Case Study: Portillo’s achieves streamlined brand control and faster expansion with Brandfolder

Portillo's - Customer Case Study

Portillo’s started as a hotdog stand in 1963 and has grown into a beloved midwest fast‑casual chain with a 50‑year legacy and 60 restaurants. When Jeanelle Calogero joined in 2016 to lead design and content, she found decades of inconsistent photography, voice, and marketing materials across HQ and locations, so she brought creative control in‑house and set out to streamline brand governance while preserving the brand’s heritage.

Jeanelle implemented Brandfolder as a centralized asset repository and ran the creative team like an internal agency, creating dedicated Collections and InDesign templates for Training, Field Marketing, and HR. The result: consistent, on‑brand materials delivered faster, smoother employee training and events, a weekly HR newsletter reaching ~10,000 employees now on‑brand, and the ability to scale growth (projected 5–7 new locations per year) without adding headcount — yielding faster openings and clear ROI.

Portillo's

Jeanelle Calogero

Brand Design Manager