Custom printed takeout bags for Mission Hills restaurants.

Homes on the hill, food on one street

The City's Uptown Community Plan calls Mission Hills a neighborhood of mostly single family homes. The main place to shop and eat is the Washington Street corridor. A second, smaller cluster sits at West Lewis and Stephens Streets.

That is a simple map, and it tells you how to sell. Washington Street is about being seen by people passing through. The little corner at Lewis and Stephens is about the folks who live a few doors away.

Both groups carry bags. Both groups are reading them. The only question is whether there is anything printed on the bag worth reading.

Washington Street reads from a car

On a busy corridor, a lot of people see your customer before they see your shop. They see someone stepping out the door with a bag. They see it from a car stopped at a light, from a bus, from the far side of the street.

Here is what makes a name readable from a moving car:

• Short: one or two words beat a full sentence.
• Bold: thick letters survive distance. Hairline script disappears first.
• Dark on light: black, navy or deep red on brown kraft has strong contrast.
• Big: you have 12 × 14 in on the front. Let the name use most of that width.

Run your own name through the test at the top of this page. Most owners are surprised how much the jump from thin to bold letters adds to the distance.

The corner at Lewis and Stephens

Off the main road, the small shops near West Lewis and Stephens Streets feed the surrounding blocks. Orders here walk home in a few minutes, past houses with porches and gardens.

Neighbors on foot are close readers. They pass each other on the sidewalk and glance at what the other person is carrying. A bag with a clean logo starts the question every owner wants to hear: where did you get that?

This is also where a good bag earns trust. Fold the top over, seal it with a food tamper-evident sticker, and hand it across the counter. It looks cared for, because it is.

Strong enough for a dinner party

Plenty of Mission Hills orders are dinners for the table, not just a sandwich. The bag is 12″ × 7″ × 14″ and made from 110 GSM kraft with a square base, rated up to 22 lb. Trays and bowls ride flat, and the flat handles do not cut into fingers on the walk up the hill.

Going down the hill toward the bay? Our Little Italy page covers the restaurants a short drive south. And everything here comes back to one simple offer: custom printed takeout bags for San Diego restaurants with $0 setup and free shipping.