clements - Director of Photography
Joseph West - Photographer
Shaider Divina - Gaffer
Christian Diaz - Grip Assistant
Instead of leaning darker, louder, or more masculine, the identity embraces restraint—light-filled, artistic, and expressive.
The visual language balances soft neutral palettes, elevated typography, generous negative space, and understated luxury cues to create something that feels effortless rather than performative. The result feels less like a traditional steakhouse and more like a modern hospitality brand shaped by taste, clarity, and confidence.
Charolais was designed to challenge traditional norms of the common “Texas Steakhouse”.
Crafting the Brand Identity
Website Design & Development
A tool to amplify Chef Ausin’s philosophy and introduce a larger audience to the world of Charolais.
We designed and developed a customized Squarespace website that ownership could easily manage internally—allowing the team to update menus, launch events, push seasonal offerings, and evolve content without relying on a developer for every change.
Large-format imagery, editorial pacing, clean navigation, and minimal copy allowed the sourcing story, atmosphere, and product to lead. Instead of feeling overloaded or overly transactional, the site feels immersive, cinematic, and easy to move through—more aligned with a luxury hospitality experience than a traditional restaurant website.
Photo & Video Art Direction
We partnered with a Houston local studio, FilmLab to tell Charolais’ unique story.
Rather than romanticizing the process, the photography direction focused on capturing the animals in their truest form—natural light, real environments, tactile textures, and quiet moments of stewardship.
Every image was designed to reinforce the brand’s ethos: respect for animals, transparency in the process, and a deeper connection to the source itself.
“Light, airy, and quietly romantic, Charolais reimagines what a steakhouse can be—elegant without ego, refined without pretense, and rooted in a singular truth: without the source, there is no story.”
Allison Rosenwinkel | Principal & Co-Founder, HiFi Brands
