How Sensory Branding help Create Emotional Experience in the Dining Environment

HOW SENSORY BRANDING HELP CREATE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE DINING ENVIRONMENT People don’t buy food or drinks.

They buy immersive experiences.

Tiffany Lam 1019150 MA Design and Branding Strategy

Good food should satisfy all the senses, it should open mouths and open minds Acknowledgement Abstract Executive Summary 1 Introduction 1.1 Growth of Restaurants in the UK 1.2 Insights about experience in Brands 1.3 Growth of Experience Economy 1.4 Research Problem 1.4.1 Value of the Research 1.5 Focus of Research 1.5.1 Key Question 1.5.2 Aim & Objectives

01 02 03 04 04 05 05 05

2 Literature Review 2.1 The Restaurant Market continues to grow in the UK 2.2 Technology and Experience 2.3 Academic Insights into Experience and Brands 2.3.1 Concept of Sensory Branding 2.3.2 Sensory Branding in the Service Industry 2.4 Overview of the 5 senses in Sensory Branding 2.4.1 Smell 2.4.2 Sound 2.4.3 Sight 2.4.4 Taste 2.4.5 Touch 2.5 Significance of Sensory Aspects in Brand Perspective 2.5.1 Connection between Sensory Cues and Emotional Experience 2.6 Design in Creating Memorable Experiences 2.6.1 Case Studies

06 07 09 10 12 13 14 14 15 15 16 17 18 19 21

3 Research Methodology 3.1 Overview 3.2 Literature Review 3.3 In-depth Interviews 3.3.1 Expert Interviews 3.3.2 Expert Validation 3.4 Customer Journey 3.5 Survey Design 3.6 Participatory Observation 3.7 Participants

25 27 27 28 31 31 32 32 32

4 Findings and Analysis 4.1 Interview with Industry Experts 4.1.1 Key Insight from Each Expert 4.1.2 Interview Analysis - Coding Process 4.2 Customer Journey 4.2.1 Byron Burger 4.2.2 Dumpling Lengend 4.2.4 Analysis 4.3 Survey Results 4.4 Case Studies through Observations 4.4.1 Retail Stores 4.4.2 Restaurants 4.4.3 Case Study Analysis

33 33 34 36 36 38 39 40 46 46 49 60

5 Discussion and Recommendations 5.1 Rise of Dining Informality 5.2 Importance of Design in the restaurant market 5.3 Experience At Home 5.4 Recommendations 5.4.1 Experience Touchpoints 5.4.2 Dining Experience Framework 5.4.3 Experience Audit Guide 5.5 Final Design 5.5.1 Feedback from Expert Validation 5.5.2 Final Design

62 63 66 67 67 69 70 73 73 74

6 Conclusion 6.1 Evaluation and Limitations 6.2 Further Research Opportunities

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References Appendices Appendix A - Interview Appendix B - Customer Journey Mapping Results Appendix C - Survey Appendix D - Guidebook

Word Count - 24178

Acknowledgement This initiative would not be possible without the support form the following people Dr. Gabriella Spinelli For your continued guidance, patience, knowledgeable advice and support throughout the project John Boult For your inspirational advice and support throughout the project Dr. Busawayan Lam For your guidance, support and offering relevant reading materials Dr. Rachel Lawes For taking the time to interview, discuss about semiotics and revealing opportunities on the project Mr. Joseph Pines For taking the time to interview, discuss, advice and validate the proposed guidebook Mark McCulloch For taking the time to validate the proposed guidebook Simon Harrop, Mark Crumpacker, Sheryl Adkins-Green, Tom Byng, Stephen Izatt, Lisa Mishima For taking the time to interview and discuss the project And also a big thank you to my family and friends for support  

Abstract The purpose of this study is to help restaurant brands to become more competitive by exploring the use of design that can be applied in various restaurant touch points in creating a sensorial experience in the dining environment.

The research was conducted through in-depth interviews with industry experts, survey, case studies, observations and customer journey mapping.

 

Although sensory branding has been widely used in hotels and retail environments and there are plenty of research and publication in these sectors, it has not been widely explored in the restaurant industry. Therefore, this study will identify factors and design touch points that contribute to the design framework for restaurant brands to become a stronger and durable brand.

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Executive Summary Overview The eating out sector has changed dramatically in the recent years where casual dining is the fastest growing segment in the eating out market. Food and drink are at the heart of consumer culture (Sacla, 2015) and with the increase of technology and mobile connectivity, it has become the perfect platform for the ‘experience economy’. This is where consumers are buying experiences such as an evening at a concert or an experience at a themed restaurant.

Dining in restaurants is a sensorial experience and senses play a vital role. Sensory branding helps create a strong, positive loyal bond between the brand and the customer. However, many restaurants in the industry are just focusing on the food instead of looking at the dining experience as a whole with additional sensorial depth.

Aim and Objectives The aim of the study is to create an experience guidebook for casual dining restaurants in order to build a strong distinctive durable brand. The research objectives include the following: To investigate the changing types and roles of brands in the restaurant market in the UK To explore in detail the casual dining market and the importance of the ‘dining experience’ To determine the nature of sensory and dining experience To explore the various touch points of the five senses in sensory branding in a dining environment • To investigate the role and applicator of design in creating brand experience • To create a design guidebook for restaurants to magnify their brand value • • • •

Methodology The methodology has been divided into two parts. Secondary research includes academic research, case studies from books, market reports, journals, online articles to provide knowledge of the research area and reviewing existing theories. Primary research includes a survey with 70 UK participants, participatory observations on 26 brands, customer journey mapping with 20 participants and eight expert interviews to gain inspirations and insights in experience design.

After designing the guidebook, it has been validated by two experts for further improvements and feedback.

Findings Based on the research insights, there is a rise in dining informality and social experience; they are willing to pay more for the experience. When a customer is visiting a restaurant his goal, whether conscious or not, is to experience excitement, pleasure, and a sense of personal well-being throughout his dining experience. Restaurants need to work on staging the experience that engages with the customer and their senses instead of entertaining them.

The colour, decor, lighting, sound, food and taste are vital touch points that affect the customer and their experience in the restaurant. Restaurants need to consider that each touch point is a message that touches the consumers’ sense in some way and creates a customer experience.

Furthermore, from the research, design has become a vital tool for restaurants as it allows them to become more competitive in the market and unique. When the details of the restaurant are well designed, it can convey a comfortable space and deliver the brand value and story to the

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Executive Summary customer, the brand’s image and ambience can be transformed into tangible memories in the customers mind.

In addition to the senses that affect the consumer, the evolution in technology has had a significant impact on the way everyday consumers shop, interact with each other and communicate with brands. Restaurants needs to make sure their online and offline channels are consistent across all their touch points while staying true to their core values.

Recommendation Brand consistency is important for brands to become more competitive and durable. Restaurants should focus on their foundation in design touch points that reflect their core values before implementing new brand ideas. The guidebook consists of two experience tools detailing the experience touch points, a framework with core factors in building a durable brand and an audit for brands to evaluate themselves.

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1 Introduction 1.1 Growth of Restaurants in the UK Over recent years, the eating out sector has changed dramatically in the UK. The general population is eating out more often and this has become the new norm. More than 31% of UK consumers eat out at least once a week; the number of adults who do so has increased from 17 million in 2012 to19 million in 2013 (PwC, 2013). The UK high streets are increasingly being dominated by branded restaurant chains, and many restaurants have shifted their focus to concentrate more on providing quality foods in order to satisfy the demands of customers.

Many restaurants had to reposition themselves in the market in order to address the increasing consumer desire for quality, value for money, consistency, and social experiences. One of the fastest growing sectors in the eating out market is the ‘casual dining’ sector, which is defined by Horizon as any average meal between the price range of £10 and £20. The casual dining sector has grown substantially, drawing an extra 47 million visits each year compared with five years ago, an increase of annual traffic by 11.6% (NPD Group, 2014). It is a sector where innovation, branding, and differentiation has become essential to succeed (Pwc, 2013; EY, 2014).

The term ‘Casual Dining’ has been defined by Horizon as any average meal between the price range of £10 and £20. Within the causal dining sector, examples of iconic high street branded restaurants would include Pizza Express, Strada, Cote, Carluccio’s, Giraffe, Frankie & Benny’s.

There are also independent caterers or large pup operators such as Mitchells & Butlers, Whitbred, Greene King and Wetherspoon’s.

Figure 1. Examples of Casual Dining Restaurants

Andrew Guy, chief executive of Ed’s Easy Diner, has pointed out the noticeable growth in the causal dining sector, especially for branded restaurant chains. “More and more branded businesses are delivering a higher standard of service and quality of product; therefore they’re more consistent. And they’re growing so quickly simply because the customer feels there’s a sense of guarantee,” he says. The branded dining market currently worth £16.4 billion and is expected to reach £22 billion within five years (NPD Group, 2014).

“Consumers are increasingly looking for both value and quality (or at least the semblance of both) – expecting a lot from their eating out experience,” says Cyril Lavenant, director of foodservice UK at the NPD Group. “Value here is not referring to ‘cheap’, but a combination of factors such as price, promotions and customer experience.”

Today, there are roughly eight times more independent restaurants than restaurant chain outlets.

Nam Quach at EY (2014) says that “there has been and continues to be a great deal of activity in small to mid restaurants as investors are looking for good management teams and scalable

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1 Introduction growth concepts which can be expanded across the country�. Whereas, larger groups are in the process to streamline their brands and to cut dept.

The casual dining market is currently entering a vibrant phase of new concepts and cuisines with London as a hotspot for emerging eating out brands.

1.2 Insights about experience in Brands “Branding has become a significant mainstream management activity. It is a marketing, communication, design tool that influences every part of the organisation and audience at all times�(Olins, 2008). In the past, most companies used visual-audio stimuli in order to differentiate their brands from their competitors. Nowadays with increasing competition, companies are going further and further to out do their fellow rivals. Many branded restaurant companies are now employing all five senses (taste, smell, sight, touch, sound) in their branding compared to just visual-audio stimuli. Many companies have wanted to achieve differentiation of their products through sensory branding as it relates to the customer in a more personal way (Khanna and Mishra, 2014).

Figure 2. Five Senses

Sensory branding allows the customer to see the different dimensions of a single brand, and in this research, restaurants would be perceived as its own brand. Each of the five senses - sight, smell, touch, taste, sound - in sensory branding has a potential to add dimension to the brand.

The purpose of sensory branding is to create a strong, positive loyal bond between the brand and the customer (Lindstrom, 2010) in order for the customer to return to the brand repeatedly.

Sensory stimulation can help distinguish products from each other and also attracts customer.

These stimulations get attached in our sensory memory and would become part of the decisionmaking process and it is part of brand building for a product. It can also be a tool aiding in the creation of memories, distinct from the normally uneventful world of goods and services.

Accordingly to Krishna (2013), communications with customers in the past were essentially in monologues - companies just talked to customers. Soon then, it became dialogues with customers where they would provide feedback. Now it has become a multidimensional conversation with products having their own voices and consumers responding viscerally and subconsciously to them.

By integrating all the senses, it creates an emotional atmosphere in order to provide a more memorable experience to the customer. The brand experience can be thought of as sensations, feelings, perceptions, and behavioural responses evoked by senses (Djurovic, 2008 cited in Uddin, 2011). Sensory branding can grasps different points of memory in order to be remembered by the

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1 Introduction consumer. The more they involve with the senses, the more they will be able to remember the brand. “Brand experience can be thought of as sensations, feelings and behavioural responses evoked by brand-related stimuli” (Brakus et al., 2009). The more powerful the experience, the stronger the brand impression. It also influences consumer satisfaction and loyalty. It enables the brand to sell products at a premium and create a powerful competitive advantage.

There are a lot of sectors that are utilising sensory marketing such as upscale hotels and airlines where they create signature scents that customers can recognise and remember. Such as Singapore Airlines, a distinct exotic aroma was specially designed for them to be used by flight attendants as perfume and blended into the hot towels served before take off, giving a strong all rounded synergy between the senses.

1.3 Growth of Experience Economy As experience has become the fourth economic offering today, brands need to create services that can emotionally satisfy the customer in order to build a bond which would result in customer loyalty and increase their brand equity. ‘Experiences are as distinct from services as services are from goods’ (Pine & Gilmore, 2002). Nowadays, experience is a new important source of value in any company; they can only stage the experience when they engage customers in a memorable way, which are emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual (Pine & Gilmore, 2002) The experience society has grown up.

Experience Focus 2000s

Customisation

Customisation

Brand Focus 1950s

Product Focus 1990s

Memorable Experiences

Intangible Services

Tangible Goods Fungible Commodities

Customer Demands

Figure 3. Evolution in customer demands. Adaptation from Pine & Gilmore, 2011

We learn through experiences, through our senses. They are directly linked to the limbic part of the brain that that is responsible for our memories, feelings, pleasures and emotions. If a brand provides all of our senses with certain stimulus, we will have a deeper emotional connection with the brand and a strong-brand customer relationship. Since many products are technically similar in the market, consumers perceive perception and pleasure to be more important than price.

According to a CEI Survey (2014), 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience.

Customer’s demands have changed over time. To make a service memorable, it needs to be customised in order to become an experience that can be remembered.

Steve and Shedroff (2008) stated that consumers are more experience and environment focus today. When they are using a product, it should transcended both needs and further desires of the

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1 Introduction customer. Therefore, it is important for the company or brand to stay up to date with consumer behaviour and lifestyle trends.

Restaurants should take advantage of leveraging the five senses to its full potential as it also creates brand identity and value that can leave an imprint in the customer’s mind.

A strong restaurant brand is earned by the consumer’s perception and their feelings about the place, the food it serves and the service team. If the brand has the ability to tap into the customer’s five senses, they would be able to create a deeper emotional connection with the customer. This allows the brand to create a more powerful connection with their customer, who can ‘feel’ the brand on many different levels.

1.4 Research Problem The dining experience consists of the food, beverages and the service perceived by the customer.

Throughout their visit at the restaurant, all of the senses are capturing stimuli by seeing, tasting, smelling, touching and hearing. Employing all senses during the dining experience is vital, as it will register more profound memories for the customer. The stronger the sense, the easier it can evoke the consumer’s emotions, thus creating a stronger memory.

Since the food in the restaurant is the core, the tasting experience is undoubtedly the most crucial sense. Majority of the customers not only take into consideration of the food but they look into all the other factors of the dining experience before determining if the restaurant offers good value or not. However, many restaurants in the industry are just focusing on the food instead of looking at the dining experience as a whole with additional sensorial depth (Hultén, Broweus, & Dijk, 2009, cited in Sjodahl, 2012).

A sensory experience has the power to evoke strong memories, intensify our experience, trigger powerful emotions and tap into unconscious desires. As experience becomes the fourth economic offering today, consumers unquestionably desire experiences, and more and more businesses are responding explicitly designing and promoting them (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). Experiences that lead to higher engagement are generally better for business, whereas experience that don't engage with the customer can lead to a decline in their business.

Since there is a variety of choices and price points offered by casual dining, it becomes harder for the customer to differentiate the restaurant to go to. Even though customers are driven by rational choices, they are just as frequently driven by emotions because “customers want to be entertained, stimulated, emotionally affected, and creatively challenged” (Schmitt, 1999, p29).

There are also lots of publications in sensory branding for retails and hotels, but there has not been much for the restaurant industry which was identified through academic research.

1.4.1 Value of Research The purpose of this research is to explore the use of design that can be applied in various touch points for creating a sensorial experience in the dining environment. Emotions are gathered from our senses and an emotional experience consists of customer’s inner feelings evoked from a set of interactions among subjective and objective factors. (Lindstrom, 2010) “Instead of just focusing on the food and the process of eating and taste, the restaurant owner should look at the consumption experience as “enjoying a food culture experience” (Schmitt, 1999). Anyone can replicate the food, but it is the brand that differentiates it.

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1 Introduction The value of the research would benefit restaurant owners, creatives, designers, brand consultants and marketers. By adding a sensory dimension to the brand’s marketing strategy, it can help strengthen the brand’s equity and become a stronger lasting brand.

1.5 Focus of Research Since the causal dining market is becoming more and more competitive, restaurants have to create an experience where they can connect to their customer emotionally. Customers are more willing to visit a restaurant where they had a memorable experience. By building sensory cues, audiences can recognise the company and distinguish it from others (Bartholmé & Melwar, 2009).

1.5.1 Key Question To further investigate the connection of sensory branding and emotional experience, the main key question was formulated: How sensory branding help create emotional experiences in the dining environment?

In order to enhance the customer experience through the five senses, there needs to be certain touch points to stimulate the customer. Further sub questions have been created:

- What is the nature of sensory brand experience?

- How design plays a role in the restaurant, in terms of creating a memorable experience to the customer?

- What are the important factors in designing experience in the dining environment?

