Bentoville
Employer: All Turtles
Role: Sr. Design Director
Year: 2022-2025
The Relationship
Bentoville was created at All Turtles. My Design team served as an embedded strategic design partner for the organization, working on developing the brand, products, management, hiring, and marketing initiatives.
The Team
Dala Botha - Design Lead
Ivan - Engineering Lead
David Perez - Content Lead
Peter Kemme - Motion Design
Carlos Rocafort - Illustration
Clio Atencio - Sr. Design Director
Services Provided
- Brand Strategy
- Visual Identity
- UX & UI Design
- Copywriting
- Packaging
- Illustration
- Motion Design
- Advertising
- Social Media
- Environmental Design
My Role
As the Sr. Director of Design led the Design team and served as the primary liaison with Bentoville’s executive leadership. My role focused on enabling the team to thrive in a fast-moving, uncertain environment—clearing blockers, shaping creative direction and growth strategy, and ensuring strategic alignment across disciplines.
What is Bentoville?
Bentoville is a Japanese culinary venture based in Bentonville, Arkansas. It blends traditional Japanese cuisine with locally sourced ingredients, delivering elevated experiences in unexpected places.
Key Offerings
BentoBoxes – Elegantly crafted bento box prepared by Michelin-starred chefs.
Onigiri – Handheld rice balls with savory fillings, available at Onyx Coffee Lab and via DoorDash.
Taiyaki – Crispy, fish-shaped pastries with sweet fillings.
Food Concerts – Immersive, performance-driven dinners led by Michelin-starred chefs.
Flagship Location – Opening in 2025 in Bentonville’s Downtown Square.
Mission
Bringing global culinary excellence to underserved locales through immersive, chef-led experiences.
Goal
To launch a fresh culinary brand from the ground up—building awareness and loyalty through standout products and unforgettable experiences. The aim was to test, refine, and scale a concept that fused gastronomy with performance, surprise, and even a touch of play.
The Visual Identity Work
Brand Identity & Narrative Development
We began with deep-dive conversations to understand Bentoville’s ambitions, values, and target audience through collaborative workshops.
With the strategic groundwork in place, we crafted a distinct brand identity that reflected the elegance and playfulness of Bentoville's culinary vision. This included a refined visual language, compelling storytelling, and a flexible system to adapt across digital, print, and physical experiences.
Visual Identity System:
Brand Marks
Experiences Brand Marks
Bentoville offered various experiences (Sushi, Dumpling, Curry, Yakitori, and more) through their Bentoboxes, events, and brick-and-mortar space. As a result, we created distinct secondary brand experiences for each
Seasonal Experiences Brand Marks
Bentoville offered seasonal menus for private events featuring ingredients in season wich required their unique visual identity for differentiation.
Mascot
The mascot, a woman (who inspired the concept) holding the Bentoville icon, will only be used in specific cases as signage for private events.
Color System
Circular Patterns
Illustrations
We created a modular illustration system that enables the team to move faster in creating box illustrations due to ingredient changes, and also allows the motion designer to take elements and bring them to life through animation. Here is a sample of some of the illustrations we created.
Motion
We used the illustration system to animate the boxes for the web and promotional purposes. Here are some samples of animations.
The Packaging Work
BentoBoxes
One of the first offerings from Bentoville was the BentoBox, available for pickup or delivery. We worked on sourcing the packaging, designed eight distinctive boxes. For each type of box, we created inserts that explain the ingredients and tell the story of each box, as we were in charge of the production process.
Onigiri
Onigiri (おにぎり), also known as a Japanese rice ball, is a traditional and widely enjoyed Japanese food made by shaping cooked rice—usually into a triangular or cylindrical form—and often wrapping it with a strip of nori (seaweed). Onigiri is typically filled with savory ingredients such as salted salmon, tuna with mayonnaise, pickled plum (umeboshi), kombu (seaweed), or other seasoned fillings.
Marketing
Website
Throughout the life of Bentoville, we have had several iterations of the website with diverse functionalities, ranging from online ordering and booking for private events to telling a compelling story and keeping users up to date with the business's next moves.
Social Media
We manage the social media channels for Bentoville, helping them organically grow their audience in Bentonville, Northwest Arkansas, from 0 to over 8,000 viewers. On social media, we showcased their products, events, and news to keep the audience engaged. Visit bentoville.nwa on Instagram.
Events
Another offering that provided a quick and easy to-go option was the Onigiris, for which we designed their packaging. Each favor featured a unique illustration and design style; however, everything felt consistent.
The Outcome
Bentoville has quickly established itself as one of Northwest Arkansas’s most talked-about dining experiences, blending exclusivity, cultural relevance, and ambitious culinary goals. Recognized by Axios as one of the “10 best places we ate in NWA” in 2023, Bentoville has earned acclaim for delivering authentic Japanese cuisine through an unconventional no-dining-room model. Its dual offerings—daily bento boxes through Onyx Coffee Lab and immersive “Food Concerts” led by Michelin-star chefs—have consistently sold out, underscoring both demand and popularity. Media coverage from Axios, Eater, and local outlets has amplified its reputation, while investors have already raised $1.3 million to transition the concept into a permanent, Michelin-caliber restaurant by 2025. With this momentum, Bentoville not only enriches the local dining scene but also positions Northwest Arkansas as a rising culinary destination with national appeal.
Selected Works
heraclio@designstgy.com