The Concept of the Pop-up Restaurant - Case Study Example

Report and Servicescape Design (International Hospitality and Hotel Management) Introduction A pop-up restaurant can be considered as a temporary restaurant installation that can either take the form of a food exhibit or something like a one-night stand, among many other numerous forms (Scapp and Seitz, 1998). In some occasions, a pop-up restaurant could be instituted in order give the investors the ideas of whether to establish a permanent restaurant of not. It can be considered as a more to back-to-basics concept in some way, since the focus is the menu offered, the services and the space (Scapp and Seitz, 1998). It is a change from the strong urge to open restaurants with media-only campaigns and gala events that are often provide short-term gains, before such restaurants are left with empty seats. This is therefore what pushed for the invention of the concept of pop-up restaurants. Indeed, this is one of the newest trends in the experience economy (Wood, 1995). This paper will give a report to illustrate the concept of a pop-up restaurant. This is an old inner city factory space with plenty of room, and since it is supposed to be converted into executive apartments, a last chance has been provided for the establishment of a pop-up restaurant. However, it is important to note that the concept of establishing the pop-up retail and restaurants is to attract the attention of young cosmopolitan urban professionals, aged between 21-35 years. This focuses on the retail event itself, and as a part of the marketing strategy for the apartments. The report will provide a description of the pop-up restaurant, including its interior and exterior, associated food and beverage services, and the customer areas. Description of the pop-up restaurant The restaurant seeks to create memorable social and culinary moments that would only exist for a short period then disappear. It is apparent that there is a desire among the young urban professionals to experience a unique and unforgettable hospitality experience (Ritzer, 1999). Normally, trips and tours to upscale restaurants would look like a special occasion, but to the residing population, this is considered a regular part of life. This therefore calls for a special entertaining and dining experience that would be offered at an affordable cost. This is basically one of the key reasons as to why this pop-up restaurant would be established. The pop-up restaurant will be situated in an old inner city factory space with plenty of room for the customers. This building is supposed to undergo some transformations and be turned into executive apartments. The restaurant will be operational for a period of two weeks in the spring 2011, and will be trading form 11 am to 10 pm, from Wednesday to Sunday. In addition, this restaurant will be themed with consideration to the general public. The restaurant will feature some of the star chefs in the region in order to illustrate what it takes to feed customers within the ancient constructs of an inner city that will provide not only dining services, but also portray creativity. It will have one senior chef and two others. There are five themes to be exhibited and therefore, one theme will be applied for two days since the restaurant will be operational for ten days, in order to transform this space into a new dining experience. Moreover, this shows that this season is beyond a just food experience, considering the fact that it is the last time the space is being used as a restaurant before being transformed into a executive apartment (Pine et al., 1999). The experience has to be historic too, and celebrate the menu that will be offered at the restaurant. Each evening will be organized in the same way as dinner parties, where the guests have the opportunity to sit for their dinner at the same time and share the evening. Besides, this would also offer the guest the opportunity to interact and make friendship ties. The menu The menu and interior decoration of this restaurant is a modern and urban based interpretation of the Cuisine Bourgeois. This is a French method of cooking which makes use of seasonal ingredients considered to be of high quality, and made in a family-style fashion (Beardsworth & Keil, 1997). This is basically meant to celebrate the season’s ingredients. However, the idea of a modern urban cuisine is meant to create exciting and delicious social experiences and new flavours (Petrini, 2003). These local and fresh ingredients will give the customers an experience they will live to tell. The restaurant will also give its customers the opportunity to order their own meals in advance, considering the fact that one of its key focus is to generate a pool of customers that will appreciate not only the foods that we offer, but will appreciate our services too (Flandrin et al. 1999). Inside the restaurant, there will be a partition between the dining area and the kitchen, and the customers are allowed to visit the kitchen area to chat with the chef. Furthermore, if the schedule is busy and therefore the customers cannot be all attended at once, the customers can get some of the beverages like juice for themselves, which in actual sense breaks the barriers that often exist in the normal restaurants. It is important to note therefore that the focus of marketing the exclusive apartments that would be established in this space after the closure