1.5.2 Aim & Objectives The goal for this research is to help brands to become more competitive by creating sensorial experiences in the dining environment. The key factors of this research includes sensory branding and the use of design in creating experiences; and to explore customer touch points in order to discover the most efficient way in creating a bond between the restaurant and customer. The aim of this research is to explore how different senses can evoke customer’s emotions: To create an experience guidebook for casual dining restaurants in order to build a strong distinctive durable brand To achieve the aim of this research, the following objectives have been formulated and act as a guide to explore the research area.

To investigate the changing types and roles of brands in the restaurant market in the UK To explore in detail the casual dining market and the importance of the ‘dining experience’ To determine the nature of sensory and dining experience To explore the various touch points of the five senses in sensory branding in a dining environment • To investigate the role and applicator of design in creating brand experience • To create a design guidebook for restaurants to magnify their brand value • • • •

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2 Literature Review 2.1 The Restaurant Market continues to grow in the UK According to the report by PwC (2013), the value of the UK eating out market is more than £40 billion. Consumers are constantly engaging and enjoying the food sectors across a number of channels, and brand power constantly possesses its force at the pricey end of the market.

However, the casual dining industry still manages to find its target consumer to be more cost cognisant and savvy.

Figure 4. Economic Growth (EY, 2014; NPD Group, 2014)

Despite the recession resulting in pub closures and the restructuring of managed estates, the restaurant and casual dining sector have prospered amongst the consumer-facing industries. It is now well positioned to benefit from the improving economy, consumer confident and spending power (EY, 2014). Additionally, with the rise of online retail platforms, resulting a shift in consumer’s shopping habits. A lot of high street stores have decided to shift their operating model online causing an increase in empty store space, this has enabled restaurateurs and publicans alike to open more shops - creating a more diversified high street.

From a combination of job stability, less borrowing and a low inflation, people have more disposable income to spend, this has resulted in a growing market share of the dining market, due to people eating out more. Moreover, with a more health conscious nation and the awareness of healthy dishes, it is forecasted by Horizon’s managing director Blackman (2015) that the UK foodservice sector will continue to grow and it is likely to reach a value of £56.3 million by 2019.

In the UK eating out market, restaurants have a pertinent share and they have proven to be comparatively flexible at the time of the economic downturn. However, the branded casual dining market have outperformed the entire eating out market and has grown at the rate of 7.3% per annum between 2007-2011 (PwC, 2013). The following figure demonstrates the performance of casual dining market and that has constantly enhanced over the period of time.

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2 Literature Review Branded Casual Dining Market Value 3,500 Between 2007 - 2011 Increase of 7.3% 3,000

3,038

2,870 2,718 2,545

2,500

ÂŁm (ex VAT)

2,290

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

!

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Source: PwC (2013)

Figure 5. Branded Casual Market Value (PwC, 2013)

A report by Mintel (2013) has put forth that in the earlier years, a simple burger and chips were enough to please the hungry British diners, but nowadays, British people are looking for something more luxurious compared to their fast food fix, as well as a favourable dining experience. Nowadays, the lighting and ambience of the dining environment along with the varieties in the menu hold much significance for the British consumer (Mintel, 2013; EY, 2014).

There is also an increasing number of street food vans across the country from shopping centres to music festivals, where consumers can see food being prepared freshly or cooked in front of them, satisfying consumer’s increasing cravings for something different and authentic. There is also a trend in undiscovered cuisines, such as Persian food, and the market for new concepts continues to expand (EY, 2014).

2.2 Technology and Experience With the rise of mobile technology, social media has changed the way restaurant engage with their customers and market their business (EY, 2014). As shown in Figure 6 by 2025, half of the global population and 75% of the workforce will be dominated by Generation Y (Gen Y) (Cardosa, Wright, Gott, 2013). Both Boomers and Gen Y will each constitute a quarter of the market place in the UK (Sacla, 2015).


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Figure 6. Millennials will comprise the majority of the workforce by 2025 (SDL, 2014)

Consumers’ growing love for all things social has revolutionised the way businesses market themselves, putting start-ups and street food vans on an equal footing with the biggest restaurant chains.

Millennials are increasingly demanding for more sensorial experiences as they feel being disconnected with the real world. From JWT’s survey results (2013), 7 in 10 say they increasingly crave experiences that stimulate their senses as they feel they are increasingly disconnected from the physical world. 'They are placing greater importance on experiences: 72% would rather spend their money on an experience.' JWT Intelligence, 2013.

Results from SDL’s global survey (2014) of more than 1,800 Millennials (ages 18-36) reveal Millennials expect to be able to engage with the brand in any device they are on and consistency across all channels (Figure 7). 'To keep pace, marketers should focus on the experiences customers want throughout the customer journey, and adjust company strategies to coincide. If you change the way you engage customers on one channel, it may only be one step in an overall strategy. It is vital for organisations to ensure channels are so connected that they become irrelevant, placing the focus on delivering true omnichannel engagement.' (SDL, 2014)

!

Figure 7. Millennials Behaviours (SDL,2014)

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!

Figure 8. Eating out reasons (Sacla, 2015)

Within the food and drink market, this generation is vital to the success of innovative formats and menu as they have more disposable income and there are more affordable options in the market (Figure 8).

It is worthy to state that not only the dining market in the UK is growing, along with the importance of the social experience causing quality dining experience to increase in a significant manner; with consumers seeking an omni-channel experience (Newman, 2014).

2.3 Academic Insights into Experience and Brands A brand is what people feel about a product, service or company; it also represents the full ‘personality’ of a company in the market. It interacts with the audience via different ways and touch points. Each brand has its brand values that acts as a set of attributes that customers experience as the foundation of the brand promises which are the core to a brand. A brand experience would bring together both tangible and intangible elements through various touch points where the customers engage with the brand (Davis, 2009).

'Emotions are inseparable from and it is a necessary part of cognition. Everything that we do, everything we think is tinged with emotion, much of it is subconscious. In turn, our emotions change the way we think and serve as constant guides to appropriate behaviour, steering us away form the bad, guiding us toward the good.' (Norman, 2013) Donald Norman suggested that there are three different levels that interweave cognitive and emotions for humans: Visceral, Behavioural and Reflective. These mechanisms analyse and generate physical response and shape the experience when the product is being used. Visceral is about the appearance, touch and feel.

Behavioural is about usability and pleasure. Reflective is about rationalising and understanding.

The brain is a system operating at both conscious level and subconscious level. Sensory input triggers activity in the system and this produces chemicals that either make us feel good or make  

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2 Literature Review us feel stressed (Newbery & Farnham, 2013). The five senses of the human - sight, smell, taste, touch and sound - are important in everyday human experience. How these systems are activated affect our experience consciously and the resulting chemical response is based on the input stimuli. 'It’s the total experience that matters. And that starts from when you first hear about a product… experience is more based upon memory than reality. If your memory of the product is wonderful, you will excuse all sorts of incidental things.' (Don Norman, 2013) Sensory stimulation can help distinguish products from each other and also attract customers.

These stimulations get attached in our sensory memory and would become part of the decisionmaking process and it is part of brand building for a product. (Hussain, 2014)

Sens or y

As part of the strategic experiential marketing (SEMs) framework, Schmitt proposed five types of consumer experiences: sense, feel, think, act, and relate (Figure 9). These five types of marketing each affects customers differently and when two or more of these experiences combine, it creates experiential hybrids. The ultimate goal of experiential marketing is to create a holistic experience.

In a dining environment, the sense and feel marketing are the core to create a sensory experience that can also appeal to the customers’ inner feelings and emotions. The sense experience can satisfy customers’ need for aesthetic and feel experience can help to achieve customers’ perceptions of pleasure. Lindstrom suggested 'each sense, then, can be leveraged to build a better, stronger, more durable brand' but there needs to be a positive synergy across multiple consumer touch point.

perience x E

Ho lis

Think

E m o ti o n a

l

Ex

!

Act

erience Exp tic

Sense

Feel Relate

p e rie n c e

Figure 9. Connection between sensory, emotional experience and the holistic experience (Schmitt,1999; Lindstrom, 2005)

2.3.1 Staging Experiences With the increase demand of experience from customers (Figure 10), brands needs to create an emotional connection with the customers, brands need to set the scene and stage as theatres do (Pine & Gilmore, 2011). Using the theatre concept and 'arranging incidents and cues', it forms the basis of any staged experience and emotional effect. Based on Pine & Gilmore’s theory, work is theatre; the stage would be the restaurant setting and the performance would be offerings from the restaurant which is the food and the actors are the staffs and the audiences are the customers.

The brand needs to consider what goes on 'stage' and how the staff 'acts' to create an impression on the customer.

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2 Literature Review Differentiated

Relevant to Transformations

Customisation

Guide

Memorable Experiences

Customisation

Stage

Competitive Position

Intangible Services

Customisation

Deliver

Tangible Goods

Commoditisation

Needs of Customers

Commoditisation

Make

Fungible Commodities Undifferentiated

Commoditisation

Irrelevant to

Extract

Pricing

Market

Permium

!

Figure 10. Progression of Economic Value (Pine & Gilmore, 2011)

Like a theatre drama, there would be sequences, progression and duration of events. The experience should be able to enrich the customer’s own capability to think, feel and act (Pine & Gilmore, 2011). Based on Laurel’s dramatic structure (Laurel, 1993 cited in Pine & Gilmore, 2011) which adapted from performance theorist Gustav Freytag, she presents the structure of compelling performances, plotting complication over time. They consist of 'exposition (introducing the context), inciting incident (setting the action in motion), rising action (rapidly increasing possibilities and intensity), crisis (heightened activities and obstacles), climax (of many things that could happen, only one does), falling action (resulting consequences), and finally the denouement (tying together plot threads; a return to normalcy).' A structure that is too-flat or climaxes too early or late would result in a less engaging experience than the ideal dramatic structure (Pine & Gilmore, 2011).

A - Expositino B - Inciting incident C - Rising actino D - Crisis E - Climax F - Falling action G - Denouement

E

Complication

D F

C B G

A

Time

!

Figure 11. Dramatic Structure (Laurel, 1993)

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2 Literature Review 2.3.2 Concept of Sensory Branding Sensory marketing can be defined as a set of applicable levers run by the company or brand to develop a particular multi-sensory feeling around the service or product by emphasising on the environment of outlets, product or communication. The sensory marketing used by companies along with sensory cues can help offer sensory experiences.

The Firm

The Individual

Sensorial Strategies and Customer Treatment

The Five Human Senses

SENSORY EXPERIENCE Brand and Experience logic !

Smell, Sound, Sight, Touch, Taste Sensory Marketing

Figure 12. Sensory (Hulten, and Van Source: Marketing Hulten, Broweus and Broweus Van Dijk (2009, p.6)Dijik, 2009)

Sensory marketing identifies the company and the individual standpoint in relation to the sensory experiences. Companies utilise sensorial tactics and consumer treatment for developing brand consciousness and generate brand images that link to uniqueness, personality and lifestyle. The human brain experiences and keeps record of sensory inputs, which is known as experience logic (Suhonen and Tengvall, 2009).

The sensory signs in delivering experiences indicate the manner to which companies make use of senses as a mechanism for generating expressions, a significant brand identity and the brand values. It has been put forth by Hulten, Broweus and Van Dijik (Figure 11) (2009) that the current branding is about establishing emotional bonding between customers and the brand, which in this relationship emotion is based on the information around people by their senses. For the customers, the form of sensory stimulation from a brand can both influence their irrational behaviour and help the to distinguish from another brand. Nowadays, increasingly customers are demanding a more multi-dimensional desire incorporating a whole sensory approach. However to large marketers, they live in a two dimensional world, which are sight and sound (Linstrom, 2005).

Development of market indicates a novel era where the five senses will be a basis for generating company strategies. Nowadays, the conventional epoch where the products were mass marketed is starting to vanish.

According to Krishna (2011), there are a lot of sectors that have been utilising sensory marketing and upscale hotels are perfect examples. They would create signature scents in which customers can recognise and remember. Moreover, beverage companies are exploiting textures and bottles, which customers can feel and touch. Memory gets extremely influenced by the sensory inputs, which organisations created to engage with their customers (Schmitt, 2012).

Sensory branding defined by Pine and Gilmore (2011) is when companies emphasise on human senses for creating strong memories in the mind of consumers, which allows them to create a  

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2 Literature Review powerful bond between brands and consumers. To build a powerful brand, it has become essential for companies to become more aware of the internal process in the consumer buying behaviour and majority of the inner process in the consumer behaviour is connected to the body senses - sight, touch, smell, taste and sound. The basics of sensory branding is to develop a link between consumers and brands on an emotional extent with the help of the five human senses.

Thus, sensory branding is found to be very effective because it results into an emotional impression and offers unforgettable brand experience to the consumer.

'Everything has a personality: everything sends an emotional signal. Even where this was not the intention of the designer, the people who view the website infer personalities and experience emotions.' (Don Norman, 2013) The brand experience can be described as feelings, sensations, behavioural reactions and perceptions induced by the senses from the consumer. Gobe (2011) asserts that the more consumers are engaged with the senses, the more they will remember the brand. The more powerful the experience, the stronger the brand impression. It also affects consumer satisfaction and loyalty and enables the brand to sell products at a premium and create a powerful competitive advantage.

Aside from well known authors such as Martin Lindstom (Brand Sense), Farnham and Bery (Experience Design), Bernd Schmitt (Experiential Marketing), Joseph Pine and James Gilmore (Experience Economy), Jinsop Lee is a more contemporary academic who believes great designs appeal to five senses. He created a 'Five Sense Graph' to grade objects and experiences on how well they play to each of our assorted senses on a scale of 1 to 10. The perfect experience would be rated 10 for all of the senses. y 10

x-axis: the five senses y-axis: intensity of particular experience on each sense

9 8 7 6 5

A blank slate, ready to be filled with mind-blowing results

4 3 2 1 0

Sight

Touch

Smell

Sound

Taste

x

Figure 13. Jinsop Lee’s Five Sense Graph

2.4 Overview of the five senses in Sensory Branding 'Experiences are distinct from services as services are from goods' (Pine & Gilmore, 2002). In the service industry such as hotel and restaurant, sensory marketing play as an essential role in order to create better performance of service. Each sense could have a different impact on the customer.

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2 Literature Review 2.4.1 Smell The sense of smell is one of the most primal human senses and processes immediate, emotional responses as stated by Vlahos (2007). This is because smell is transported straight to the emotion centre of the brain - the limbic system. It is considered that once perceived and recognised, a scent becomes a constant, enduring and will be recognisable even after a long period of time even if it was experienced once. In addition, scent cues also induce emotional memories, which can also be induced by other human senses (Vlahos, 2007; Kim, Koo and Chang, 2009).

Ambient scent also has a significant impact on perception and the time spent by the consumer.

Ambient scent is not necessarily the smell of the environment and is not directly linked with the brand, but rather a more atmospheric factor that affects the consumers’ mood (Kim, Koo and Chang, 2009). Even though the existence of a pleasurable ambient smell does not influence the time spent in a restaurant or in a store, but it does cut down the perception of elapsed time.

Since 75% of emotions in humans are developed by smell (Hulten, Broweus and Van Dijk, 2009), it has a strong effect on the human’s memory and thus can be used as a tool for brand differentiation. Without doubt, the utilisation of scent in a restaurant or in a retail store can establish a positive mood and generate a better brand positioning. Consequently, smell is directly linked to feelings of happiness and hunger (Wilkie 1995; Vlahos 2007).

Ambient scent also has the potential to generate a constructive mood and product assessment, and can realise better sales revenues (Hasanovic, 2013). Conversely, a specific odour of a brand can create a more powerful reaction with the consumer and also reinforce the brand identity.

Brenda Soars (2009) mentioned that smell could be a good way to enhance perceptions and reactions to the service environment, it contributes to an unique set of emotions in the customer.

In the dining environment, the use of scent is used to convey information about the type of food the restaurant serves, such as the smell of lemongrass could indicate Asian food.

2.4.2 Sound Sound is one of the most significant motivators and it is one of the elements in decision making in the consumer’s behaviour. Suhonen and Tengvall (2009) mentioned that the swiftness of background affects the spending, service, and traffic flow in restaurants and stores. The slower the background music, the more likely people are to shop for longer, when the music is slow in the restaurant, the bill is 29% higher comparatively than when the music is fast. The sense of sound offers a great opportunity to companies to maintain an emotional bond with the consumer (Suhonen and Tengvall, 2009).

Therefore, sound can be used by companies for generating certain reactions while creating an emotional affection with a brand. Sound is a traditional element utilised by companies during the process of brand building as it influences the choice of brand by the consumers. It is extremely effortless and reasonable to add sound components in order to strengthen the brand image (Schmitt and Simonsson, 1997). Sounds can result to brand differentiation from competitive brands because of the distinctive brand sound and aids in creating a powerful link with consumers. Utilising sound to enhance the ambience can be very powerful in linking the consumer with a brand. Often, a brand identity is also demonstrated by the sound related to the brand.

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2 Literature Review Sound has been used in marketing for a long period of time for message communications as the sense of sound is continuously turned on and can be reached effortlessly. Companies are using sound in their sensory marketing framework and business as an aid to create customer’s experiences. In the dining environment, ambience music can be utilised for influencing customer’s reaction and the time spent in the restaurant (Lindstrom, 2005).

