There’s a difference between a good diner and a great diner.
Sure, a good diner has that ‘greasy spoon’ allure and an enormous menu of night-and-day staples. It may even have that stainless steel siding famous at roadside stops. But a great diner has a deeper character that can only be forged with time and devotion to a community. So when family-owned Kerbey Lane, the premier diner in Austin for over 40 years, came to us with eyes toward a rebrand, we licked our lips and jumped at the chance to work with a great team — and one of the few great diners.
You see, Kerbey Lane has witnessed firsthand all the change that’s occurred in Austin — and happened to Austin — for the last four decades. From a small college town, to “Keep Austin Weird”, to the ongoing Silicon Hills tech boom. And even with new skyscraper shadows on the river every month, Kerbey Lane has thrived through it all, proving to be Austin’s lifelong go-to for kids and college kids and kids-at-heart.
Why? Because they’ve got that mythical character most brands can only dream of. Since the start, they’ve embraced ‘weird’ in everything they do: treating customers and staff alike like family and celebrating individuality with off-the-wall uniform flair and creative menu twists like cinnamon roll pancakes. Plus, they even sent their queso into outer space. No joke.
Plenty of other restaurants have tried to counterfeit this one-of-a-kind character overnight — blandly trying to reheat Austin’s soul and slapping “Keep Austin Weird” on the side of the building.
But our work for Kerbey Lane aims to stake a claim on the real, wild, wonderful, and, yes, weird Austin. To give it an embrace as warm as a stack of cinnamon roll pancakes, and to share the whole meal with anyone and everyone who walks in.
