Carbone
Dinner is the Show
There’s a saying Mario Carbone has lived by for years: dinner is the show.
The restaurants are where that belief takes physical form. The events and experiences extend it beyond the dining room. And the sauce makes it possible for anyone to bring it to life at home. Each expression serves a different role, but they all ladder up to the same idea. Dinner isn’t just a meal. It’s a moment.
That belief has always shaped how the brand operates and how guests experience Carbone. What was missing was a single, cohesive digital expression that brought it all together. With a brand repositioned around that idea, Carbone set out to help people see something familiar in an entirely new way. Dining wasn’t just about food or service anymore. It was about presence, performance, and ritual. The challenge was translating that mindset into a digital experience that didn’t explain the brand, but embodied it across every expression. And that's just what we delivered.
"We knew what ‘dinner is the show’ meant to us, but Geletka+ helped us see what it could become. They understood the assignment and brought it to life in a way that surpassed our expectations for what a digital brand and shopping experience could be on every level."
Chris Wendling, Executive Vice President of Marketing
Turning the website into a performance
The goal wasn’t to build a better restaurant website.
It was to build a stage. We created a cinematic digital experience that treats Carbone the same way the brand treats dinner itself. Through brand expression, website design and a refined design system,the site invites people into the atmosphere before they ever try the product. Using original film and intentional pacing, the experience unfolds with the same confidence and restraint as a night at the table.
Whether they’re booking a table, attending an event, or bringing the experience home with Carbone, it all feels part of the same performance.
The experience doesn’t rush. It builds. It performs.
Designing for Presence, Not Promotion
Every decision was made in service of the experience.
We focused on how Carbone should feel in its online form. The design system and UX were intentionally restrained, built to support cinematic storytelling. Typography, layout, motion and rhythm work together to give each expression of the brand room to breathe.
Navigation stays quiet. Content moves deliberately. Nothing competes with the mood and the food.
Social & Media Extensions bring this story to life
Film as the Main Character
The story lives in motion.
Original film anchors the experience, capturing the energy, confidence and ritual that define Carbone. Shot and produced specifically for the site, the film carries the ‘dinner is the show’ narrative seamlessly.
Every frame reinforces the idea that dinner here isn’t passive. It’s an event, whether you’re at Carbone’s iconic NYC restaurant or recreating it at home with Carbone sauce.
The result feels less like browsing a website and more like being let in.
Built on a Stack That Respects the Brand
To support the experience, we paired a headless CMS architecture with Shopify integration.
This approach allowed storytelling and commerce to do what they each do best.. The storytelling remains flexible and expressive, while retail and transactions stay fast, reliable and scalable. The site loads quickly, moves smoothly and gives the Carbone team the freedom to evolve content and commerce without disrupting the core experience.
The technology stays invisible. The brand stays front and center.
Crafted by One Team, End to End
This work was imagined, written, designed, and built in-house.
From concept to camera to code, a single integrated team shaped the system, the pacing, and the point of view for Carbone’s retail and digital experience. That continuity allowed us to protect the idea at every stage, ensuring the brand showed up with clarity and consistency outside the dining room.
When it came time to bring the film to life, we partnered with Paradise Production to execute the shoot, working closely together to deliver the same level of craft and control across every asset.
We brought a complete design system to the table
Impact
- Elevated digital storytelling through original film and intentional pacing
- Balanced cinematic brand expression with scalable e-commerce
- Built a flexible design system that protects the brand as it evolves
- Extended Dinner Is the Show beyond the restaurant into a true digital destination
Credits
Katie Sullivan + Doug Lienen + Jon Scarpelli + Allison Caitura + Anders Newman + John Geletka + Joe Wangler + John DeLuca + Deb Pahl + Emily Flemming + Chris Wendling + Caitlin Skae + Anwar Khuri + ZAPATA + Brian Salazar + Lindsay Rynne + Tracy Tran-Thomas + Pete Merriman + Josh Lieb + Danny Simon + Scott Brown