Hasanovic (2013) has divided the objectives of exploiting ambience sound into cognitive, behavioural and affective. Affective objectives consist of engaging the customer at an emotional extent for generating sensations such as pleasure and contentment, while cognitive objectives can be utilised for indicating the target and positioning by generating an equivalent atmosphere and exploiting music for drawing attention towards a product. Finally, the behavioural objectives are aimed at altering the customer behaviour at the time of a purchase where the time spent by the customer in a store is affected by the sound of music (Hulten, Broweus and Van Dijk, 2009).

2.4.3 Sight Sight is the most powerful sense out of all the human senses and it is the most widely used sensory stimulus in the marketing process because vision plays a significant role in the brand perception and the stimulus of sight can improve the image of the brand and professed quality.

There are a lot of important factors that impact the brand through vision, such as design, logo, lighting and colour. Colours make an impact in brand perception and can draw attention to the most vital characteristics and link to a brand or product (Schifferstein and Blok, 2002).

Colours are also particularly significant based on the fact that they reflect the identity, values and positioning of a brand and can be utilised for setting a brand mood with the help of logos and packaging. In the dining environment, the set of colours used can imprint into the customer’s mind and induce them to relate with the brand. It is essential that casual dining brands should choose colours carefully because when the appropriate colours are selected, they can utilise strategically for reinforcing and communicating the required image of the brand (Mrazek et al., 2011).

It has been demonstrated by Schmitt, Tavassoli and Millard (1993) in their research that with the help of visual cues, an individual can act in a different way to what type of signal is offered. The person not only acts in response to what he or she visualises, but also the context in which a particular thing is seen. Design as a vital visual sign has been imperative from an extended period of time, exhibiting aesthetics and linking it to values, culture, and functional attributes. Not only can design evoke sensual and emotional experiences, but it can also be used to articulate a brand.

Furthermore, when objects are designed beautifully and aesthetically pleasing, the human eyes get attracted to it as it causes interest and happiness. Design articulates the profound influence of the feelings that objects evoke and affects our decision behaviours in spending thousand of dollars on Gucci bags and Rolex watches, to the impact of emotion on the everyday objects of tomorrow (Don Norman, 2013).

2.4.4 Taste Taste has the most peculiar function from any of the five human senses and the role of taste is fundamental in branding. Taste and smell are very much connected to each other and it is not possible to taste something without smelling it (Koerth-Baker, 2008). Restaurants and hotels

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2 Literature Review should not avoid the significance of taste in their marketing process because drinking and eating are closely related to happy and joyful memories. Taste allows the consumers to summon up past reminiscences and experiences, and thus, taste also affects brand perception and generates a powerful bond with their customer. However, it is notable that not many brands are including taste in their marketing and branding strategies. By adding the taste aspect to the brand, it enhances its worth value for the customer as well as the perceived advanced in their mind (Suhonen and Tengvall, 2009).

While only the food industries have executed branding tactics of taste, it has only been recent that other industries are also realising the pertinence of the taste experience for consumers and its importance in marketing. The taste sense of every inducible is distinctive and to a certain extent directly by the saliva produced by each person and this controls the food preference of each individual (Gale, 2007). Although, an individual can be exposed to aroma without engaging taste, but to taste something without smelling it is not possible (Lindstrom, 2005).

The flavour experience is usually most intense upon swallowing. When food enters the mouth, taste, smell and touch fuse together to produce that 'unique flavour experience,' (Fleming, 2013).

According to Barry Smith, a professor who studies senses at the London University's Centre, when swallowing food, the odours are being pulsed from the tongue and up the nose, but the brain misinterprets that as if it was coming from the mouth because all the other stimulations immediately preceding it was in the mouth.

As taste and smell are closely related, 80% of the flavours we taste are governed by smell (Fleming, 2013). It is very hard to eat or drink without being influenced by the environment as the brain is always picking up other sensory cues and using them to infer with the experience (Hui, 2013). Such examples include heavier cutlery generally means better flavour, and desserts taste sweeter on white plates than they do on black ones.

2.4.5 Touch Aside from sight and sound, the sense of touch is considered to be vital in marketing for centuries; touch can help determine the use of an object. In respect to marketing, it is notable that touch influences human actions to a higher extent, as compared to other sense because the sense of touch can help humans to recognise the product and categorise the brand. Touch is also important in marketing because it increase the experience of a brand for a consumer by adding up sensory details to the brand. It is noticeable that whenever a person touches something, he or she can truly sense its unique consistency and the same can be identified later even without looking at it, merely by remembering and recollecting the texture felt earlier. On the other hand, touching a product is also a means of certifying its quality (Hussain, 2014).

Furthermore, a product’s texture affects consumer’s emotions and in turn their sensitivity. Once the consumer touches the products, he or she will become more connected to them and feel more enthusiastic in purchasing the products. According to Mueller and Szolnoki (2010), if a consumer has a low brand acknowledgement, subsequently they will become more reliant to explore the brand by touching and feeling them (Mueller and Szolnoki, 2010; Pine and Gilmore, 2011). The involvement of customers in the buying procedure reinforces their emotion by touching the brand. Therefore, companies can attempt to generate higher customer satisfaction by engaging touch in their marketing strategies along with other human senses.

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2 Literature Review Restaurants and hotels should consider the fact that touch augments the brand experience for customers by increasing its sensory information, such as the sense of touching the door while walking in a store, the experience of walking on the floor or the sense of touching a unique product (Pine and Gilmore, 2011).

2.5 Significance of Sensory Aspects in Brand Perspective Kim, Koo and Chang (2009) have explicated about the use of senses in developing an emotional link to brands. In the current clash of emotional verses logical, it is essential for companies to associate with the unconscious mind of their customers and there is no better way than utilising the power of senses for developing a potent brand identity and emotional link. Human senses are key to their decision making process and guide their behaviour, and consequently, it is requisite for organisations to include sensory aspects in their marketing process so that humans generate favourable perception towards a brand (Kim, Koo and Chang, 2009).

It has been argued by Linstrom (2005) that the chief objective of sensory branding is to induce the connection between a brand and their customers. Sensory branding enhances impulse buying behaviours and facilitates emotional responses, which in turn allows companies develop a basis for prospective product enlargements (Lindstrom, 2006). Overall, the purpose of sensory branding is to build synergies between human senses and develop a chronological response, where participation of one human sense stimulates the exploitation of another (Lindstrom, 2005).

In addition, utilisation of senses in the marketing process can stir up powerful memories and generates emotional desires to the customer, which facilitates in building a desirable brand image and perspective (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997; Suhonen and Tengvall, 2009).

It has been described by Lindstrom (2005) that sensory branding affixes four imperative dimensions to the brand as discussed below: 1. Emotional Engagement: For the purpose of attaining emotional engagement, it is necessary that the sensory appeal of a brand should have two major elements; it should be exclusive to the brand and also it must become customary.

2. An Optimised Balance between Reality and Insight: A lot of brands have a wide gap between the product reality and consumer perception. For instance, if quality is related to weight and the product becomes light due to advanced technology, then it is necessary to add weight to meet the consumer perception.

3. Development of a Brand Platform for Extension of Product: It is considered that with the development of new products by a brand, the connection may corrode unless a vigilant brand extension strategy is generated. The secret to accomplishing the connection lies in sensory touch points.

4. Trademark: Approximately every facet of the sensory appeal of a brand can be trademarked.

Every component of the sensory appeal, including sound, smell, taste, shape and feel needs to be distinctive. For example, Harley-Davidson was not able to win the court case against Yamaha and Honda when they copied the engine sound because it was not trademarked.

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2 Literature Review The figure below shows that after being affected by sensory stimulus, the loyalty of consumers towards a brand escalates, the brand connection enhances and thus creating a strong bond with the brand (Lindstrom, 2005).

ENHANCE !

Loyalty

BOND

STIMULATE

Figure 14. Sensory Branding Pyramid (Lindstrom, 2005)

Raz et al. (2008) suggested that by escalating emotional value with the help of sensory branding, companies can attain and maintain long-term competitive advantages. As mentioned, sensory branding develops a connection between a brand and a consumer, but this can only be attained when the sensory stimulus is exclusive and constant in order for the consumer to be familiar with and memorises it. It is important to state that if a brand becomes successful in engaging the consumer senses in an inimitable manner, then the consumer will become more loyal and be able to identify the brand from other competing brands (Prateekkhanna, 2012; Pine and Gilmore, 2011; Raz, et al., 2008). Hence, it is apparent from the discussion that sensory branding is important for creating a favourable brand perspective and improving the connection between the consumer and the brand.

2.5.1 Connection between Sensory Cues and Emotional Experience The connection between sensory cues and emotional experiences has been elucidated unclearly in previous researches. Even though the research by Hasanovic (2013) demonstrated that brand experience influences customer’s loyalty, but there is a shortage of sensory insinuations in it. Apart from this, other researches have also found a link between sensory cures and emotional experience in a different way by stating that food quality is consequently influenced by sensory inputs and customer perception. It has been clearly stated by Schmitt (2012) that the impact of sensory cues on customer experience of a brand is related to the cognitive facets, memory and the five human senses that induces and summarise the external environment. Hultén, Broweus and Van Dijk (2009) suggested through the sensory organs where the individual collects the information in an active process triggers emotions and forms a perceptual pattern which is stored in the memory.

According to Schmitt and Simonsson (1997), when distinctive features of a product or service are not sufficient to make a brand distinctive, then constructive features, such as emotions and experiences become lead decision makers in the consumer’s mind. The connection between sensory cues and emotional experiences can be described as the emotional experience generated during a purchase by linking consumers emotionally with a brand and by engaging the human senses (Thompson, Rindfleisch, and Arsel, 2006).

Additionally, to explicate the connection between the sensory cues and emotional experience, Vlahos (2007) has described that human emotions are found on the basis of information accumulated from their senses by different stimulus and hence, the senses reinforce in the

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2 Literature Review consumer’s bond with the brand. Although, often consumers are not conscious about the sensory stimuli they received; the stimuli sender - the brand - needs to have absolute comprehension about the impact of the sensory cues on the customer’s experience. Therefore, to be a successful and distinctive brand, it is crucial to create sensory cues or touch points that excite the consumer (Lindstrom 2005; Pine and Gilmore, 2011). These sensory cues will grasp consumers’ interest towards the brand and manipulate their logical purchasing process by developing emotional attachment to the brand.

According to Schmitt (1999), he referred to Marsha Richins who developed an emotion typology that covers the emotions that are most commonly expired in a variety of consumption situations and the terms are familiar and easily understood by the customer.

Anger Frustrated Angry Irritated

Fear Scared Afraid Panicky

Discontent Unfufilled Discontented

Shame Embarrassed Ashamed Humilated

Worry Nervous Worried Tense

Envy Envious Jealous

Sadness Depressed Sad Miserable

Inward

Irritated Angry Frustrated

Warmhearted Sentimental Loving

Loneliness Lonely Homesick

Positive

!

Romantic Sexy Romantic Passionate

Love Loving Sentimental Warm Hearted

Peacefulness Calm Peaceful

Contentment Contented Fulfiled

Optimism Optimistic Encouraged Hopeful

Joy Happy Pleased Joyful

Excitemnet Excited Thrilled Enthusiastic

Other Items Guilty Proud Eager Relieved

Negative Embarrassed Ashamed Humiliated

Pleased Excited Enthusiastic

Outward

Figure 15. Sixteen types of consumption emotions and Perceptual Map of Consumption Emotions (Schmitt, 1999)

The sixteen types of emotions showed in Figure 14 can be plotted on a two dimensional perceptual map. The first dimension is a positivity-negativity dimension and the second dimension is inwardly - outwardly receptivity dimension (Schmitt, 1999).

This model can be used to predict what happens to an intense emotion when its origin is lost and it becomes transformed into a less intense mood. An outward positive emotion may cause the customer to spread the experience he/she had to friends and family, whereas an inward negative emotion may cause the customer to complain. An inward positive emotion makes the customer special and creates customer loyalty and outward negative emotions may cause the customer to never return.

2.6 Design in Creating Experiences Experience design in the service industry is about managing the positive cues that are emitted by the products, services and the environment. The key aspects in creating brand experience are product experience, look and feel and experiential communication; allowing customers to participate and connect with the brand through different levels (Figure 16) (Pine and Gilmore, 1999; Schmitt, 2003).

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2 Literature Review Product Experience

Brand Experience

!

Look and Feel

Experiential Communications

Figure 16. Three key aspect of brand experience (Schmitt, 1999)

Raz, et al. (2008) have explained that consumers only value and memorise great experiences and companies that offer great experiences to them. With the help of stunning design, it can build long lasting customer relationship and profitable businesses. Even after having the right and inclusive view of customer experience, it is still likely for firms to mismanage the ‘experience’ because of the shortage of appropriate tools for designing and managing customer experiences (Raz, et al., 2008).

Companies should consider that proving brand promises, articulating the brand personality, and bringing the brand aspects to life should be the key objectives while designing the customer experience. It is considered that companies often target customer experience with persistent value, but they end up offering experiences that are undistinguished and unmemorable (Robinson, 2009).

Yohn (2015) has put forth a more comprehensive approach in designing and controlling customer experience by utilising customer experience architecture. Customer experience architecture is a structure for designing and offering memorable experiences to diverse consumer segments.

Since, design is vital in creating a memorable branding experience, it is necessary that restaurants should focus on their interior design. This is because prior to smelling or tasting the food, diners review the establishment on the basis of the colours, decor, surroundings and the way all those things make them feel (Yohn, 2015).

The role of colour is highly important in the ambience setting because humans connect and respond to certain colours on the basis of their past experiences. The role of spacing is also fundamental as customers want to feel good while standing, sitting or while dining; they do not want to feel jammed or trapped while being seated (Newbery and Farnham, 2013).

Furthermore, the role of lighting is crucial because objects obtain ambient light only with proper lighting arrangements in the dining environment. The interaction between the light and the architectural component is fundamental for building constructive perceptions. If the space is not properly lit, consumers will not be able to enjoy their dining experience (Newbery and Farnham, 2013; Mrazek, et al., 2011).

The role of design is important in creating a memorable experience because customers will be able to undergo pleasure, happiness and feelings of personal comfort only in a well design environment (Park and Farr, 2007). Hence, 'Staging experience is not about entertaining customers; it’s about engaging them' (Pine and Gilmore, 2002) and different experiences rely on

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2 Literature Review different impressions. A dining establishment should be able to provide both physical and culinary services. Conventionally, restaurants were selected by people primarily on the basis of the quality of food and price and the restaurant owners’ chief objective is to have constant businesses (Moshin, 2005). Nowadays, any great restaurant is about more than the food, it also needs to have a great front-of-house. From Michael Roux experience (2011), 'a customer is more forgiving towards mediocre food than they are to slack service.' Restaurants need to look at the dining experience as a whole as majority of the customers not only take into consideration of the food but they look into all the other factors of the dining experience before determining if the restaurant offers good value or not (Gale, 2007).

Park and Farr (2007) indicated that 'facility aesthetics, ambience, and social factors could significantly affect customers’ pleasure and arousal. The pleasure and arousal could significantly influence their intended behaviour, such as revisit, positive word of mouth, length of stay, and expenditure at the restaurant.' Therefore, designers and marketing managers both need to consider that the dining environment will come together as a complete concise unit with the objective of offering each individual customer an emotional and memorable experience.

2.6.1 Case Studies Singapore Arlines In the past, majority of the airlines have ignored the total sensory experience they could offer and only focus on the cabin design, food, comfort, and pricing. Singapore Airlines made the shift when they introduced a campaign based exclusively on the emotional experience of air travel (Lindstrom, 2005). Instead of portrayed themselves as an entertainment company, they were driven by the aim to establish a true sensory brand experience and went beyond of what the passenger could see and hear.

!

Figure 17. Uniform of Singapore Girl featured in their advertisements (Singapore Airlines)

Singapore Airlines leverages its Asian heritage by using a beautiful local woman as their exotic symbol. From their fabric of the staff uniform to styling staff’s make up with colour combinations to match the brand’s colour scheme. This visual image is then enhanced by Asian-style music that is heard on all their commercials and lounges. To optimise the senses, a distinct exotic aroma was specially designed for them to be used by flight attendants and blended into the hot towels served before take off, giving a strong all rounded synergy between the senses.

When asked travellers to recall the unique smell, they described it as 'smooth, exotically Asian, and distinctly feminine'. Frequent travellers on Singapore Airlines can also instantly recognise the

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2 Literature Review aroma when stepping into the aircraft, reflecting the smooth comfortable memories of the brand.

(Lindstom, 2005) Coca-Cola The Coca-Cola brand is a well-known example of sensory branding and marketing. It has always been compared with the Pepsi brand in order to understand why the Coca-Cola brand is more successful and recognised. Their consistent use of the colours, the dynamic ribbon, the typography, and the logo have established a very clear and unambiguous image which has survived for decades and is memorable to anyone who has been exposed to the brand. There are also been studies in the mechanics of the opening of their can so it is consistent in their adverts and when the consumer opens it. The refreshing sound of opening a can of coke is supposedly to make the consumer feel thirsty (PM+CO, 2013).

