Miro’s Flavours

SBS6 - Crisis in de tent

SBS6: Crisis in de tent

Miriam de Jong and Ron Grillet's dream restaurant, Miro's Flavours, recently faced collapse. The coronavirus crisis threatened the Houten business with bankruptcy: it was a real crisis in the restaurant. Fortunately, Herman den Blijker's SBS6 programme 'Crisis in de tent' stepped in to help Miriam and Ron save their restaurant.

The team developed Flavours cards, vouchers allowing customers to buy meal packages worth 25 euros on different occasions. Those meals needed delivery, which is where BlinkOut came in. We contributed to the programme by wrapping a Bluekens EV supplied Streetscooter refrigerated van in Miro's Flavours branding.

White box van with black Miro's Flavours branding, a portrait illustration and sponsor acknowledgement on the side and rear.

White box van with black Miro's Flavours branding, a portrait illustration and sponsor acknowledgement on the side.

How quickly can you apply graphics to a van?

Urgent was the word! On Wednesday afternoon, SBS6 called to ask whether the following day we could quickly apply graphics to a van. It was a considerable challenge with several factors to consider. Was there enough production capacity to make the graphics in time? Was an installer available to fit them to the Streetscooter? It took some careful scheduling, but we made it work.

White box van with black Miro's Flavours lettering, a portrait illustration and a small sponsor acknowledgement on a business park.

At sunrise the next day, the Streetscooter was already in our installation workshop. It had to be in Houten by the end of the day for the episode's conclusion. It was time to give this refrigerated van a new look, and our installer immediately started on the graphics.

Which materials did we use?

We used transparent Orajet 3162 film for this job. The small details in the logo made it impossible to contour-cut the sticker completely, making transparent film useful. We can print much smaller elements than we can cut. In this case, the transparent film was printed without an additional white underbase. With transparent film, choosing whether to add white ink is important. The inks are partly transparent, so we recommend a white underbase for coloured prints; for designs containing white elements, it is essential. Without the additional white layer, all white areas in the artwork would remain transparent.

Why did we choose not to use a white underbase here? Two factors mattered: the logo colour and the Streetscooter's background colour. Black or very dark printing is opaque enough not to need an extra white layer. The van's surface colour also matters. Here, the white bodywork served the same purpose as a white underbase, preventing the inks from appearing translucent.

Printing without a white underbase is slightly quicker because there is no extra layer to print, helping us deliver a polished result for Miro's Flavours sooner. The result was an attractively branded Streetscooter in Miro's Flavours' identity, standing out on Houten's streets. Miriam and Ron still have plenty of work ahead, but the immediate restaurant crisis has passed.

Curious about Miriam and Ron's restaurant and keen to try their Flavours? Visit the website of Miro’s Flavours in Houten.