of the restaurant has to be maintained and that is why the restaurant will go an extra mile of providing excusive and quality services to its customers. Kitchen area The kitchen area will be more spacious to provide room for the guests to interact with the chefs. The ingredients for the food prepared will all be displayed to the customers. Since the restaurant will major in preparing fresh and seasonal foods, it will have a fridge to ensure the foods remain fresh. Furthermore, there will be a knowledgeable staff that will ensure the smooth operation of the restaurant and that the meets of the target group are met. The restaurant will also play a variety of music from different regions, ranging from modern music to the traditional type, in order to ensure that the cultural different are appreciated. This is in recognition of the fact that the guest will be drawn from diverse cultural backgrounds. A mix of the local artist aspect will also be incorporated into the interior design, and interactive spaces will also be provided for the customers to interact with the artists (Spang, 2000). There would also be a photographer just to ensure clients who would be interested in taking photographs of some of the magnificent features of the restaurant will be served. Therefore, customers will have the opportunity to enjoy a delicious meal, space design, soundscape, together with lots of photographs, which together will give the customers a memorable experience (Walker, 1999). However, it is important to note that all these services will be provided at an absolutely affordable cost, in aim to target both the low and high income earners. Besides, there would also be young designers and artisans from a range of fields, displaying diverse fashions that would basically target the younger generations, home ware and even furniture. This can actually be considered as a classic struggle of commerce and art, entrepreneurial ideas, together with fickle realities that will meet the diverse consumer tastes (Barrows, 2008). However, these services will all be offered outside the restaurant to provide enough space for the customers to enjoy their delicious meals. It is apparent that the young cosmopolitan urban professionals prefer to live luxury lifestyles, where they can have memorable experiences. The normal restaurants would offer regular menus that are served in any commercial food retails. This pop-up restaurant will break this boredom and offer foods that are prepared by top chefs. The restaurant will also offer different kinds of beverages prepared from the available seasonal fruits, and wines. Besides, the guests will have the opportunity to view a variety of products and artistic products from different professionals ranging from home ware, furniture to even modern clothing fashions. It is important to note that most of the products on display target the young urban professionals. Conclusion Pop-up restaurants are a common type of business in the contemporary society. These are types of restaurants that are opened for a short period of time, before being converted into something else, or even closed and re-opened at a later time. In this paper for instance, an example of a pop-up restaurant is well illustrated. The restaurant will be in operation for only ten days before the space is converted into a structure that will be made up of luxury apartments. However, this restaurant seeks to provide its target customers with a memorable experience, where they will be served delicious recipes, drawn from both the traditional and modern foods, accompanied by soft music and some beverages. The guest will also have the opportunity to see different artistic works and fashions displayed by different professionals. Basically, the idea of establishing the pop-up restaurant is to provide memorable experiences to the target guests that are totally different from the normal restaurants. This will also help in marketing the apartments that will be established in that space. References Barrows, C. 2008. ‘Food and Beverage Management’, SAGE Handbook of Hospitality Management , SAGE, London Beardsworth A & Keil T 1997. Sociology on the Menu: An invitation to the study of food and society . Routledge, New York. Flandrin, Jean-Louis and Massimo, M. 1999. Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present. Columbia University Press: New York. Petrini, Carlo, 2003. Slow food: the case for taste. Columbia University Press, New York. Pine, B. Joseph II and Gilmore, James H. 1999. The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre and Every Business a Stage. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, Massachusetts. Ritzer, George, 1999. Enchanting a disenchanted world: Revolutionizing the means of consumption. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks Scapp, R. and Seitz, B. Eds. 1998. Eating Culture. State University of New York Press: New York. Spang, Rebecca L. 2000. The invention of the restaurant: Paris and modern gastronomic culture. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. Walker, H. 1999. Food in the Arts: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books: England. Wood, R. C. 1995. The Sociology of the Meal. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. Appendix Guest package Services offered Food and beverage of choice Soft and smooth music A view of the artistic works and modern fashions Interaction with other guests and chefs Read More