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Figure 18. Brand Identity of Coca Cola. (Brian Regienczuk)

As Steve Heyer, former Chief Operating Officer of Coca-Cola, stated of his flagship brand: 'CocaCola is a feeling. Coca-Cola is refreshment and connection. Always has been ... always will be.'

From Uddin’s research, where he compared the brand awareness and identity of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Pepsi drinkers believe that both brands are equally distinctive, but slightly more Coke drinkers agreed that they felt very positive about the taste of Coke than Pepsi drinkers did of Pepsi. He also concluded that Coca-Cola brand’s taste, visual and tactile aspects have the strongest impact on consumers in terms of brand identity and for brand awareness, the visual and tactile aspects are stronger. Whereas the smell and sound have less of an impact on brand awareness and identity.

Rainforest Cafe At Rainforest Cafe, they have created a replicate of the rainforest where diners find themselves in the midst of dense vegetation, rising mist, cascading waterfalls, and even lighting and thunder. Its aim is to stage a natural aesthetic experience with the use of live tropical birds and fish, artificial butterflies, spiders, gorillas and crocodiles that mimics the snapping movement of a real crocodile.

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Figure 19. Inside the Rainforest Cafe (therainforestcafe.co.uk)

At the rainforest cafe, the mist used appeals to all five senses. The customer first encounters the sound of ‘sss-sss-zzz’ and then seeing the mist rising from the rocks and feel the softness and coolness against the skin. Finally, the smell of tropical essence and taste (or imagining the taste) its freshness (Pine & Gilmore, 2011).

The multi-sensory experience during the customer’s visit may also stimulate multiple positive memories that may lead to reviews and referrals through consumer-generated websites such as Tripadvisor or third party restaurant reviewing sites (McIntyre, 2012).

The Fat Duck Heston Blumenthal is well known in the culinary world who uses different senses and combinations to play with the perception and augment the dining experience in order to create a multi-sensory experience.

Instead of starting the dining experience when the customer arrives at the restaurant, his restaurant experience starts from the moment when the customer uses the restaurant website to reserve a table to the ending after the customer leaves The Fat Duck (The Staff Canteen, 2015). It is a journey where the customer’s memory is triggered by senses, creating their own personal experience based on the food they interact with.

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Figure 20. Sound of Sea (theguardian.com)

Music and sound or powerful triggers in recalling from memory and it can enhance the quality of the meal and perception of flavours. At The Fat Duck restaurant, Blumenthal serves his fish course with an iPod that plays ‘Sound of the Sea’ and diners would remember the days at the seaside and the associated images and smells heightened their perception of the dish producing a fishier and fresher taste.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Overview This research project is based on exploring the role of sensory branding and emotional branding in casual dining restaurants. Creative thinking skills are used to help identify, innovate and adapt to change more easily. The research process consists of identification and investigate; development; analysis and evaluation; discussion; recommendation and the final delivery. In order to understand the eating out market to the design insights in the restaurant environment, various methodologies would be used to conduct the research. It is important to consider the appropriate research tools in order to effectively and efficiently gather the data.

Qualitative research provides insights and perception from the consumers and understanding their behaviours. Typically, this type of research can obtain cultural specific information about the values, opinions, behaviours and social context of particular populations (Mack et al, 2005). It provides a complex textual description of how people experience a certain issue. Qualitative methods are often more flexible with open-ended questions, allowing the participants to respond in their own words, giving a richer and meaningful response. It also gives the researcher the flexibility to probe initial participant responses – that is, to ask why or how (Mack et al, 2005).

Quantitative research is a more logical and data-led approach measuring what people think from a statistical and numerical point of view (British Library). It is important to survey a large sample size representing the interested population in order to get reliable statistical results. Quantitative research is less flexible, and often contain closed-ended questions. The advantage of this allows meaningful comparison of responses across the participants (Mack et al, 2005).

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH ANALYSIS

KEY RESEARCH QUESTION

DISCUSSION IDEA DEVELOPMENT

AIM & OBJECTIVES

MOTIVATION

RESEARCH

INITIAL DISCOVERY

SECONDARY

14 CASE STUDIES 5 MARKET REPORTS 10 BOOKS 100+ ARTICLES & JOURNALS

PHASE ONE

PHASE TWO

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

PRIMARY

EXPERT INTERVIEWS (8 PARTICIPANTS) CUSTOMER JOURNEY (20 PARTICIPANTS) SURVEY (70 PARTICIPANTS) PARTICIPATORY OBSERVATIONS (22 BRANDS)

PHASE THREE

STRATEGIC DESIGN FRAMEWORK/MODEL GUIEBOOK VALIDATION (2 EXPERTS)

DELIVER

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Figure 21. Research Methodology

The first phase consists of exploration of the chosen subject, focusing on related subject areas and understanding the current dining market, which acts as a base for the next stage.

Phase two is contextualising the chosen field of study and to develop a good understanding of its nature using secondary research. Academic literature and case studies are fundamentals in gathering comprehensive information and provide a strong base of knowledge of the research area. It also helps exploring further into the dining market and discovers established theories to map out the research direction, propose and clarify research methods and data-gathering techniques for primary research.

Phase three is where primary research takes place, such as customer journey mapping. Interviews and observations were undertaken to provide first hand research findings and to help identify new areas that have not been discovered before.

After collecting the data, delivery stage consists of combining all previous research data, analysing the data and developing a design framework for restaurants in the dining market based on sensory experiences.


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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY JANUARY - MARCH PHASE ONE Initial Findings Identification and Exploration LITERATURE Theory Brand Identity Service Design Service Quality Restaurant Performance Customer Loyalty Trends UK Eating-out Market Casual Dining Market

APRIL - MAY

JUNE - AUGUST

PHASE TWO Seconcary Research

PHASE THREE Primary Research

Data Analysis

Theory Establishment

Discovery

LITERATURE Theory Experience Design Emotional Experience & Branding Sensory Experinece & Branding Service Design Experiential Marketing Restaurant Design

CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING 10 on Byron Burger 10 on Dumpling Legend 8 on Other Restaurants

Trends Eating-out Market Consumer Spending Casual Dining Market Technology Lifestyle CASE STUDIES Singapore Airlines, Coca-Cola, Rainforest Cafe, The Fat Duck

Discussion and Development

SEPTEMBER DELIVER Evalutaion Recommendation

Final Framework

EXPERT INTERVIEW Restaurant Founders Multidisciplinary Designers Brand Marketing Officer Brand Consulatants CASE STUDIES through PARTICIPATORY OBSERVATION Abercrombie & Fitch, Lush, Tiffany&Co., The Body Shop, Hollister, Sticks & Sushi, OPSO, Byron Burger, Myung Ga, Dumpling Legend, Hawksmoor, Shackfuyu, Burger & Lobster, Big Easy, Belgo Centraal, Hermes Exhibition, Tom’s Kitchen, Pizza Express, Prezzo, Five Guys, JinJuu, Wagamama QUESTIONNAIRE Consumer Dining Habits & Sensory Experience

Figure 22. Research Methodology in Detail

3.2 Literature By reviewing past literature, it helps to learn from others and generates new ideas. It is a fundamental source of acquiring comprehensive knowledge of theories and gaining up-to-date data in of the research area. The researcher has collected data from published books, academic journals, websites, online articles and market research reports. The contents covered issues of design and branding and related areas, as well as, growth and trends in the dining market.

Case Studies Case studies is a record of research into the development of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time. It helps to understand how what brands have done using sensory branding and what areas of the market have been explored. Each selected case study has made a mark in using sense to enhance consumer’s experience, thus creating a brand experience that can evoke a consumer’s emotion. Case studies include Singapore Airlines, Coca-Cola, Rainforest Cafe and The Fat Duck.

3.3 In-Dept Interviews In-depth interviews are optimal for collecting data on individuals’ personal histories, perspectives, and experiences, particularly when sensitive topics are being explored. It is a tool to enhance the findings using specific questions to gain in-depth understanding in order to develop new concepts. It will also gain deeper insights and find out the connection between senses, design and emotions.

Interviews will be conducted along side the customer journey mapping to gain deeper understanding of their restaurant experience. Aside from interviewing the participants, interviews with restaurant owners, designers and brand consultants will also be carried out.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.3.1 Expert Interviews Expert interviews are ideal method in gaining large amount of information in a short period of time, and can help reinforcing with primary findings and open up to new opportunities and direction. Through directed questions, experts can provide insights and inspirations that could help move forward the research. Eight different experts had been interviewed based on their experience and expertise in their individual sectors to gain insights in the role of design in creating brand experiences and their perspective of experience design. By interviewing experts from other fields, the researcher can gain inspirations that could be useful in the restaurant industry.

Simon Harrop CEO of Brand Sense Agency Founder of The Aroma Company Simon is a global expert in sensory marketing, specialising in sensory retail, space consultancy and product development. In his role as a sensory expert, Simon has enjoyed extensive public profiling through media such as the BBC, International Herald Tribune, Brand Strategy and the Daily Mail. Simon is also a regular speaker, panel guest and contributor on the international marketing conference circuit. Simon has spoken in events such as Marketing Week Live, TEDx, and Experience in New York.

He has created sensory strategies for brands such as British Airways, P&G and General Motors.

Sensory Branding is now used across the globe by companies such as Nestle, McDonalds, Unilever, and Glaxo Smith Kline.

Mark Crumpacker Chief Creative & Development Officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill Mark has been working at Chipotle for six years and he is currently the Chief Creative & Development Officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. and oversees all of the company’s marketing functions including advertising, design, events, public relations, social media, and research. He also leads the company’s real estate, design, construction, and facilities functions worldwide.

In addition, Mark serves as President of the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, a charitable foundation established by Chipotle in 2011 as a way of promoting a more sustainable, healthful and equitable food future. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation.

Prior to joining Chipotle, he was the founder, CEO and Creative Director at Sequence, a San Francisco-based branding and interactive agency.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Sheryl Adkins-Green Chief Marketing Officer of Mary Kay Cosmetics Sheryl serves as Mary Kay’s Chief Marketing Officer. Sheryl leads Mary Kay Inc.'s global marketing strategy, brand positioning, new product development, advertising, digital marketing, social media, product education, and customer insights to drive long-term growth and support the more than 3 million Independent Beauty Consultants.

Sheryl has been instrumental in developing and implementing the product portfolio strategy that strengthens Mary Kay’s competitive position globally. She has also driven the development of digital marketing and social media tools that enable independent beauty consultants to successfully sell Mary Kay products anytime and anywhere.

Tom Byng Founder of Byron Burger Tom Byng is a restaurant entrepreneur and founder of the restaurant chain, Byron Burger that offers casual dining with a focus on Hamburgers. His restaurant is managed by Gondola financially but gives him the freedom in the individually designed restaurant with a brief menu that emphasise on the quality and not quantity.

Tom also oversees the social media platforms to ensure his customers are talking to the founder directly and as a human, not as someone with a corporate hat on.

B. Joseph Pine II Co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP Strategic Thought Leader of Stone Mantel Joseph is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and management advisor to Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial start-ups. His best-selling book The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage, was the first to articulate the potential of experiences as a distinct economic offering, and literally began the worldwide shift to experience strategy. He has consulted with hundreds of companies, bringing value to tactics, strategies, and game-changing, industry-disrupting innovations.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Stephen Izatt Managing Director of Thinkfarm Parter of Talentfield Stephen is a marketing and brand strategist. From a strong international marketing background on agency and client sides, Stephen is responsible for the operational management of Thinkfarm and parter at Talentfield and works within client delivery teams on brand strategy, positioning and copy writing in a broad range industries, media and business models.

In addition to strategic consulting he writes strap lines, scripts and copy for clients such as Agent Provocateur, The O2, Virgin Radio, British Olympic Association, ICAP and Orange. He has also been responsible for campaign ideas that have gone on to deliver enduring benefits to clients and their brands.

Lisa Mishima Co-founder of Thought for Food Design Director at Front Food Design Lisa is a multidisciplinary designer with broad experience in branding, motion graphics, and food design. She is passionate about producing edible designs that communicate ideas, stories, and create new experiences. She is fascinated with using food as the core medium for her design and art. She works in a wide range of media, allowing her to create, combine, and translate ideas fluidly. Lisa is a visual storyteller, specialising in film and motion graphics. Her current interests lay in connecting food with stories and design.

She co-founded an art collective, Thought For Food, where they explore and challenge conventions of how people interact with food through interactive, conceptual dinners and edible art installations. She is the Design Director at FRONT, where she designs, curates, and collaborates with artists to create one-of-akind products.

Dr. Rachel Lawes Owner of Lawes Consulting Ltd Consumer Psychologist Rachel is a former academic, founder of Lawes Consulting Ltd (2002), Partner of Lawes Gadsby Semiotics LLP (2010) and is one of the world’s best-known commercial semioticians. She is the author of Demystifying Semiotics (International Journal of Market Research, 2002), possibly the most-cited explanation of commercial semiotics in the English language. She is also the author of dozens of other research papers, features and conference papers on the subject of commercial semiotics.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.3.2 Expert Validation In order to create a design framework for restaurants, designers and brand consultants are important stakeholders who have the skill and knowledge in design and branding that can help gain insights and validate a new proposed framework.

B. Joseph Pine II Co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP Strategic Thought Leader of Stone Mantel As mentioned previously, Joseph has an extensive knowledge of the experience economy and worked with numerous companies in helping them by adding value to their economic offerings.

Mark McCulloch Founder and CEO of We are Spectacular Brand-focused creative marketer. With over 15 years heavyweight experience in brand, marketing, digital, social and PR, he has been responsible for brand repositioning and cultural definitions of the lastminute.com group of brands Europe-wide and he is currently working on global brand strategy, visual identity roll-out and colleague engagement internationally for Barclaycard. He started a brand consultancy which helps brands find and keep their promise to colleagues and customers. He has also held general marketing and creative agency side roles previous to this. His work includes many food, beverage and coffee clients including Fuller's Inns and Hotels, Costa, SSP (Upper Crust, Caffe Ritazza, Millie's Cookies and Camden Food Co.), Drake & Morgan, Harris & Hoole, Tesco Cafe, BaxterStorey and newer businesses such as Bunnychow, Angela Malik, Bumpkin, Chilango and POD to name a few.

His main passions are helping brands realise their full potential and creating big ideas for brands that create buzz and talkability and cut through.

3.4 Customer Journey Mapping Customer Journey Mapping is a creative tool that works with visualisation, a multipurpose tool that works with experience design (DesignThinkers Group, 2014; Farnham & Newbery, 2013, p161). By auditing the current experience, this would allow the respondent to pin point their interactions at each touch point and how they felt throughout the experience while they are dining.

Before they enter the restaurant, they would be briefed about the process and once they have finished with the dining experience, the researcher and participants would go to a nearby cafe to recall and map out the experience they just had.

In this research, customer journey mapping has been done on two restaurants; one restaurant would be more sensorial and the other being more monotonous. Byron Burger has been selected  

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY as a sensorial restaurant because it puts a strong focus on design as well as the quality of the burgers. Dumpling Legend has been selected as a monotonous restaurant because it does not have a strong focus on design and only focuses on its food. In this regard, 20 participants are sent to both restaurants and are asked to map out their experience after finishing and paying their meals.

The collected data will be analysed by coding method and using the perceptual map of consumption emotion (Schmitt, 1999) to understand the customer’s emotions while dining at two different restaurants.

3.5 Survey A questionnaire has been designed towards customers, gathering data about their experience when dining in restaurants. The online consumer survey is shared with people in the UK and with 70 people responding. The survey acts as a scope to understand their opinions on the dining experience and what matter to them the most while dining in and to gain deeper understating of the senses that the customers feel in the casual dining market.

3.6 Participatory Observation Participant observation is appropriate for collecting data on naturally occurring behaviours in their usual contexts (Mack et al. 2005). The researcher would observe the participants who are in the customer journey mapping group and the data obtained through observation serves as a check against participants’ subjective reporting of what they believe and do. It is also useful for gaining an understanding of the subject context and gaining information previously unknown to the researcher. The method enables the researcher to develop a familiarity with the cultural milieu that will prove invaluable throughout the project.

The researcher would also observe and study different types of experiential implementing by different brands in the UK. Aside from observing restaurants, retail brands have also been looked into to gain inspiration in how retail stores create different touch points, engage their consumers’ senses and consumers’ behaviours. The information collected will be analysed and laid out in a case study format with key insights.

3.7 Participants As the researcher has a wide network of friends, she has recruited participants based on her knowledge and their interest and who are restaurant go-ers and designers as well as using self selection sampling and asking participants for referrals. She has also recruited respondents who have studied in hospitality and/or have worked in the hospitality industry as they may have different insights.

