Brand colours · Food and beverage
Brand colours for food and beverage startups
A ready-to-use palette for a food and beverage brand, tested for contrast and shown on a real app screen, pitch deck and business card. Copy the hex codes, or use it to see what good looks like before you choose your own.
Meet the sample brand
To show the palette working, we built it for a fictional food and beverage company.
How it should feel
Beverage shelves are crowded with blue and silver energy cans. Warm colours stand out. So Thela goes a different way, using masala red as its signature and cardamom for the moments that matter.
Fonts: Young Serif for headings, Work Sans for body text.
The palette
Four colours, each with one job. Click any swatch to copy its hex code.
Masala Red
#C2412D · RGB 194, 65, 45A spice red that makes the drink look warm and tasty on a shelf.
Cardamom
#7FA35A · RGB 127, 163, 90A fresh green that hints at real ingredients.
Kettle
#2A1810 · RGB 42, 24, 16Deep brew brown, appetising and grounded.
Milk Foam
#F8EFE2 · RGB 248, 239, 226A creamy background for labels and menus.
A good split: mostly light, dark for text, primary for key moments, accent sparingly.
The palette in use
Colours only prove themselves on real things. Here it is on the three places a food and beverage startup shows up first.
App screen
Pitch deck slide
Business card, front and back
Contrast check
Text must stay readable. We checked each pairing against the WCAG standard, where 4.5 to 1 passes for body text.
| Use | Sample | Ratio | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body text | Aa Thela | 14.9 : 1 | Pass AA |
| Text on primary | Aa Thela | 5.1 : 1 | Pass AA |
| Accent on dark | Aa Thela | 5.9 : 1 | Pass AA |
| Primary on light | Aa Thela | 4.5 : 1 | Pass AA |
| Light on dark | Aa Thela | 14.9 : 1 | Pass AA |
What to know about colour in food and beverage
The palette is only a start. These are the traps we see most in this industry.
What the category already owns
Beverage shelves are crowded with blue and silver energy cans. Warm colours stand out.
Avoid
- Blue or grey as the main colour: they kill appetite appeal.
- Colours that look great on screen and dull on a matte bottle label.
Mock up your bottle or pack in the palette and put it next to three competitors on a real shelf photo. You have about two seconds of attention.
Choose your own in four steps
Use the sample as a reference, then make it yours.
Write your positioning
Colour follows strategy. Know who you serve and how you want them to feel first.
Map the competition
Screenshot five food and beverage competitors and note the colours they own. Pick a lane nobody holds.
Build four colours
A primary, an accent, a dark and a light. Check contrast before anything else.
Test it on real things
Your app, a deck slide and the place customers meet you offline. Fix what fails.
Questions
What are good brand colours for a food and beverage startup?
Start from a primary that the category does not already own. Beverage shelves are crowded with blue and silver energy cans. Warm colours stand out. The sample palette here uses Masala Red (#C2412D) as the primary with Cardamom (#7FA35A) as the accent.
How many colours should a startup brand have?
Four is enough: a primary, an accent, a dark for text and a light for backgrounds. Use them roughly 60, 30 and 10 percent, with the accent the smallest share.
Can I use this palette for my own brand?
Yes, it is free to use as a starting point. Change at least the primary so it fits your positioning and stands apart from your competitors.
How does Astitva choose brand colours?
Astitva writes your brand strategy from a short brief, suggests a palette that fits it, checks the text contrast and then uses the same colours across your logo, brand book and pitch deck.
More for food and beverage founders
Every guide for this industry, in one place.
Get a palette made for your startup
Astitva writes your brand strategy from a short brief, picks colours that fit it, checks contrast, and uses them across your logo, brand book and pitch deck.
Start free with 50 credits