Case Study: Anise Medical + Flambeau Kitchen
The Vision
Dr. Marissa Toussaint started her direct primary care practice with a bold vision and a belief that New Yorkers were looking for something beyond the crushing confusion and insurmountable expenses associated with the American healthcare system. In 2022, she opened Anise Medical in downtown Brooklyn. Operating her medical practice as an independent small business allowed her to spend more quality time with each patient while avoiding the administrative burdens of insurance billing and prior authorization headaches.
The Challenge
When Dr. Toussaint came to us, she was at a pivotal moment with Anise Medical, preparing to shift from primary care to a focused practice treating patients with obesity and its underlying conditions. At a time when GLP-1 medications were dominating the conversation, Dr. Toussaint wanted to offer her patients more than just a prescription; her vision was to create a true metabolic home: a practice grounded in holistic care, education and ongoing support for patients living with obesity. At its core, her mission was important—to ensure patients felt supported and empowered to achieve sustainable health.
Dr. Toussaint’s work in obesity medicine overlapped with her passion for culinary medicine. Through Anise Medical, she extended her impact beyond the clinic by offering educational experiences such as corporate and community cooking classes. She authored Flambeau Kitchen, a cookbook celebrating her heritage, that reimagined traditional Caribbean dishes to address common health concerns like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.
When we met her, Dr. Toussaint was managing two separate websites and social media platforms—one for Anise Medical and another for Flambeau Kitchen. The biggest question initially was to decide if Dr. Toussaint should combine her two existing endeavors or to separate her clinical work from her culinary initiatives and develop two distinct brands. We discussed several options and ultimately decided to keep the brands separate in order to maintain each brand’s distinct mission and personality and to unite them, where possible, with corresponding visual elements. We also decided to expand Flambeau Kitchen from a cookbook into a full lifestyle brand. As part of this shift, we integrated the community and corporate cooking events from Anise Medical into the new Flambeau Kitchen website.
The Process
Our first priority was to refocus the website around Dr. Toussaint’s signature Metabolic Transformation Program as the primary offering for prospective patients at Anise Medical. We streamlined the top-level navigation while also highlighting Dr. Toussaint’s personal story—providing meaningful context for her commitment to obesity medicine. Additionally, we wanted to make sure we were attracting patients who could fully commit to the process, and who were interested in engaging in a holistic, education-driven framework. Our messaging throughout the website focused on these points, highlighting the Metabolic Transformation Program’s comprehensive approach and the deep commitment required of participants.
Anise Medical’s visual refresh introduced a palette of deep plum, soft pink and cream—balancing a sense of sophistication with warmth and approachability. We complemented this palette with illustrations of Caribbean spices and other native plants, along with imagery and textures inspired by the region, as a nod to Dr. Toussaint’s heritage. The revised logo and subsequent wordmarks included a gesture toward the anise plant’s star-shaped seed structure.
In addition to making foundational changes to the Anise Medical brand and website, we expanded Flambeau Kitchen into a lifestyle brand focused on educating community members about the benefits and delights of culinary medicine while also exploring the intersection of culture, identity and food. Though both brands serve different purposes, there is an overlap in audience and mission: to emphasize nutrition as an important component of lifelong health and to promote a holistic model of care blending medicine, nutrition and lifestyle.
Visually, we aimed to incorporate elements of the Anise Medical brand into Flambeau Kitchen, creating a cohesive experience that would allow users to move fluidly between the two sites. For the Flambeau Kitchen brand, we echoed the simple line drawings that we used for Anise Medical, along with textures and illustrations of botanical and culinary motifs. The color palette we used for Flambeau Kitchen echoed that of Anise Medical with deep raspberry and magenta tones. Both websites make use of large, expressive headlines; clean, readable body text; and thoughtful layouts with plenty of negative space. We wanted both brands to express visual nods to Caribbean culture (ingredients, colors, textures) and a sense of warmth, richness and depth. Most of all, we wanted to build welcoming brands that balanced professionalism with approachability.
The Conclusion
By sharpening the focus of Anise Medical around the Metabolic Transformation Program, we helped reposition the practice as a destination for patients seeking comprehensive, relationship-driven obesity care. The updated brand and website now communicate both the depth of commitment required and the level of support patients can expect.
At the same time, the expansion of Flambeau Kitchen into a standalone lifestyle brand created space for Dr. Toussaint to fully explore the cultural, educational and community-driven aspects of her work. Separating the two brands—while maintaining a cohesive visual language—allowed each to thrive in its own lane while still reinforcing a shared mission: to redefine health through the integration of medicine, nutrition, culture and lived experience.
Together, Anise Medical and Flambeau Kitchen now function as distinct but connected ecosystems—one delivering clinical transformation, the other promoting education and community. The result is a more intentional, scalable foundation for growth, and a brand presence that reflects the full scope and depth of Dr. Toussaint’s vision.