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4 Findings and Analysis 4.1 Interview with Industry Experts Through interviewing eight experts from different industries, it gives a better understand on the role of design used in creating experiences as well as gaining inspirations from other fields that could be useful for the restaurant industry. It has helped reinforce with the researcher’s current findings and also opened up to new opportunities such as semiotics and looking into the consumer culture and how they communicate with each other. Please refer to Appendix A for the full interview results.

4.1.1 Key Insight from Each Expert Simon Harrop Humans multiple senses, but designers still insist on creating experiences which primarily only appeal to the sense of sight. Senses are equally apparent in the relationship to brands but the marketing budget were overspent on visual communications alone. The most challenging thing with design is to ensure that the experience is congruent with the brand values.

Mark Crumpacker Every aspect of the brand experience should be designed from the music, seating and packaging.

Beyond the way the crew behaves, the restaurant design defines the customer experience because that’s where customers are spending time with the brand. The greatest opportunities for design in the restaurant are how it is designed and how it enhances the actual experience.

The hardest thing about design is to be user-centred. It is very easy to be insular but much harder to learn who the customer is, and how they might perceive something, than it is to design something that the restaurant owner likes.

Sheryl Adkins-Green The experience needs to be consistent and seamless across the different functions in an organisation. Customers expect flawless experience, every touch point through the brand is important - from when they first learn about the brand, gain information about it and through the transaction and post transaction experience.

Online social network provide a very rich source of consumer insights. Customers are less guarded while online and it gives a better sense of how people are feeling. It can also provide opportunities and explore ideas.

Tom Byng A lot of restaurants seem a bit soulless, with terrible food from absurdly long menus, robotic service and factory line design. By having each restaurant uniquely designed and respecting the building site, the locality and the customer, it becomes less of a chain restaurant. It ensures the customers to get a unique experience in whichever Byron brand they eat in. Byron also employ very passionate GMs who love what they do and about the brand and are really focused on the customer experience.

It is important for people to know that they are communicating directly with the founder on social media platforms and tweet as a human being, not with someone with a corporate hat on.

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4 Findings and Analysis Joseph Pines Design is the process of creating sensory brand experiences. It is the overall orchestration of myriad individual elements that collectively come together to create a cohesive, robust, personal experience within each guest. Do not think experience design encompasses only the environment of the experience; it is also designing time -- the time guests spend with you -- which means embracing dramatic structure, an experience that begins, rises to a climax, and comes back down again.

With higher customer expectations and tougher competitions every year, brands must refresh their experience on a regular basis. The initial experience should be designed for refresh-ability and embrace the two principles of Mass Customisation: modularity and digitalisation.

Stephen Izatt It is always important to design around the core values from the name to how the servers dress and act. By creating an environment that looks and feels like the values of the brand and consistent with the experience promised in communication. Smell and sounds are important senses but the most important is a sense that gives excitement, quality, speed, provenance.

Lisa Mishima Design is a communication tool, it can tell a story or drive an experience in the form of words (menu), visual presentation (food and the environment) and sound (music). I think the feeling and experience created by the brand is more important than just senses as they are ultimately the things that stay with you. Design can educate and connect people, food as a design tool is powerful and the most universal medium that people can relate to and connect with.

Rachel Lawes There are different culture codes which can underpin contemporary communications. It is useful strategically in the sense of developing new communication strategies. Companies can implement these codes to help create their brand experience.

Even though there are a lot of smart people and marketers in the digital space producing apps and mobile shopping platforms and huge efforts being put into the technicality functions but they are missing the brand elements. More insights and expertise are needed to create a branded experience and emotional engagement when using these mobile apps - they need to be exciting and engaging which can be a real challenge.

4.1.2 Interview Analysis - Coding Process To analyse the interview responses gathered from experts from different industries, the coding method has been used. The main purpose for conducting interviews is to analyse the different viewpoints related to experience design and understand the role design plays in generating brand experience for consumers and how it can be applied to the dining environment. With the help of the coding process, raw qualitative data has been analysed, which is available in the form of phrases, words, sentences and codes. The researcher has determined the codes from the responses and has grouped them as below:

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4 Findings and Analysis

Themes

Data

Design is Important

• • • •

Connect with Customers

•

• • • •

Be Unique

• • • • •

Smell is Powerful

• • • •

Digitalisation Trends • • • •

• •

•

Design is the process of creating sensory brand experiences Growing awareness to appeal to different senses of consumers Due to increasing competition, design helps differentiate the brands By creating an environment that looks and feels like the values of the brand and consistent with the experience promised in communication The greatest opportunities for design are in the restaurant and how it is designed, how it enhances the actual experience and connect with customers Connect all the components of the customer’s experience Design can educate and connect people Customers now need a flawless experience and quality services People feel more disconnected to the tangible world, it is essential to develop human connections Differentiation is important and the experience is congruent with the brand values Avoid the generic It is very easy to be insular than actually knowing what people want and become user centred Customisation is essential whilst offering consistency Adopt a big complex idea and simplify it into an understandable form Smell appeals directly with the emotional centre of the brain and impact a person emotionally Smell triggers hunger and intrigues people to try food because of the scents It provides a feeling and experience that ultimately stays with the customer Taste is important in restaurants, but recognise that half of taste is in fact smell Rise in mobile apps for ordering food Language of online social networks is rich and credible Online social networks allow communicating directly with customers and remain focused on them Life today has become digital and technology can be used to make dining experiences more seamless and it can enhance the physical experience Lot of smart people and marketers are there in the digital space Memorabilia is shifting from physical to the digital experience, where for some people they did not experience something unless they post pictures of it live and/or afterwards Consumers seek omni-channel experience

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4 Findings and Analysis Through interviewing experts from different disciplines, it has reinforced the researcher’s findings from secondary resources, customer journey mapping and case study observations. It has also open up to new opportunities such as semiotics, the study of signs, visuals, sensory and consumer behaviours. It identifies emergent cultural codes in the out of home dining sector that emphasise parallels between food service and entertainment. It focuses on the consumer culture, the communications between consumers and using semiotics as a tool for analysing and coding consumer behaviour and design features.

4.2 Customer Journey Mapping In addition, it can also discover the desirable experience from the customers’ perspective and the design factors that need to be focused on when creating an experience framework.

Through customer journey mapping, the average customer experience has been mapped out across all the touch points between the restaurant and the customer, from preliminary contact to the end of the dining experience. The customer journey mapping has been done on two restaurants, one being more sensorial (Byron Burger) and one being more monotonous (Dumpling Legend).

30 y/o 32 y/o

Figure 23. Demographic of Participants

4.2.1 Sensorial: Byron Burger

Figure 24. Byron Burger

The restaurant Byron Burger is an upmarket casual-dining chain and it has been selected as a sensorial restaurant because it puts a strong focus on design as well as the quality of the burgers.

Their restaurant concept is to do simple things well and do it properly. They have 52 restaurants  

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4 Findings and Analysis across the UK since 2007 and they have designed each restaurant individually but has a consistent vibe across its restaurants.

BYRON BURGER ENTERING

ORDERING

THE MEAL

EXIT

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

PRE-DINING

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Figure 25. Participants Emotional Experience at Byron

Observations have revealed that the participants were enjoying themselves and they did not rush to leave the restaurant once the food had been finished and they continued to experience the buzzing atmosphere and appreciated the restaurant’s modern interior designs. The participants could also feel the care and passion from the working staff.

Figure 26. Words participants used to describe their experience.

Some of the participants also mentioned they had visited the restaurant website and social media channels before their visit and found that there was a good consistency from their website and their restaurant visit. They have also used third party websites to view the restaurant recommendations.

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4 Findings and Analysis 4.2.2 Monotonous: Dumpling Legend

Figure 27. Dumpling Lengend

The restaurant Dumpling Legend is based in the heart of China Town. It has a large menu and has boasted itself for it’s dumplings. The restaurant does not have a strong focus on design and mainly focuses on its food.

DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE ENTERING

ORDERING

THE MEAL

EXIT

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

PRE-DINING

!

Figure 28. Participants Emotional Experience at Dumpling Legend

From observing the participants, they were expecting good quality food, especially from the kitchen where the chefs were making dumplings and the information they had read from the restaurant website. However, they were highly disappointed with the food and the lack of care from the staff. Some of the participants could not wait to leave due to the appalling service and food. They also found the lighting and ambience of the restaurant not very welcoming and felt like an interrogation room.

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4 Findings and Analysis

Figure 29. Words participants used to describe their experience

4.2.3 Analysis After briefing the 20 participants, they were sent to both restaurants to have a meal and then map out their experience after finishing and paying their meals. Byron Burger has managed to create their brand experience consistency through their online and offline channels and kept up to date with the trend in social media, however, dumpling legend lacks the technology front and inconsistent brand experience.

It has been observed that the customer experience at Byron Burger is better than Dumpling Legend. Both restaurants had a good start off at the pre-dining and entering stage, but when it came to ordering the food to the end of the meal, the experience in Dumpling Legend was highly unsatisfied. When a bad experience occurs, participants would remember the details of faults. The words, customers used to describe their experience at Dumpling Legends were terrible, unprofessional, tasteless, horrible, awful and so on; while the words used by customers at Byron Burger were cosy, memorable, fresh and comfortable.

Hence, to create a satisfying customer experience, the service quality needs to be innovative and satisfactory at every touch point in order to create an enjoyable atmosphere for the customer.

Designers are also more aware and sensitive of their surroundings and objects they would come across when visiting the restaurant compared to ‘normal’ people. The design of the restaurant also needs to be carefully designed in order to create a comfort for the customer to relax in and enjoy their meal experience.

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4 Findings and Analysis

Inward Dumpling Legend

Byron Burger Irritated Angry Frustrated Miserable

Warmhearted Loving Cosy Romantic

Positive

Negative Unfulfilled Humiliated Discontent

Pleased Excited Happy Contented

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Outward Figure 30. Perceptual Map of Consumption Emotions

By plotting the customer’s emotions on the consumption emotions map and using the terms developed by Richins, it shows a contrast of the customer’s emotions the restaurants have created through the different touch points during the dining journey and it can be used to predict what may happen. Having positive outward emotions at Byron, customers would spend money at the restaurant, praise the restaurant through social media channels and recommend the restaurant to others. The inward positive emotions make the customer feel special, such as the Byron Club events to their loyal customers with exclusive offers. Whereas the negative inward emotions at Dumpling Legend cause customers to complain and only focus on the faults on the restaurant and the outward negative emotions may lead to customers never returning to the restaurant because of argument with the staff and complaints.

4.3 Survey Results In order to understand the consumer behaviour on their experiences at the current dining market, an online survey was conducted and collected data from 70 respondents from the UK from a wide range of ages. 85% of the respondents were above the age of 36 and they would usually go to casual restaurant chains or casual independent restaurants for social occasions.

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4 Findings and Analysis How often do you eat out?

Why do you usually go out to eat?

When do you usually eat out?

What type of restaurant do you choose to go?

What are the most important factors influencing your choice of the restaurant?

Which sense do you consider to be the most important when dining?

Sight 5

Touch

Sound 0

Taste

Smell

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Figure 31. Results of Consumer Behaviour

The average diner usually eats out 3-4 times a week and 54% of the respondents would eat out during lunch times rather than in the evenings with 34%. 66% of the respondents eat out because they are either meeting friends or family or are going with them. In other words, they usually go out for a get together with their families or friends to spend time together. The most important factor to the average dining consumer is the type of food, word of mouth, the location, environment and the reputation of the restaurant. 

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4 Findings and Analysis When asked about their first impression when they enter a restaurant, they would notice the interior design and had a sense of comfort and coziness and they felt very excited when they were looking around the surroundings in the restaurant.

The respondents were asked about the scent of the restaurant and the respondents said they could not remember, suggesting restaurants do not have a distinct smell or the scent is very weak.

The respondents who dined in burger or grilled restaurants, they said there was a strong barbecue or burger scent that gave them an appetite for the food. When dining in Japanese restaurants, they said that there was an aroma of freshness which they felt clean about the place.

Apart from scent, they could hear light melodious music in the background and when there was a full house in the restaurant, there were a lot of people chattering in the ambience. The mood in the restaurants usually made them feel warm, relics and laid back.

Type of Lighting used by Restaurants

Type of Furniture used by Restaurants

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Figure 32. Results of Design Interior

Based on the restaurants the respondents visited, 30% of the restaurants used natural lighting and 40% used warm lighting and 23% used dim lighting.

Regarding to the materials used by restaurants, majority of the restaurants uses wood furniture with 63% and then followed by leathered furniture with 43% and then plastic with 5%.

The visibility and fonts used on the menu are easy to read and some respondents said that the use of pictures has helped them decide on the food. There were also short descriptions dishes and ingredients used.

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4 Findings and Analysis Satisfactory Level of Different Senses

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Figure 33. Results of Senses Satisfactory

In general, they described the interior design of the restaurants to be modern, minimal and some were very spacious with lots of wooden interior designs. Some restaurants have a distinct feature where respondents could categorise the design to be American styled or Japanese styled.

Overall, the furniture selection were generally comfortable and basic but sometimes the use of sofas make them uncomfortable while eating and can cause back aches and they also felt fixed furniture restricts their movement. When sat in hard chairs for long period of time, they found it uncomfortable.

Respondents also find the food went well with the ambience and surroundings of the restaurants and the dishes had a consistent style. The restaurant decor also fitted well with the food but there could be more design elements to it.

When it came to the visual presentation of the dishes, some respondents found them appealing but not as delicious as it appeared to be. They described the flavours of the food served to be well balanced and cooked very well and the dishes were very bright and colourful. The reason they found the dish exciting was because of the presentation, taste and the quality was met based on the reasonable price.

Majority of the respondents found their servers to be very welcoming, friendly and very professional and when it came to pay at the end, they were never rushed to leave.

In general, they found the vibe of the restaurant to be very welcoming and had a very uplifting, energy within a busy environment. They used words such as friendly environment, comfort, vibrant, casual to describe their experiences. 

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4 Findings and Analysis

Visual Experience (Sight)

Olfactory Experience (Smell)

Gustatory Experience (Taste)

Auditory Experience (Sound)

Tactile Experience (Touch)

Emotional Experience

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Figure 34. Words respondents used to describe their experience

They described their visual experience as bright colourful atmosphere, clean and spacious surroundings and homely atmosphere; the tactility experience to be smooth, soft and cooling. For the gustatory experience, they felt that they were always served hot and good quality of food in the restaurants they dined in and were highly satisfied with the food. They also found restaurants that imbibed natural things in the surroundings create a better ambience and a good natural aroma. Lastly, with the sound experience, they found the restaurants to be very buzzing and cheerful and felt that the music of the restaurants were very peaceful and enjoyable and they felt rejuvenated.

They described their emotional experience to be optimistic, happy, joyful, warmhearted and peaceful. It is worthy to say that most of the candidates gave positive feedback and there were only 2 to 3 respondents who gave negative feedback regarding their emotional experience with their favourite restaurants.

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4 Findings and Analysis Even though, sight is the most widely used sense for brands, according to the survey results, the respondents were not fully satisfied with the visual images of the restaurants.

By using Jinsop Lee’s “Five Sense Graph� which grades objects and experiences on how well they play to each of our assorted senses on a scale of 1 to 10, the researcher has based on the survey, mapped out an average of how consumers feel during their restaurant visits and how it compares to a perfect experience. Out of the five senses, the taste was the most important to the customer for a memorable experience, followed by the smell and sight.

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Figure 35. Satisfactory level of sense on the Five Sense Graph

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4 Findings and Analysis 4.4 Case Studies through Participatory Observations In order to have a better understanding on how brands have uses sensed in their marketing strategy, it is important to observe and study different types of experiential implementing by different brands in the UK. Additionally, the following brands are chosen as case studies because they have successfully utilised two or more senses as part of their brand strategy.

Through participatory observations, the researcher can also experience and understand how these brands engage their customer emotionally and how they use interior design and the five senses to attract consumers. The aim is to observe customer behaviour in these places and the store’s service performance, technology application and the interior display design in these places.

4.4.1 Retail Stores Abercrombie & Fitch is a Californian ready-to-wear company located in the most historic district in central London. The company uses four out of the five senses to create an unique experience.

The stores are staged with light that showcase the colourful clothes and plunge the rest of the store into darkness. The layout of the store is very american college styled with wooden shelves mocking a library and has American variety paintings hanged around the shop. The staff who worked at the shop are part of the brand are good looking and young. They have also assigned staff to stand at certain places to dance to the music. The electronic upbeat music gives shoppers the impression of being in a nightclub and gives a very positive vibe.

Their signature fragrance, “Fierce No. 8,” is spread throughout the store, onto the clothes and beyond the front doors, out of the shop where the scent can be noticed from afar.

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Figure 36. Inside A&F London’s Flagship Store

Tiffany & Co is a luxury jewellery and speciality retailer and the use of colour has been their main marketing approach. The brand uses the colour to create an identity as well as a memory for a more sensorial appeal for their jewellery. The turquoise box and white ribbon simply conveys “Tiffany”. It symbolises value and it is also eye catching no matter what the box is being used for.

Even their shopping bags, catalogues carry the same colour. When walking around the streets, if the turquoise bag has been flashed around, it immediately raises interest.

