Overview

Dicky T’s Spice Co. is a Cleveland-born, chef-crafted spice brand built around bold flavors, playful personality, and family-fueled storytelling.

After Studio Chartreuse completed the brand identity, I was brought in to build the entire ecommerce foundation — translating a loud, cheeky, high-energy brand into a high-performing Shopify storefront designed for conversion from day one.

This was a true ground-up DTC launch: no existing infrastructure, no historical data, and only three SKUs to build a full brand around.

The Challenge

Launching a new CPG brand presents a unique challenge:

• No prior sales data

• No existing customer base

• Only three core products

• Heavy brand personality that needed to feel intentional, not gimmicky

• Need to establish credibility while staying irreverent

The hardest part: making three spice blends feel like a complete, scalable brand ecosystem.

Shopify Build & Architecture

The site was built on a heavily customized Shopify theme with significant Liquid and CSS development.

This was not a standard theme configuration.

Custom Development Included:

• Custom product templates

• Extensive Liquid modifications

• Brand-specific homepage sections

• Bold, color-block-driven layout architecture

• Blend-specific color palettes per product

The site intentionally rejects whitespace-heavy minimalism in favor of saturated color, sticker-style graphics, and high-energy layout — aligning directly with the brand voice.

Custom Metaobjects & Product Engineering

To elevate three SKUs into a structured brand system, I built custom metaobjects and metafields.

Per-Product Metaobjects:

“What’s It Good On?”
Custom structured content to educate customers on usage.

Ingredients
Fully structured ingredient breakdown per blend.

Flavor Attributes System
Custom attribute scales for:

• Sweet

• Salty

• Savory

• Spicy

• Smokey

This allows each product to communicate flavor profile visually and consistently.

Recipe Blog Architecture

Because the chef plans to publish recipes, I built a custom blog structure with product attachment logic.

• Custom blog metaobject architecture

• Ability to attach specific spice products to recipes

• Direct linking from recipe content to product pages

• Structured cross-merchandising from content → commerce

This builds long-term organic acquisition infrastructure from day one.

Conversion Strategy (Built from Day One)

With no historical data, the site was structured intentionally for AOV and conversion psychology.

Implemented:

• Multi-pack bundle options

• Free shipping threshold

• Conversion-focused product pages

• Benefit-forward copy structure

• Highlight boxes for quick scanning

• Structured merchandising logic

Rather than waiting for data, the store was engineered around known ecommerce best practices for CPG brands.

Brand Translation into Digital Execution

Studio Chartreuse delivered the branding — but the digital execution required engineering.

I translated the bold, irreverent tone into:

• High-saturation color blocking

• Sticker-style graphic layering

• Blend-specific palette shifts

• Aggressive visual hierarchy

• Humor integrated into layout and product storytelling

The goal was not simply to “display products,” but to create a digital personality that matches the chef-driven energy of the brand.

CPG Infrastructure Foundations

Although still early in activation, the store was built with scalability in mind:

• Structured product feed readiness

• Schema-friendly product architecture

• Organized SKU structure

• Clean backend taxonomy

• Flexible metaobject framework for future product expansion

This ensures the brand can scale beyond its initial three SKUs without rebuilding infrastructure.

The Outcome

Dicky T’s launched with:

• Fully custom Shopify architecture

• Advanced product metaobject system

• Recipe-to-product merchandising logic

• Conversion-focused bundle strategy

• Brand-forward digital identity

• Scalable CPG infrastructure

From day one, the brand launched not as a side project — but as a properly engineered direct-to-consumer business.