Bezi was founded by Ilay Karateke – an Istanbul-raised, New York-based, ex-McKinsey consultant turned cheesemaker – and Hasan Bahcivan – a Berkeley-trained engineer from one of Turkey’s largest and most legacied cheesemaking families. Both grew up in large families, with their lives punctuated by big family-style meals shared with friends and neighbours. Labneh, a Middle Eastern spreadable cheese, was ever present, alongside homemade breads and seasonal produce.

Once they moved to New York, Karateke and Bahcivan longed for this sense of community around the table, and for a taste of home. So they took it upon themselves to ‘bring Bezi, the labneh that labnehs better than any other labneh out there… rich in protein, low in tang, and ready to party’. The product is made in a Turkish factory, near the border with Greece, which can product up to 300 tonnes of labneh a year.

Bezi uses a proprietary recipe, which solely makes use of milk, cream, and culture, unlike the labneh usually found in the United States, which is more similar to strained yogurt and has an amount of tang that can turn some people off. Apparently, Bezi has 120% more protein and 30% less fat than its competitors, and a similar amount of protein to hummus but with 50% less calories. These stats are conveyed through badge-like visual assets on the sparse, yet artfully messy homepage.

Red Antler undertook the logo and packaging design, leaning on wit to give the product a charming personality and drive curiosity among consumers perhaps unfamiliar with the cheese spread. The copywriting is particularly strong online where speech bubbles interject more formal information to ask ‘hummus who?’, ‘excuse me, where’s the labneh?’ and to exclaim ‘live, laugh, labneh’.

The same tongue-in-cheek sense of humour is present in the graphic approach, which draws on the visual tropes of early desktop publishing such as WordArt, clipart and – of course – some funky 90s gradients. Each flavour is given its own vibrant ‘taste-immersive’ colourway: light blue for Plain, warm red for Red Pepper, and mustard yellow for Everything (which comes with New York-inspired bagel seasonings).

There are charming illustrations too, more contemporary in style. These feature soft and detailed shading and photo realistic proportions, yet elements of geometry avoid any semblance of skeuomorphism. And then there’s the logo, tying everything together with groovy curves and weird proportions that strike the right balance of confidence and approachability.

Red Antler also art-directed the brand imagery. By using flash photography coupled with a highly saturated grade, not only has the agency metaphorically brought out the texture and flavour of the labneh variants, but it has also inserted the product into a fun and party-loving context. Considering the revival of disposable cameras as the preferred nightlife and Downtown-New-York-coded style, the photos look like they’ve been taken at an insider-y dinner party.

As gourmet grocers and our palates are led to embrace the return of whole milk, Bezi labneh enters the market at just the right time, and Red Antler’s identity feels equally ‘of-the-moment’, both retro and acutely modern.