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4 Findings and Analysis With marble like flooring and neutral colours of white and brown, their stores are brightly lit and spacious in order to reflect the different faces of the diamonds to increase their product’s brightness.

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Figure 37. Tiffany & Co., Canary Wharf

Lush is a British cosmetics business with a global brand. It has created a sensorial experience by using smell as a stimulus to influence purchase decisions and also the bright colours, shapes and texture of their products.

The shapes of the products are round and colourful. Some of their products are showcased on Provencal style countertops and sold in large blocks, to cut with a wire like cheese. The selfservice products are arranged in many bowls that invite you to dip your hand inside. Their packages are smooth and natural, and the products themselves have unusual textures. With testers samples available, customers are invited to touch and feel the products as some of the products have unusual textures. The intoxicating and sweet scent is so pervasive that it carries out onto the streets, so passerby know they can find a store close by. Products are visually and olfactory associated with food, resembling creamsicle, chocolate ice cream, etc. There is an atmosphere of a ‘market,’ with the salespeople talking a lot and actively promoting products.

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Figure 38. Inside Lush’s store on Oxford Circus

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4 Findings and Analysis Body Shop Inspired by Nature and Ethically made - The Body Shop UK offers over 900 Skincare, make-up, body butter, aromatherapy, haircare and bath and body products.

There is a mix of different colours of green and white and it was brightly lit, giving the impression of a spring atmosphere and natural colours as well. The furniture is made with wood and modern materials in natural hues. The dark green facades used to symbolise the green environment and it is used across it’s different outlets. The store is very well organised and spacious. Products are settled by range and by colours, creating harmony for each area in the shop. The arrangement of products on shelves is also very spacious and enables a good visibility. In a range, products are grouped under one same theme, offering a homogenous assortment. There are free test samples available in each range, so consumers are allowed to touch and try the products they want. The Body Shop wants to convey an image of high quality. Very restrictive in terms of policy, keeping exclusive advertisements, they also raise human issues by promoting some ethical and ecological causes.

The Body Shop in Uxbridge and Central London diffuses odours directly perceptible at the entrance of the shop. These scents are spring-like, appealing to this season with fruity and flower smells. Then, other smells are detectable depending on the area, due to the test samples that are available to try creams, body milk, lipsticks, etc. The music played in the shop is was with a rather fast tempo. The music is diffused by the radio and it is a varied trendy actual music. There is no link with nature in the displayed music. Concerning the global sound atmosphere, it is dynamic and joyful, fitting to the colourful décor.

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Figure 39. Body Shop, King’s Road

Burberry is a British luxury fashion brand, it uses high technology in their stores with live models, animated footage and holograms combined with an audio, visual and sensory experience. The flagship is the world’s most technically innovative store and the brand’s much-discussed need to integrate the digital and physical worlds has set a bar for retailers everywhere. Slick digital technology — including the use of virtual mirrors, digital screens, RFID chips and iPads.

Customers can touch and try on the clothing items. The RFID microchips in some items of clothing which when worn, transform mirrors into screens showing how the clothes look on a catwalk.

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4 Findings and Analysis Weather was a major theme of the brand as they are best known for its trench-coats. A ‘digital rain shower’ would sweep across the flagship, appearing on all of the store’s screens, from those in fitting rooms on the top floor to the soaring 22 foot screen in the main hall. It seemed that every shopper in the store stopped to experience the moment. When the digital rain is not present, the brand plays music they support in Britain and they have a list of acoustic tracks performed and recorded exclusively for Burberry. There are no till points in this store. Instead, staff are on hand with iPads and credit card machines for transactions.

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Figure 40. Burberry, Regent Street

4.4.2 Food and Drink London has a vibrant, growing restaurant scene and there are more and more new fusion restaurants. South East Asian cuisines are becoming more and more trending, as well as Modern Mediterranean, Persian, Israeli, German and Austrian. With consumers being more aware of their current health and where produces come from, there is a growth in vegetarian cafes and coldpress juiceries making an impact in the London scene. Restaurants are also becoming more ingredient focus and use seasonal and local produce in attracting customers as well as being part of this healthy movement.

Starbucks The smell of brewed coffee aroma is memorable moments related to the senses and naturally stored in customers memory. The freshly ground coffee at Starbucks awakes the sense of smell.

The cafes combine a carefully selected playlist with the quiet whoosh of steaming milk, bean grinders and clicking dishes to create the “Sound of Starbucks.” The music selected on their playlist was also specially created for Starbucks. The decor has been designed to make the customers to feel at home. The comfortable sofa seatings and the store’s furnitures are part of the cosy design and reinforce the concept of a place between home and work. With the pleasant lighting, and green and yellow (wood like) interior, it creates a soothing restful experience.

Starbucks’ merchandising is placed close to the cashier area, which allows the customer to approach the goods while they are queuing and to touch them.

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4 Findings and Analysis

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Figure 41. Starbucks, London Bridge

Dose Cafe The smell of brewed coffee aroma with daily fresh pastries are displayed very closed together on the countertops. The coffeeshop is very small and can only fit no more than 10 people and has very minimalistic store design. There is also a merchandising area close to the cashier area and people can touch the products while queuing.

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Figure 42. Dose, Barbican

Harris & Hoole As soon as entering the shop, it feels like a cosy home with a selection of freshly baked goods.

They have a mix of seating choices, with comfy sofas, wooden chairs and bar seating by the window. They also use hand made pottery cups and plates to serve their food and drinks and have upbeat music for customers to relax and work in. With the use of glass panels, there is a good amount of natural lighting coming from outside and pedestrians who are passing by can also take a peek at the cafe. The young baristas and servers are also very friendly and would take time to talk to the customers if they are waiting for their drink to keep them entertained.

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4 Findings and Analysis

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Figure 43. Harris&Hoole, Uxbridge

Hawksmoor Very elegant ‘great gatsby’ interior to create a 1920s party mood with customers chatting away and drinking. The concept of a 1920s mood reflecting across it’s brand touch points, from their menu and drinks and restaurant design - each restaurant is individually designed but has a consistent glamorous Art Deco theme and with simple, solid crowd pleasing dishes - Steak or Fish, solid dishes, nothing fancy. Natural lighting coming from the art deco window panels and soft warm lighting is used and gave a very warm relaxing atmosphere.

The servers have a good extensive knowledge of the food and remember what you ordered and would introduce the food to you when it arrives. Consumers are offered to take away a box of the restaurant’s home made caramel chocolates.

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Figure 44. Hawksmoor, Airstreet

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4 Findings and Analysis Sticks & Sushi The interior of the restaurant was very dark but has just enough lighting to make you feel comfortable and relax. As it is a Japanese fusion restaurant fused with Danish elements, there is a lot of wooden decor being used to add an earthy tone but plays soft jazz upbeat music. With so many small dishes present in the menu, the brand uses colour visuals and photographs of the dishes to show the information to the customers. This gives the ease for customers to navigate through the menu and since we ‘eat’ with our eyes. The customers are more incline to decide what to eat based on the images of the food.

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Figure 45. Sticks&Sushi, Covent Garden Myung Ga

The restaurant is family owned by Koreans and they only employ Korean speaking staff. There was a strong barbecue scent upon entering. It was a very authentic experience as they use metal cutleries and bowls which are very common in Korea. They have also photographed their food and displayed them in the menu, especially with the uncommon dishes so the customers can understand more through visuals and also through the descriptions.

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Figure 46. Myung Ga, Soho

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4 Findings and Analysis Five Guys Very buzzing atmosphere and with the kitchen set behind the cashier, customers can see their burgers and food being freshly made and cook while they wait for their order. The restaurant also owns a self service soda machine with unlimited refill and plays current chart music and had an American vibe to it.

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Figure 47. Five Guys, Covent Garden Pizza Express

As soon as you enter the restaurant, there is a scent of tomatoes being cooked. With the kitchen in the dining area, customers can see the food process of the pizza being freshly made from scratch and to putting the pizza in the oven. The restaurant has a good amount of natural lighting paired with the lively background music creating a good ambience for customers to relax and enjoy their meal.

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Figure 48. Pizza Express, Barbican

JinJuu The restaurant opens up to it’s outdoor seating and has smooth jazz music playing in the background. It has a very dark rustic decor which is brighten by it’s designer lights. It has a mixture

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4 Findings and Analysis of seating, with long wooden tables, and sofa booths for diners and also high tables for customers who just want a drink after work. The restaurant serves Korean food and creates a gimmick through it’s branding, it felt more of an American takes on Korean food rather than authentic Korean food. However, it was a good relaxing atmosphere and the staff are very attentive.

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Figure 49. JinJuu, Soho OPSO

The restaurant has a modern take of a Greek restaurant. It is very bright inside with good source of natural lighting and white walls, marble table, wooden furniture. It is very simple and minimalistic and has a Greek feel to it. The menu consists of many small tapas dishes and with homemade break and granola. The servers were very friendly and professional at the same time.

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Figure 50. OPSO, Baker Street

Chiquito Using design and music to transform the interior space into a lively, Mexican atmosphere. The kitchen is in the dining area so customers can see the chef cooks and see their food being delivered. As soon as you enter, the restaurant also has a bar area for customers to wait if there is  

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4 Findings and Analysis a queue. The menu is very big with lots of different mains to choose from but the food quality wasn’t very consistent between its starters and mains.

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Figure 51.Chiquito, Uxbridge Byron Burger

Even though it is a chain, the restaurants are design individually to give it’s own personality and style and preserving the original site and heritage as well - stripped-down functionalism school of contemporary restaurant design: the aforementioned woodblock floors, some padded vinyl, paint striped walls in cassata colours, metal-legged stacking chairs, exposed ventilation ducts. They have carefully selected and design each customer touch point, from the restaurant front to their menus and food and the clothes the staff wears. A nice touch was their restaurant business card, printed like a deck of cards, with one side of a playing card and the other side of the restaurant information.

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Figure 52. Byron, Soho

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4 Findings and Analysis Shackfuyu As this is a sister restaurant of Bone Daddies Ramen, there is a consistency with the use of colour and design interior. The concept of Korean fusion soul food is displayed through their menu and food and has a special dessert that surrounding restaurants do not have. They are also strong with their social media platform and would encourage customers to share their food photos and the brand would share the best taken photo. The interiors stayed trued to the original.

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Figure 53. Shackfuyu, Soho

Big Easy The entrance consisted of a long hallway and nice sofas for customers to wait if there is a queue.

The restaurant uses its interiors and lighting to creating a warm feeling. Using dim lighting, it added an additional softness to the rustic vintage interiors of wooden and metal furnishing. It had a hunting lounge American vibe to it as well. The restaurant also has live country music played by a band in the background and has a very nice relax atmosphere. The kitchen was placed in the dining area as well and customers can see the wooden burning oven they used to cook their food and can see their food being sent out.

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Figure 54. Big Easy, Soho

Belgo Centraal The reception of the restaurant is on the ground floor and the restaurant is in the basement, the huge kitchen is placed in the centre of the dining floor and has two separate rooms for seating.

One room has a canteen styled seating with long wooden tables and the other side has tables for  

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4 Findings and Analysis groups of fours. There is a good scent of the food coming from the kitchen and with the warm lighting, it had a sense of cosiness and comfort. The menu only served a few different dishes and the food was very warm hearted.

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Figure 55. Belgo Centraal, Covent Garden

MOJO Cafe As a vegan friendly Cafe, it offers a range of healthy food and juices. The Cafe is bright green from the insight and it is very bright with the natural lighting coming from outside, even on a gloomy day. There is also a lot of greenery inside the cafe and had a very natural feel from their wooden tables and chairs paired with the green. There is upbeat, Caribbean music playing in the background and the staff are very friendly and would remember what you ordered from your previous visits. They also have a good extensive knowledge of the food and recommendations.

Even though it is a small cafe, all the food are freshly prepared in front or prepared fresh daily in their kitchen. The restaurant has bar tables and chairs by the windows and customers can sit looking out onto the streets and there is a large communal table in the middle and gives a very homey feel.

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Figure 56. MOJO Cafe, Soho

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4 Findings and Analysis Flat Iron The restaurant has a very simple menu and only has two main dishes, a few sides and has a good variety of drinks without being overwhelmed. With only simple mains and sides, the restaurant owner has also spent a good amount of time on the interior and design of the restaurant and created a very rustic, raw atmosphere. The furniture and tableware were carefully chosen to fit with the brand’s personality and style. They have marketed their mains for £10 for a piece of steak or their daily specials.

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Figure 57. Flat Iron, Soho

The Breakfast Club The restaurant serves all day breakfast and has a very cosy, homey atmosphere inside. The interiors were simple and have a wall where customers can pin their notes and foreign notes giving the opportunity for the customer to engage with the brand.

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Figure 58. The Breakfast Club, Soho

Wagamama Using advertising campaigns aimed to stimulate the senses, they used four of their most visually and commercially attractive dishes and literally getting people to taste them with their eyes and ears. Their new website is minimal and practical, designed to tell people what they need to know  

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4 Findings and Analysis in the brand’s inimitable style and invite them to order online. Their restaurant reflects their website as well, very minimalistic and has an Asian canteen style using wooden furniture.

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Figure 59. Wagamama, South Bank

Gauthier Soho The restaurant front is very private and feels like entering someone’s home. The customer had to ring the bell from the outside and gave a sense of exclusivity. The interiors were very simple but modern and homey with lots of soft finishing. The servers are very attentive and paid close attention to details. Each course of the meal was explained clearly by the knowledgeable staff and after the meal, the customers were given a small box of macaroons to take away. The restaurant was beautifully designed and the brand’s core values were reflected through the menu, tableware, food presentation and interiors.

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Figure 60. Gauthier Soho, Soho

Prezzo Half of the kitchen is placed in the dining area and it is visible to every customer who comes into the restaurant, however there is no strong food scent coming from the kitchen. The interior was

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4 Findings and Analysis very bright and modern but some of the furnishing was quite worn out and the staff were not very welcoming and the addition of the cold air conditioning didn’t turn things better. The menu was beautifully illustrated with a nice font and simple to read. The experience wasn’t very consistent and broken glass was also found in the food.

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Figure 61. Prezzo, Uxbridge

4.4.3 Case Study Analysis The selected brands have gained respectable position in the industry in using design and senses to increase the consumer experience and generating brand experiences for their consumers. The following figure summaries the senses engaged in each brand store at the arrival, inside the place and departure stage and the type of experience the researcher felt.  

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4 Findings and Analysis Brand Abercrombie & Fitch Lush Tiffany & Co. The Body Shop Burberry Hermes Exhibition Starbucks Dose Cafe Harris & Hole Hawksmoor Sticks n Sushi Myung Ga Five Guys Pizza Express JinJuu OPSO Chiquito Byron Burger Burger & Lobster Shackfuyu Big Easy Belgo Central MOJO Cafe Flat Iron The Breakfast Club Wagamama Gauthier Soho Prezzo

Arrival

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Inside the Place

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Departure

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Experience Exciting, Lively, Young Colourful, Intoxicating,Lively Luxury, Personal, Happy Natural, Organic, Personal British, Entertainment, High-tech Exclusive, Informative, Luxury Relax, Cosy, Chill Cosy, Relax, Personalised Hipster, Cosy, Focus Comfort, Lively, Party Umami, Fusion, Happy Authentic, Cultural, Enjoyable Amazing, Pleased, American Fresh, Warmhearted, Vibrant Exclusive, Informative, Luxury Exciting, Lively, Relaxing Exotic, Lively, Passionate Hipster, Cosy, Fulfilling Cosy, Comfort, Excited Fulfilled, Excited, Happy Rustic, Cosy, Warmth Warmth, Joyful, Warmhearted Lively, Passionate, Vibrant Lively, Simple, Contented Rustic, Comfort, Relax Contented, Comfort, Cosy Luxury, Personalised, Cosy Classic, Irritated, Inconsistent

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! Sight

Touch Sound Taste Smell

Figure 62. The five senses engaged in different brand store

It has been determined that all brands make use of different senses to generate connection with their customers and the most common senses used by majority of the brands are visual, scent and touch. These senses allow brands to attract customers by visual engagement, when the customer is viewing the brand from outside the store. The sense of touch, scent and visual adds a decision to buy when customers touch the products and feel the experience. Moreover, with the good use of lighting and colours, it aids the brands in enhancing their products. Undoubtedly, senses are highly important in offering customers a distinctive multi sensory experience, which in turn enhances the brand experiences and persuades them into trying and buying the product.

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5 Discussion and Recommendations 5.1 Rise of Dining Informality Based on the findings and with the support of EY’s dining report (2014), results suggest diners are pulled away from formal establishments - from formal/traditional restaurants - to casual dining restaurants, which reflects the findings from market reports. It is not because of the attractive prices, as casual dining is only slightly more affordable than the full service channel. The reason is because a casual dining restaurant has the combination of ambience and quality of food that a full-service restaurant offers, with the speed and delivery of a quick service outlet.

