The meaning of design.
Everyone thought the triangle was a piece of pizza,” says Matt Caputo, shaking his head. “It was supposed to be a slice of cheese.” Caputo is talking about the longtime logo of the company his father Tony founded: a blocky type spelling out “Caputo’s” with the ambiguous triangle (cheese or pizza?) serving as the apostrophe. “We’ve never even served pizza,” says Matt.
Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli started out as the kind of Italian deli you find on any lower Manhattan street corner: cold cases filled with salami and provolone, shelves of olives and oil, sandwiches filled with red sauce and defrosted meatballs.
The beloved Salt Lake institution began to change when Tony’s son Matt started managing the store. Now it’s not just a local store—it’s a nationally renowned importer and wholesaler of the best artisanal food Matt can find. Small-batch cheeses from tiny dairies are aged in Caputo’s cave. Bean-to-bar chocolate comes from chocolate houses in Italy, France, Utah, Iceland and more. Bitters, oils, vinegars and honey are just some of the products Caputo’s sells.
So this year, during Caputo’s 20th anniversary, Matt decided it was time for a new look. For today’s mercantile world, where the visual often speaks louder than the verbal, Matt says, “We needed a change.” Inspired by art he and his wife and partner Yelena commissioned for their home, they worked with Utah artist Dan Christofferson, who delights in symbolism, to develop new logos for the business and sub-brands like Caputo’s Cheese Cave. Central to the new design is a three-pointed crown. “The points represent the past, present and future,” says Matt. He takes the meaning of design seriously. “Past is our heritage, the present is our expertise and our most delicious days are still ahead.”
Brand Authenticity
CAPUTO’S DOUBLE-SKULL TALEGGIO
with the coolest label ever
Small-batch goat cheese from Cainesville, Utah
CAPUTO’S BURRATA
The housemade leaf-wrapped fresh cheese signified by a Utah bee
by mary brown malouf
