Our Thoughts

Siete HQ cafe bar with patterned tile counter and rows of yellow stools under wood beams

Drawn Agency

Siete | New Headquarters

A Mexican-American Home for 100 Co-workers

When moving to a new HQ, Siete asked Drawn to design a space that felt as warm and inviting as a Mexican-American home for 100 co-workers.

Home Fuego Home

Siete is a Mexican-American food brand that has become a pantry staple. As a family of seven (hence the name), the Garza familia grew up in a vibrant Mexican-American community in Laredo, Texas that inspires the Siete brand.

Now based in Austin, the office that Siete first called home was literally a house. The dining room table was the conference room and the kitchen was an R&D lab. As the company outgrew the house, they decided to look for a new home to fit their much larger familia — which they found in an abandoned kombucha factory.

Siete headquarters lounge with caramel leather sofas, potted plants and colorful art on white walls

Siete office seating with leather armchairs against a rainbow slat wall over a patterned kilim rug

A Mexican-American Home for 100

Having partnered with Siete for several years to build their brand through packaging, promotionals, and trade show events, the familia asked Drawn to make this old factory feel like a Mexican-American home for 100 co-workers. It was very important, however, that we design a home that matched Siete’s working culture. The decision to move away from their first home came with fear that their close-knit feeling would be lost in the move. So we laid out on the table all of the ingredients that make for a rich and vibrant community, including food, a central place to gather, and flexible spaces to connect.

Open Siete office with rainbow slat dividers, orange seating and snack bags on a meeting table

Renovation Without Reinvention

The best adaptive reuse design projects give an existing building new purpose, like converting a former kombucha factory into a Mexican-American home (office) for 100 people. And like many cozy homes that have experienced a few quirky additions over the years, the constraints of inheriting an existing building do present additional challenges, but they also provide opportunities to create spaces with unique character — just as you find in the evolution that has taken place in historic towns.

Siete headquarters concept board with hand-drawn Gathering and Avenues plan and Mexican plaza photos

Designing for Community

We took a look at early cities and found it was common for all of the streets to lead toward a central courtyard, connected laterally by narrow alleys. We applied this principle to the former factory, added a commercial kitchen next to the courtyard, and designed all of the halls to funnel into this gathering space. Visiting guests are greeted by a barista next to the courtyard, with neighborhood offices lining the wandering streets and connecting alleys.

Siete office kitchen with bright blue cabinets, patterned tile, island seating and yellow chairs

Siete headquarters courtyard at dusk with string lights and a floral 'Juntos es mejor' mural

Guests dining outdoors under a tree strung with papel picado at the Siete headquarters patio

Man serving a large platter of grilled asada meats outdoors at a Siete headquarters event

Feeding Community Connection

While Siete is known for the food that is sold on grocery shelves — grain free tortillas, tortilla chips, sauces, dips, cookies, and more — Siete’s company culture is also shaped around food. Whether they are enjoying Friday lunch cooked by Siete chefs, or hosting visiting superfans, or trying out new recipes, there is always food cooking and being shared at the new HQ.

The new kitchen facing the courtyard was built as a fully operational commercial kitchen, but it was also built with lighting and backdrops to serve as a filming studio for social media content. Behind this show kitchen is a second R&D kitchen, and next to it is a stage that hosts concerts from visiting bands.

Siete office corridor with magenta, yellow and orange display nooks against a navy shelf wall

Siete HQ lobby with orange phone-booth door, painted arch and turquoise Otomi-print curtain

Siete HQ blue curtained meeting nooks with wood benches and yellow lounge chairs

Siete HQ corridor with yellow doors and 'Quality People' wall mural under wood ceiling

Siete HQ dining room with long wood table, leather chairs and floral painting

Charming Streets, Neighborhood Offices

Just as the most charming cities are often found to have crooked streets and bending alleys, the halls of Siete’s offices are not straight. They bend and funnel, growing larger as they spill into the courtyard. Along the walk, small spaces for collaboration feel like conversations on park benches and back porches. The offices themselves are described as “neighborhoods,” a concept that Siete used to describe their former house and the bedrooms that would have a few (to a few too many) co-workers inside to allow teams to have closed door meetings or an open door to welcome interruptions.

Outdoor group yoga class facing a colorful 'Juntos es mejor' floral mural at Siete HQ

Collaboration for Community

This project was designed with a truly collaborative spirit. In addition to Drawn’s vision, programming, and design of this project, this new home would not have been built without two partners: first, the architectural support and guidance of Jobe Corral Architects — specifically Camille Jobe and Sarah Hafley — who were awarded the Texas ASID Design Excellence Award for Interior Design for this project. And second were the contributions of Veronica Garza for the decorative furnishings that she directed.