The Experience The Mood The Meal The Consumer

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Figure 63. The Dining Experience

The modern diner is interested in informality, interaction and sociability while searching for excitement, difference and creativity. People are looking for an all-encompassing experience where the atmosphere, vibe and energy of the restaurant are as important as the food and the service.

The restaurant market is moving into a hybrid food movement, where cuisines, food formats and service styles all blended together. Fusing these three elements to create something new for the market, such as Sticks and Sushi - a mix of Japanese and Danish culture. Based on observing the London food scene, restaurants have become more focused on ingredients they use, using seasonal and local ingredients to create more rawness on the plate and with a refreshed flavour palette. There is also a growth in restaurants serving South East Asia Cuisine, as well as cuisines from the Middle East; suggesting that consumers are becoming more adventurous to try out new cuisines around the world and are interested in food from other culture (EY, 2014).

As consumers enjoy the experience of food being prepared and cooked in front on them (EY, 2014), restaurants have set their kitchen on the restaurant floor to stimulate consumer’s senses and their appetite as well as showing them how their food is prepared and cooked.

“It’s the total experience that matters. And that starts from when you first hear about a product… experience is more based upon memory than reality. If your memory of the product is wonderful, you will excuse all sorts of incidental things” (Don Norman, 2003). The findings also validates while service quality and food served in restaurants are important, the atmosphere and experience

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5 Discussion and Recommendations are equally important. When dining at a causal dining restaurant, the food quality is the most important factor followed by ambience, comfort, and design of restaurant. The modern diner desire quality, good vibe of the restaurant, consistency as well as social experiences as part of their dining experience. As a dining experience would involve eating with other people, the social aspect of eating out has also become important and the respondents enjoy having companionship while enjoying their food.

5.2 Importance of Design in the restaurant market With reference to Pine and Gilmore’s ‘work is theatre’ (2011), guests of any experience are the audience, staffs are the the performers, and their performances are the economic offering.

Whenever employees are in front of customers, they’re acting, and they need to act in an engaging way and have passion in what they do (Byng, 2015).

The goal in sensory branding is to create a strong, positive and loyal bond between the brand and the customer (Lindstrom, 2010) in order for repeated purchases and visits and barely notice competing products. Therefore, a sensory dining experience would be implementing brandrelated stimuli and touch points, such as food and service perceived by the customer to evoke sensations, feelings and behavioural responses to create loyal bonds between the brand and the customer.

This relationship between the brand and the customer rely on the experience touch points surrounding the customer. Every surrounding in a restaurant is a touchpoint: the decor, the brand personality, the furniture, the manner in which the food is presented, the tableware, the feel of cutlery, and the attitude of the staff. There are physical touch points and virtual touch points from the moment the customer first interacts with the brand (eg. Word of mouth, Website) till the end when the customer leaves the restaurant (eg. Loyalty Programs, Reviews) (Figure 63).

Physical Touchpoints

Restaurant Front, Word of Mouth, PR, Brand Awareness, Decision to Try, Call for Reservation, Queing, Parking

Pre Visit

Virtual Touchpoints

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Arrival, Greeting, Decor, Ambience, Seating, Order, The Meal, Staff Service, Menu Design, Food Quality, Pay

Visit

Restaurant Webpage, Online Ads, Viral Emails, Social Media, Search Engine, Booking Channels, Third Party Sites

Social Media Channels

Promotion on Receipt Call Centre, Loyalty Programs

Post Visit

Blog, Email Newsletters, Reviews Social Media Channels

Figure 64. The Dining Experience

The reputation of the food is only part of the sensory package. What makes a dish truly memorable is the synergy that exists between the different elements in the restaurant. If the chef was appealing only to taste and aroma, it is doubtful that it will have the same effect on customers and as a result will have a weaker bond with the customer. Such as The Fat Duck restaurant, it manipulates light, smell and sound in his restaurant to give customers a truly multi-sensory experience.

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5 Discussion and Recommendations From the research, when restaurants focus on one or two types of food or simple food, there is a better experience as restaurants have the time and money to spend on the restaurant itself such the interior design or training staff.

Customers are increasingly wanting a whole dining experience that stimulates their senses rather than sitting through a meal that only focuses on the food. Therefore, to be a successful and distinctive brand, it is crucial to create sensory cues that excite the consumer (Lindstrom 2005, p.

122; Pine and Gilmore, 2011).

From the customer journey results and observations, restaurants still need to work on stage the experience that engaging with the customer instead of entertaining them (Pine and Gilmore, 2002) and to fully engage with their senses. A restaurant should be able to provide those feelings with physical and culinary services.

We learn through experiences, through our senses. They are directly linked to the limbic part of the brain that is responsible for our memories, feelings, pleasures and emotions (Vlahos, 2007; Harrop, 2015). If a restaurant provides all of our senses with certain stimulus, we will have a deeper emotional connection with the brand and a strong-brand customer relationship. Since many products are technically similar in the market, 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience (CEI, 2014) and consumers perceive perception and pleasure to be more important to price. For example, consumers are willing to pay more for a burger from Byron rather than having a burger from McDonald’s because of the brand experience, personalised experience and the engaging touch points Byron has, thus creating a memorable experience.

Experience Focus 2000s

Customisation

Customisation

Brand Focus 1950s

Product Focus 1990s

Memorable Experiences

Intangible Services

Tangible Goods Fungible Commodities

Customer Demands

Figure 65. Evolution in customer demands. Adaptation from Pine & Gilmore, 2011

From the literature review and primary findings, it indicates that a customer’s emotions might be directly related to the five senses, the more senses present in the experience, the more memorable the experience will be. Ultimately, it is the experience and feelings created by the brand stays with the customer (Mishima, 2015) and the senses are touch points where the customer interacts with.

The colour, decor, lighting, sound, food and taste are vital touch points that affect the customer and his/her experience in the restaurant and they are the tangible touch points that affect the  

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5 Discussion and Recommendations customer immediately. It is fundamental to take into consideration that each touch point is a message that touches the consumer’s sense in some way and creates a customer experience (Lindstrom, 2006). Figure 65 illustrates the tangible touch points and the senses that are present at each layer.

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Figure 66. Tangible Touch Points and Senses

It has been determined by designers that they should focus on creating experiences that appeal to the multiple human senses. It is essential for restaurants to design every brand experience and should be of interest of the customer with the right mix of lighting, seating arrangements, food selection, etc. Aside from focusing on menu items, restaurants also need to consider the development of their brand culture and refreshing the brand experience to help connect emotionally with their customers (Suhonen and Tengvall, 2009).

Based on the findings, it has revealed that sight is not the most prominent touch point, and majority of the restaurants use neutral colours with black and rustic colours in their surroundings.

The most prominent touch points are in fact smell and taste which are in line with the secondary research. They have a strong impact on the customer in the dining environment and influences their experience and feelings towards the brand. Similarly, the secondary findings have also made it clear that smell can create a positive mindset in the consumers, attracting them toward the brand and ambient scent also has a positive influence on customers’ perception (Gale, 2007).

In addition, taste is vital as it helps the restaurant differentiate their brand from other competitors and the sense of taste can provoke customers to recall their past experiences that relate with the brand. Therefore, both primary and secondary findings are in alignment with each other as they suggest sensory experiences can help the restaurant to connect with the unconscious minds of the consumer using the power of senses. By creating a powerful brand identity, restaurants can connect their customer through emotional associations, which result in brand loyalty. However,

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5 Discussion and Recommendations brands that fail to focus on sensory experiences, such as Dumpling Legends, has a negative effect on the brand experience as a whole and also fails to maintain long term connection with the customers (Kim, Koo and Chang, 2009; Martin, 2005).

Furthermore, from the research, design has become a vital tool for restaurants as it allows them to become more competitive in the market. It also creates experiences that differ from one restaurant to another. Restaurant owners need to consider that the restaurant is not just a place for food, it is a theatre where the customer can enjoy the experience. Spending time in designing each touch point and staging the experience, it is all part of the dramatic structure of the performance (Pine and Gilmore, 2011). The food server taking the orders, the placing of dishes and to what they are wearing, it is all part of the brand experience and an act of theatre. They also provide service quality, whether good or bad based on the customer’s perception can determine whether the customer would return or not - ‘a customer is more forgiving towards mediocre food than they are to slack service’ (Michael Roux, 2011). When the details of the restaurant are well designed, it can convey a comfortable space and deliver the brand value and story to the customer, the brand’s image and ambience can be transformed into tangible memories in the customer’s mind.

Senses help customers to feel the taste, the ambience and the aromas of food in restaurants which undoubtedly affect their length of stay and decision behaviours. For instance, customers are always attracted by the good aroma of food and they would go for the food that smells good as food usually taste as good as it smells because the sense of smell and taste are very much connected to each other and it is not possible to taste something without smelling it (KoerthBaker, 2008). Some restaurants put photos of their food in their menus because when the presented food is visually attractive, it affects the decision behaviour as what we see can predict what the food may taste of. When the customer is being served hot, quality food and when they taste and feel the texture of the food through the sense of touch, it generates their feelings towards the restaurant and affect their decision to visit the restaurant again or not. Therefore, it has been proved that senses affect the buying behaviour and decisions of customers.

5.3 The Impact of Experience at Home In addition to the senses that affect the consumer, the evolution in technology has had a significant impact on the way everyday consumers shop, interact with each other and communicate with brands. From their cell phone to the desktop to an in store visit; consumers seek an omni-channel experience (Newman, 2014).

With the emergence of the younger generations and millennials that are entering the market (Cardosa, Wright, Gott, 2013), today’s teenage will become tomorrow’s high spending consumers.

Restaurant establishments must communicate and build a direct relationship with them and keep up with the fast pace of change they bring. Byron Burger’s website and Byng's use of social media to engage with his current customers and also potential customers creating a more personal relationship that Millennials are increasingly demanding (JWT, 2013).

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5 Discussion and Recommendations Since consumers are willing to spend larger proportions of disposable incomes on eating out, the restaurant market will continue to experience strong growth (EY, 2014, Sacla, 2015). With the world becoming more digitalised and in responding to the rising demands and expectations from consumers with reference to market reports by JWT (2013) and Mintel (2013), the industry has become ‘innovation-rich’. Driven by a need to differentiate, there has been significant focus on refining the customer experience, using technology in increasingly different and effective ways and implementation of new service models, with a range of new concepts and brands entering the market.

With the aid of technology, restaurants implement websites, social media to engage the consumers. More bookings are made online via third party websites and mobile apps, such as OpenTable as well as third party review website such as TripAdvisor. Social media has become a tool to spread ‘Word of Mouth’, review the restaurant online and share photos of their meal.

As brands digitised their ideas online, consumers are continuing seeking out sensorial stimulations. There is a creative opportunity for brands to grab their attention as well as challenges in retaining that attention once people come to expect more amped-up senses.

All experiences offline and online should allow an individual to identify themselves and have access to the brand. Such as the responsive design of the website should thematically reflect the look and feel inside the restaurant.

5.4 Recommendations After analysing and discussion chapters, an experience toolkit is proposed based on the research insights. The toolkit consists of experience tools illustrating the different experience zones and touch points in a restaurant, a framework that consists the process of creating a durable restaurant brand and a brand audit guide.

5.4.1 Dining Experience Process Based on the findings and analysis, customers’ senses affect their decisions to buy a particular product or service. Restaurant brands should implement sensory branding and focus on design factors. When visiting a restaurant, there are a number of touch points that they would engage with.

The Dining Experience Process tool acts as an overview of the dining process. With the consumer being at the core of the dining experience, the consumer would then experience the inner ambience which is the meal, then the outer ambience which is the mood of the restaurant and then the experience as a whole.

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5 Discussion and Recommendations

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Restaurant Arrival

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Promotion on Receipt, Loyalty Programs, Call Centre Blog, Email Newsletters, Reviews, Social Media

Restaurant Front, Offer, Call for Reservation, Special Requests, Parking, Queing Restaurant Webpage, Online Ads, Viral Emails, Social Media, Search Engine, Booking Channels, Third Party Sites

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Loyalty, Word of Mouth, PR, Brand Awareness, Restaurant Front

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Arrival, Greeting, Decor, Ambience, Seating, Order, The Meal, Staff Service, Menu Design, Food Quality, Pay Social Media

Figure 67. Dining Experience Process Tool

The whole restaurant dining experience consists of physical and virtual experience touch points.

A restaurant experience usually starts and ends with physical touch points including the first impression made by the brand via word of mouth, brand awareness and an engaging experience would lead to loyalty.

During the pre-dining stage, the physical touch points that connects with the customer are the restaurant front, call for reservation, special requests and queuing. On the other hand, the virtual experience touch points are restaurant webpage, online ads, emails, social media channels, search engine, booking channels and third party sites.

The dining-in experience happens as soon as the customer arrives at the restaurant, the physical dining experience consists of arrival, greeting, decor, ambience, seating, ordering system, the meal, staff impression and service, menu design, food quality and paying system. The virtual dining experience consists of social media where customers could instantly upload pictures of their food or tweet about their experience while being at the restaurant. From the arrival stage, it goes into the dining experience zones, based on the theatre concept in the Experience Economy (2011), the audience which is the consumer is at the core of the dining experience. Then it grows outwards where the meal is the inner ambience and the atmosphere mood is the outer ambience.

After the customer has left the restaurant, the post-dining experience consists of call centre, promotion on receipt and loyalty programs from the restaurant’s physical touch points. The virtual touch points would be email newsletters from the restaurant and the customer could share their  

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5 Discussion and Recommendations experience on social media, reviewing them on third party sites and blogs. Then the experience stage would go back to the start, where the customer makes a decision on the choice of restaurant based on their past evaluation or an expectation from word of mouth and brand awareness.

5.4.2 Dining Experience Touch points

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Figure 68. Dining Experience Touch points Tool

Based on the research, when a customer is visiting a restaurant his goal is to experience excitement, pleasure, and a sense of personal well-being throughout his dining experience.

Therefore, the design factors and brand values are delivered through customer touch points to create the dining experience. With reference to the Progression of Economic Value (Pine & Gilmore, 2011) and from the Dining Experience Process tool, the Dining Experience Touch point tool is a deeper understanding of the inner and outer ambience that surrounds the consumer. It aims to help the restaurant owner to acknowledge the different touch points a customer would encounter with. It also acts as a guide to see whether if the touch points are consistent and illustrate the brand’s value.

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5 Discussion and Recommendations In-Tangible Touch Points

BRAN R ENE S S D IM AWA AG E LINE ADS N O B S T L H I A I R M D E PAR AL ON TO EAT TY C IS I VIR DE LOCATION

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Figure 69. Dining Experience Touch Points

Similar to the Dining Experience Process tool with the consumer at the core of the experience and expand outwards with tangible touch points and intangible touch points that the customer would interact with during the dining experience. In correlation to the Dining Experience Process, the customer is surrounded by the inner ambience which are tangible commodities and goods (food, interior and exterior of the restaurant and the brand’s channels) and then the intangible services (food and service quality, brand’s values and promises) making the dining experience.

5.4.3 Experience Audit In order to create a durable restaurant brand, a framework has been designed and it consists of six core values the brand needs to acknowledge and understand. The framework has been designed based on the understanding that a brand wants to improve or rebrand themselves and there are necessary steps they need to follow in order to build their solution. Considering each restaurant is different, this framework acts as a general guide and the core factors that all restaurants need to consider before adding new ideas and innovations to their brand.

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5 Discussion and Recommendations Restaurant Brand wishes to improve

BRAND CORE VALUE DELIVERY ENGAGED RESTAURANT STAFF and CREW

SEMIOTICS and TRENDS Conduct Brand, Experience, Product, Service, Competitor Audit

Opportunity to win

Build Solution based on...

ONLINE and OFFLINE SEAMLESS CONSISTENCY

CREATING A DURABLE RESTAURANT BRAND FOOD CHOICE RESTAURANT DESIGN, STYLE, PERSONALITY

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Figure 70. Dining Experience Touch-points Tool

These six core values have been developed based on interviewing with experts and secondary research. They are brand core values, engaging restaurant staff and crew, the choice of food, the restaurant’s design and personality, online and offline consistency, and trends and semiotics.

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Figure 71. Sample Pages of the Audit

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5 Discussion and Recommendations Brand Core Values: Brand is a promise delivered, so the brand perceived by the customer is very important and the restaurant team is part of building the brand and they help the brand to be more engage with the customer. Whatever the core Brand DNA is, it must be delivered at every single touch point and through every sip and bite.

Engaged Restaurant Staff and Crew: Having engaged Restaurant Staff Front and Back of House that connect with engaged Head Office team are vital. An engaged workplace encourages commitment, energy and productivity from all those involved to help improve business performance.

Food Choice: The food is the main product the restaurant owns and sells. The quality of the ingredients, choice of food and visual presentation define the brand and how it may differentiate from other competitors. It is key to stay true to the restaurant brand values and aesthetics, everyone can cook the same food, but it is the brand that differentiates it.

Restaurant Design, Style, Personality: Design is a communication tool. It can tell a story or drive an experience in the form of words (menu), visual presentation (food and the environment), and sounds (music). The experience and design are as important as the food.

