Coppergate Design Co

Coppergate Design is a CPG-focused branding and packaging design studio based in North Carolina, operated by a founder with firsthand experience in the consumer packaged goods industry. The studio specializes exclusively in food, beverage, craft spirits, coffee, breweries, and restaurant brands, offering a focused depth of expertise that generalist design agencies cannot replicate. The founder co-founded Hazard's Hop Water, giving the studio a practitioner's understanding of retail shelf dynamics, buyer expectations, and the real-world demands of launching and scaling a CPG product.

The studio's core offering centers on brand strategy, logo and identity system development, packaging and label design, secondary packaging, Shopify website builds, brand guidelines, and ongoing on-call design support. Rather than opening design files immediately, Coppergate leads every engagement with a brand strategy workshop that defines target customers, competitive positioning, and the precise communication objectives a package must achieve at shelf within two seconds. This strategy-first methodology ensures that design decisions are grounded in a clear brief, accelerating approvals and reducing costly revisions.

Coppergate serves emerging CPG brands at various stages of growth, from first-time founders preparing for their initial retailer meeting to established brands refreshing packaging that has outgrown its original look. The studio offers three primary service tiers: a Sprint package for early-stage validation covering strategy, logo, and labels for one to three SKUs; a Foundation package for brands ready to invest in a full identity system including secondary packaging, collateral, a Shopify website, and ongoing support; and a Bespoke option for custom or specialized project needs. Projects start at $7,500 and scale with the client's scope and stage.

Notable clients include All the Bitter, Dam Good English Muffins, Verlaine Spirits, and Lemonday, with documented outcomes including improved retailer sell-in and enhanced shelf differentiation. The studio also offers a monthly subscription model providing unlimited design requests for fast-growing brands that require continuous creative support without the overhead of an in-house hire.