QSR Media Conference 2014: Current Design Trends: What's Hot and What's Not - Lessons from Australia and Abroad
"There is a danger in following trends," said Tony Melhem, Founder of Coco Cubano.
Trends' duration are getting shorter and shorter and Melhem noted that by the time you latch on it, "they're gone." What he shares is that quick service restaurants need to stay to true to its brand and stay true to the story they are trying to tell, more than following trends.
"Some people get caught up in their story, that it needs to be authentic. Use your story as an inspiration," he advised, emphasizing it is more about breaking some of the rules -- design conventions and everything else. "You are not going to get it right away, so learn while you keep going. Keep innovating and hone your design, hone your story."
Mark McConnell, Director of Mima Design explained that it's hard to point out particular trends and at the same time, he similarly noted that trends are risky to follow. "If you look at what people are doing now, it's not so much the finish or the materials, it's the diversification of concepts, which is the key to creating really great food retail experience."
He explained that Australia is diverse in what it's doing in the free retail environment. "We're actually a pretty lucky country because so many cultural mixes are bringing in so much diversity in the retail spaces. And this is naturally leading designers to create fantastic spaces... Designers are latching on where foods come from, it's cultural backgrounds and bringing it into restaurant spaces."
McConnell shared that more and more restaurants are creating spaces as a form of escapism, with designers introducing wonderful experience to diners that they won't normally experience in their daily life. He noted that Australia is in the forefront of this trend, more than anywhere else in the world.
"It's all about taking creative liberties, and breaking the rules in a playful, artistic, non-traditional sort way, using bold colours, graphics and unique materials," said Philip Blanco, Director of Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill. It's about interrupting the category in what are otherwise established and traditional food genres. "It's about differentiating themselves and standing out. Taking risks, being creative and not just coming to the party with your own particular flavour of vanilla," he quipped. Some brands he pointed out that have been performing well and differentiating themselves within their respective categories include Chat Thai and Coco Cubano.
A trend that has also been brought up is food theatre. Restaurants featuring open kitchens have been prevalent in the last decade but the last few years, we see more and more open kitchens which emphasizes the importance of food theatre (particularly in the fast casual category), according to Blanco. "A restaurant's back house can potentially be a seen as a stage for theatre and process."
"I think we are voyeuristic when it comes to cooking. We watch all these cooking shows and we want to know how our food is being made. You don't come to restaurants to just eat, we also want to be entertained and educated with what happens in kitchen spaces.
McConnell agrees that food theatre is a big part of restaurants now. "A lot of it comes from Australians growing up with [the TV show] Master Chef. We want to see what's going on. Really successful food operators now are doing that."
