Website redesign and e-commerce migration for a West African-inspired artisan sauce brand expanding from Shopify to a custom-built storefront.

Industry: Food & Beverage / DTC Platform: Lovable & Shopify Scope: Website Redesign, E-commerce Development, Product Detail Pages, Content Strategy, AI Visual Assets

KRU Food Kitchen + Market is an Atlanta-based brand that produces small-batch plant-based hot sauces rooted in West African culinary traditions. Founded by Wendell Worjroh, the brand positions itself around taste and heritage over heat, targeting health-conscious consumers, home cooks, and the West African diaspora.

The existing Shopify store was limiting what the brand could do visually and editorially. Product pages used a generic template structure. The site couldn't tell the brand story the way Wendell needed it to. Content like recipes, blog posts, and brand history felt bolted on rather than integrated into the shopping experience. The site needed to feel like a food brand you want to spend time with, not a checkout page with a logo on top.

The work focused on rebuilding the site from scratch on Lovable with full control over layout, content structure, and product presentation.

Platform migration: We moved the site off Shopify's theme system onto Lovable, which gave us component-level control over every page. Shopify remains the checkout and order backend. The migration required re-hosting all product images, re-linking checkout URLs, and rebuilding the full page structure without losing existing product and review data.

Product detail pages built for conversion: Each PDP was designed to close a sale, not just display a product. Large product photography leads the page. An accordion system handles ingredients, nutritional facts, and allergen information without cluttering the view. Heat level indicators give shoppers a visual scale across the five variants. Sibling product navigation lets users compare sauces without going back to the collection page.

Ingredient and nutritional data audit: We cross-referenced ingredient lists across the Shopify site, Amazon listings, and actual bottle labels.

Brand storytelling integrated into the shopping flow: The homepage and product pages weave in the origin story (the Kru people of Liberia, Wendell's family heritage, the trip that inspired the brand) as part of the browsing experience. A brand story section, value proposition cards, and editorial photography sit between product content and purchase CTAs. The story earns attention before the site asks for money.

Content architecture: Recipes, blog posts, and product education are structured as part of the site rather than afterthoughts. A recipe section links sauces to use cases. The blog supports ongoing content around food culture, events, and brand updates. An FAQ section covers the 15 most common questions about ingredients, shipping, allergens, and dietary compatibility.

Review integration: The site uses Yotpo for customer reviews carried over from Shopify. We researched options for recovering older reviews from a prior platform and documented the import path for preserving original publication dates.

The rebuilt site covers the full product catalog, brand content, and purchase flow from a single Lovable project with Shopify handling checkout.

Full site redesign with product catalog, brand pages, blog, recipes, and contact

Five product detail pages with per-product nutritional facts, corrected ingredient lists, heat scale indicators, and allergen badges

Image migration from Shopify CDN to new hosting with broken reference audit and cleanup

Checkout integration maintaining Shopify's cart and payment processing behind the new frontend

Mobile-first responsive layout across all pages

Editorial photography and brand storytelling sections integrated into the commerce flow

FAQ, shipping, and dietary comparison content structured for both users and the AI chatbot knowledge base

Review widget integration with Yotpo carrying over existing customer reviews

The rebuilt site gives KRU Food a storefront that matches the quality and intention behind the product.

Product pages present corrected, label-accurate data for all five sauce variants instead of a single generic ingredient list

Brand storytelling is part of the shopping path rather than buried in a separate About page

The site reads as a food brand with a point of view, not a template store with hot sauce in it

Content architecture supports ongoing recipe, blog, and product additions without structural changes

The migration preserved existing review data, checkout flows, and Amazon cross-listing without disruption

The site works because it treats product education and cultural storytelling as part of the purchase decision. Shoppers understand what makes KRU different before they reach the buy button.