Rolling Stone Food & Beverage Branding

Introduction

Rolling Stone is an iconic brand with over 50 years of influence in media, music, and pop culture. Known for its global relevance and ability to resonate across generations, the brand set its sights on entering the hospitality space. NM+U was brought in to develop a food and beverage brand strategy that could translate Rolling Stone’s cultural legacy into a dynamic hospitality concept—one that could flex as a restaurant, live music venue, café, or entertainment experience.

Challenge

As a brand recognized around the world, Rolling Stone means many things to many people. The challenge was to create a hospitality brand identity that felt true to its legacy while offering enough flexibility to support a variety of F&B formats. The concept needed to feel immersive and adaptable—blending food, music, and entertainment under a cohesive experience rooted in Rolling Stone’s brand equity.

Solution

As a one-of-a-kind cultural brand beloved across generations, genres, cultures, and continents, it was crucial to understand what gives Rolling Stone such universal appeal. NM+U conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders at the company’s NYC headquarters to uncover their vision for the next 50 years.

What emerged was a defining insight: only Rolling Stone offers true, insider access to the world’s most iconic culture-makers. That idea—rooted in the brand’s DNA—became the foundation for the hospitality concept positioning. Whether expressed as a restaurant, bar, music venue, or hybrid cultural space, the Rolling Stone F&B experience would be built around this unique sense of behind-the-scenes access, authenticity, and cultural authority.