Tropics
A destination restaurant that didn’t have front door.
ART & ANTIQIUES · MARFA
THE DIAGNOSIS
Brendan Burchfiel grew up in Hawaii and built his first restaurant there. When circumstances forced him to leave, he carried the culture with him to West Virginia and built Tropics. Everywhere Brendan goes he creates a devoted following, drawn by the warmth and genuine spirit he brings to everything he does. In West Virginia he has built something special, a place with real character where people feel they are part of an ohana. It takes someone like Brendan to bring that kind of sunshine to an unlikely place.
That authenticity is real. It is also, until recently, poorly presented online. The digital presence wasn't doing Brendan justice.
The problem was not simply presentation. A business that looks like it doesn't take itself seriously signals to every potential customer that they shouldn't either. The digital presence wasn't reflecting what Tropics actually is. It was undermining it.
THE INTERVENTION
We audited the business first. Several platforms were quietly draining budget without delivering results. We eliminated the waste and redirected the attention toward what actually matters.
Then we got to work. The website, the online ordering presence, the event information, the ticketing. Every touchpoint rebuilt around one idea: Tropics is a genuine Hawaiian restaurant in an unlikely place, and it should look like it. That meant improving the presentation throughout, including the food photography, which is directly connected to how people make decisions on a delivery or online menu. Better photos of the food contributed directly to better sales. Presentation improvements alone moved the needle almost immediately.
The branding and positioning work is still ahead. The goal is to establish Tropics as what it actually is: a seriously good Hawaiian restaurant with exceptional food, warm service, a relaxed but elevated atmosphere, with a touch of old Hawaiʻi that is entirely Brendan's own. That is the work that will make Tropics impossible to confuse with anyone else.
THE OUTCOME
This is a long-term engagement. Brendan has built something genuinely special, a piece of Hawaii planted in an unlikely place, and the work is about making sure the world can see it. Presentation improvements have already moved the needle on sales. But the bigger work, the identity, the branding, the full expression of what Tropics actually is, is still ahead. That is where the real transformation happens. A devoted following that Brendan has always been able to build in person, now visible and findable online. That is what we are building toward.