Online and Offline Seamless Consistency: Consistency is needed in everything the brand does.

Strong communications at every possible touch point that create emotional engagement with the customer. It is all part of the dining experience from the point when the customer engages with the restaurant website to the point when they leave the restaurant.

Semiotics and Trends: There are definitely trends and market directions in the restaurant scene (street food, small plates and espresso coffee bars, to name a few over the past decade). It is crucial to be aware of these trends but when restaurants start obsessing over trends, they forget about what’s important: what people want to eat. A strong concept has a strong chance of outlasting fashion trends. 

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5 Discussion and Recommendations

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Figure 72. Sample pages of Experience Audit

The experience audit has been designed for restaurants’ owners as a guide to evaluate themselves to find out their weak spots and with recommendations to use as an inspiration to improve their brand and giving them an additional sensorial depth. The audit has been designed based on the the six core factors from the framework.

5.5 Final Design 5.5.1 Feedback from Expert Validation Through validation and feedback from experts, the design tools and framework have been modified.

Joe Pines “The experience tools and audit look good. The dramatic structure of the experience generally is not in a circle but in a form of a graph where complication is against time, it could possibly be overlaid with the Dining Experience tool. However, it is a good idea to display the experience as different zones with the consumer in at the core. The section in the middle is a good overview of the dining experience but it needs to be linked with the dining progress.”

Mark McCulloh “The Experience Touch Point tool is a bit busy but it has a good sense of logical order. It maybe a good idea to separate the tangible and intangible touch points and remove ‘Decision to eat’ layer as it is more of a mindset from the consumer as all the other touch points can influence the decision to eat at a restaurant but not a touchpoint that the brand creates. There could be more sensorial points on the exterior design layer and word of mouth layer.

The audit guide is very good and the questions and recommendations are well thought through.“

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5 Discussion and Recommendations 5.5.2 Final Design Adopting the feedback from the experts, the middle section has been weaved into the outer layer of the dining experience. The Experience Touch Point has been redesigned and with the tangible and intangible layers separated and additional sensory points have been added. With the illustrated senses present at each layer, the user can understand which of the senses are currently present or not in their restaurant.

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Figure 73. Final Design of Experience Tool

To make it more user friendly, the design tools, framework and audit has been put together as a mini guidebook. Since no two restaurants are the same, the guidebook would act as a general guide showing possible recommendations and design framework. The guidebook consists of the two experience tools: The Dining Experience and The Experience Touch Points, a How-to page explaining the audit, the framework showing the core factors in building a durable restaurant brand and the audit itself with self evaluating questions and recommendations. (Please refer to Appendix D)

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5 Discussion and Recommendations

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Figure 74. How-to page

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Figure 75. Final Design and Content of the Guidebook

The tone of the written information has kept a light informal tone for the user while keeping the user informed but not overwhelmed. The design of the cover needs to be effective with a catchy headline, colour, and a design with interesting information that would make the user be interested.

Summary According to the case studies and observations, there is evidence that customers no longer just buy product and service but they want something that engages with their senses, touch their hearts, and stimulate their minds (Schmitt, 1999). The research demonstrates that to establish a  

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5 Discussion and Recommendations customer engaging experience in restaurants, it comes to the design factors of the restaurant, the restaurant staff and the consistency across the different touch points.

From the expert interviews, a good experience starts with a clear brand identity and personality and it should correspond with every detail design of the restaurant. The positioning of the brand’s core values is still important based on the food experiences such as Byron Burger, Wagamama.

Originality of the brand’s core value is key and it needs to be reflected across the brand’s different online and offline touch points. Brands also need to stay in front of current dining trends and consumer behaviours which can aid in building experiences into the brand and the actual dining activity.

With consumers are expecting consistent experience with brands across all channels and ability to access that information on multiple devices and offline, a restaurant needs to deliver a unified, consistent experience throughout every interaction that communicate their core offerings.

With the use of the guidebook, the user will be able to use the experience tools, framework and audit to help them pin pointing their opportunities to become a more powerful brand and stay in the competition with other brands. When designing experience, it is important to keep in mind that it needs to be unique and user centred, and can easily connect with the consumer (Park and Farr, 2007; Moshin, 2005). Furthermore, restaurants need to acknowledge the importance of digital advancement in the dining experiences as consumers have become more technology savvy and they rely heavily on social media and using it as a source in communicating with brands.

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6 Conclusion 6.1 Evaluation and Limitations “Traditional marketing has provided a valuable set of strategies, implementation tools, and methodologies for the industrial age.” (Schmitt, 2015) We are now moving into an era where experience has become part of the service and products. Every action and sensory cues contribute to the total experience engaged. By designing the right sensations into cues that convey the brand, it will turn an ordinary food service into a memorable dining experience. The experience dimensions can be evoked by brand-related stimuli, such as colours, shapes, typefaces, designs, slogans, brand characteristics and the store environment.

Sensory branding aims to stimulate the customer relationship with the brand. It allows emotional response to dominate rational thinking. By appealing to the five senses, brands create strong memories in consumers’ mind and creates an emotional connection; leads to stronger bonds between consumers and brands.

The casual dining marketing is continuing to expand and diners nowadays desire for excitement, difference and creativity and are becoming more adventurous in trying out new cuisines from different cultures. Restaurants are now both the provider of tasty food and drinks as well as a social experience. To stand out in a crowded industry, brands should focus not just on food quality, but on creating a whole quality experience.

Even though the framework has been validated by experts, ideally the framework could be tested by applying to an existing brand that is struggling in the market. This could help develop the framework and tools further.

While food is the core product in a restaurant, it is important to focus on the entire dining experience and building an emotion connection with the customer through designing the experience and having consistency across the different touch points.

6.2 Further Research Opportunities The research has shown there is opportunity in the restaurant market for brands to tap into the consumer’s mind and also identified the core values in building a durable restaurant brand.

Further studies such as looking into semiotics could benefit restaurants as well and understanding consumer behaviours. The project could potentially look deeper into the psychological factors to see how certain colours or sound affect consumers’ feelings and how their behaviour would have an impact on the dining experience.

As this project focuses on the surrounding atmosphere and brand touch points , it would also be interested to look into the design of food and how the surrounding senses have an affect on the taste of food in relation to emotional connections and dining experience.

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Appendix A

APPENDICIES Simon Harrop, CEO CEO of Brand Sense Founder of The Aroma Company Founder, managing director and senior sensory branding consultant at The Aroma Company - How do you see the role and application of design in creating brand experiences, especially in creating senses ?

As humans we have multiple senses. So why do designers still insist on creating experiences which primarily only appeal to the sense of sight – visual design?

When looking at what drives emotional response to a brand, my colleague, Martin Lindstrom, discovered that the senses were equally important to consumers in the relationship to brands but that marketing budgets were overspent on visual communications alone.

- Is design more important to the brand experience today than in the past?

There is a growing awareness of the need to appeal to multiple senses but still, the vast majority of brand experience design and thinking is 2-dimensional - What is the hardest thing to get right about design?

There is unlimited opportunities to use design to improve the brand experience. But the hardest is avoiding the generic, me-too. Making it differentiated and ensuring that the experience is congruent with the brand values - What do you think the most important sense to attract customers aside from visual?

The sense of smell is very powerful because it appeals directly with the emotional centre of the brain (limbic system) and can emotionally affect a person up to 75% more than any other sense.

It’s a very deliberate choice, because we’re trying to create a dining experience, not a marketing platform. We think that’s one of the things that makes Chipotle popular with younger people. It’s more important than ever that we be different in that way.

- What are the greatest opportunities to use design to improve the brand experience?

I recently assumed another role at Chipotle as chief development officer, which oversees the architecture and construction of all our restaurants. One of the reasons for this is that the restaurant experience itself is such an important part of the customer experience.

Beyond the food and the way the crew behaves, there’s nothing that defines the customer experience at Chipotle more than the restaurant design because that’s where customers are spending their time with us. The greatest opportunities for design are in the restaurant and how it’s designed, how it enhances the actual experience.

The idea that you can see into the kitchen is a very, very important part of the Chipotle brand experience—that you can see vegetables being chopped and smell meat being grilled. We open one new restaurant every other day, so if we don’t get it right, we have a lot of bad experiences fast. Our restaurants also last for a really long time, so if we’ve designed something poorly, we could be living with it for the next 20 years.

- What is the hardest thing to get right about design?

The hardest thing about design is to be user- centred. If you put yourself in the shoes of the person for whom you’re designing, it will always lead you to the right solution, but it’s hard to do that.

It’s very easy to be insular: to design for yourself or to design based on what you think people want rather than actually knowing what they want. It’s much, much harder to learn who the customer is, and how they might perceive something, than it is to design something that you like. It takes a lot of effort.

- Could you comment on the role of sensory branding when it comes to digital/online marketing?

Sterile TV and print advertising is increasingly replaced by experiential marketing, with consumers actually interacting with the product and human beings. If creating a digital strategy was the key objective of the last decade, then get set to see ‘brand sensing’ dominate the next ten years.

- What do you think the most important sense to attract customers aside from visual?

Mark Crumpacker, Chief Marketing & Development Officer Chipotle Mexican Grill

the future It is definitely important as consumers are everything has been digitalise. There are even third party apps where you can order food from the high street and have it delivered to your door. It looses some of the brand essence instead of dining in the restaurants, and I think this is where restaurants need to think about bring their brand across all touch points.

- How do you see the role and application of design in creating brand experiences, especially in creating senses ?

Every aspect of the brand experience should be designed. This would include everything from interactions with prospective customers and the marketing, all the way through to the experience at a Chipotle restaurant. The music, the seating, the packaging—we design every single bit of it as carefully as we can.

It’s always been that way at Chipotle. Steve Ells, our founder, studied art history at the University of Colorado and then went to cooking school. He designed the first restaurant and built it out of things he could find at the lumberyard. He used exposed conduits for the lighting fixtures and bare bulbs, plywood, corrugated metal, and so forth. Design is something that Steve has always been keenly interested in, so it started from the very beginning that way.

For a restaurant, it would be smell because it can trigger the customer to feel hungry and they would be intrigued to try the food from the scents coming from the kitchen or neighbouring tables.

Your brain receives no signal identifying the odor, and everything you eat tastes much the same.

- If you have time could you comment on the importance of digital to dining experience in

Sheryl Adkins-Green Chief Marketing Officer Mary Kay Cosmetics - How do you see the role and application of design in creating brand experiences, especially in creating senses ?

As we design the brand experience at Mary Kay, we are thinking about it relative to both consumers as well as our independent beauty consultants. Mary Kay is a fashion brand because of our cosmetics products, but we are also a lifestyle brand in terms of the direct selling opportunity that we offer.

- Is design more important to the brand experience today than in the past?

Design is more important now for Chipotle because the restaurant business is more competitive than it was in the past. We’re taking customers from somewhere, and most of the time we are taking them from other restaurants. One of the ways we do that is by creating a restaurant experience that’s very different. Our restaurants aren’t marketing-laden promotional spaces. We don’t have Disney tie- ins or promos for the latest 99-cent whatever.

So, we are attentive to our independent beauty consultants’ experience as they learn about the brand and pursue their Mary Kay business. At the same time, we’re working with them and through them to deliver a great experience to their customers.

The role of design is more important than ever because customers expect a flawless experience.

Because of that, we recently developed an app that provides our independent beauty consultants with the guidelines they need to present and introduce the brand to prospective customers in a consistent manner.

I like Ethnography because the closer you can get to consumers and their interaction and relationship with the product the more likely you are to get past the obvious. I remember years ago, going through kitchens and cupboards and the moms would talk about how important it was for their kids to eat healthy. But when you looked in the pantry, it was a whole different story.

We supply a variety of marketing tools to them so that there is a consistent look and feel to the customer’s experience, even though each independent beauty consultant is responsible for her own Mary Kay business.

The same is true for hair and beauty-care products. Just seeing what consumer beauty routines involve is critical to understanding ways to develop innovative solutions to their beauty needs. For example, in the last couple of days, I’ve seen three different presentations, that highlighted how many women are putting on their make-up in the car.

- What are the greatest opportunities to use design to improve the brand experience?

One of the biggest opportunities is to connect all the components of the customer’s experience. I like to use the path- to-purchase as a reference point. Each point along the path must be seamless for the customer—from when they first learn about your brand and then gain information about it, through the transaction and post-transaction experience.

As a customer, you might have a great experience on the phone when you make a reservation, but then that doesn’t feel connected to the experience when you show up at the restaurant or hotel. Or, the follow-up experience might not be consistent with your stay.

Part of our responsibility and opportunity as chief marketing officers is to work across functions in our organisations to make sure that those experiences are consistent and seamless.

- What is the hardest thing to get right about design?

Customisation is the hardest thing to get right. Everybody wants to feel special, and their ideal experience usually has some elements that are tailored to their preferences. Providing consistency while also leaving room for a customised experience is a delicate balancing act.

Certainly, customisation can add complexity. The customer experience must be well defined in terms of key objectives and principles, but also flexible enough to allow for customisation. For example, our independent beauty consultants give their customers choices between an in-person experience or a virtual makeover, and whether products are delivered in person or shipped directly from the company.

- What do you think the most important sense to attract customers aside from visual?

As a cosmetic beauty brand, the sense of touch is very important because it creates emotion and how the customer feels towards the product.

- If you have time could you comment on the importance of digital to experience in the future Online social networks are certainly a very rich source of consumer insights. In terms of being able to get a very quick check on the pulse of your franchise, or people who aren’t in your franchise, it is particularly attractive to be able to plug into those networks and explore ideas and opportunities.

- Is design more important to the brand experience today than in the past?

That brings up this whole notion of the ergonomics of a mascara brush that you can use while looking in the rear view mirror and not poking your eye out when the light suddenly turns green.

Having done that myself, I know it’s a very real challenge!

Tom Byng, Byron Burger Founder Restaurant Entrepreneur

- How did you design the brand experience of Byron?

It wasn’t much of design. I couldn't find the hamburgers in London which I’d love when living in the US and as a restaurant entrepreneur I wasn't really into chains. You could find hamburgers like that at countless burger joints in the States, but it seemed to me four years ago that there was nowhere in London doing them that way so the idea for Byron was born. Hamburgers the way they should be.

It's simple, confident and classic. We aim to do a few things and do them really well. There's no point in trying to cover everything on a menu, you'll just end up with everything being average.

I'd say we have a deep culture of innovation at Byron. You can see it from the individually designed restaurants, to the specials we put on, to the t-shirts our staff wear. Obviously we want to keep some things consistent - the quality and cooking of our burgers and fanatical attention to customer service - and with that it gives us a foundation upon which to do something a bit different.

- It is very unusual for a restaurant chain to be designed individually, is there a story behind this?

A lot of them seemed a bit soulless, with terrible food from absurdly long menus, robotic service and factory line design. The story is that we like our designs to respect the building, the locality and the customers. So it becomes a bit of anti-chain.

Beyond that, the language is so rich. When people are online, they are typically talking the way they talk to a friend. So, even in contrast to focus groups where people are trying to sound like “good” consumers, online they are a little less guarded. Because of that candor, I feel we get a much better sense of how people are feeling.

We've now got 52 restaurants in London. Each one is designed individually…It is a lot of fun with the design when we open a new restaurant. It ensures our customers get a unique experience in whichever Byron branch they eat in, giving some character, and empowers our General Managers (GMs). Our GMs are fantastic, they are really passionate about what they do, and about Byron, and they are really focused on the customer experience. We have feedback cards in all our restaurants, and our GMs monitor these to make sure their local diners are happy, and where there are problems they are able to go ahead and deal with these.

- What tools' such a 'customer journey' do you use or think could be useful?

- Could you comment on the importance of digital to dining experience in the future?

I can’t say that there is any one technique that stands out. Any one methodology, no matter how great it is, is probably never going to be comprehensive enough to keep up with the complexity of the consumer.

It is extremely important. At the moment, I run the twitter feed. I think it’s important for people to know they communicate directly with the founder and I tweet as a human being not with a corporate hat on. I dip in to our customer service inbox as I like to keep a finger on the pulse of what our customers are saying about us. Some of the team are keen to get more involved in the twitter side of things, so we're looking into it how we can do that.

The real opportunity is to determine which technique to use when and how to combine techniques so that you are getting to those insights, and getting to them quickly. It is not only about getting to the insights, but getting to them first and being able to act on them quickly.

As a business we're really focused on customer service and that comes from the top down. I care about the things that are going well. I take it personally when things don’t go to plan and we try to

Appendix A

APPENDICIES instill that philosophy in everyone in the business. And I think that's part of the reason Byron is where it is today.

Lisa Mishima Multidisciplinary designer with broad experience in branding, motion graphics, and food design Art Direction + Design

- How do you see the role and application of design in creating brand experiences, especially in creating senses?

Design is a communication tool. It can tell a story or drive an experience in the form of words (menu), visual presentation (food and the environment), and sounds (music). We all have senses, but through design we can focus and experience them in a new way.

- Is design more important to the brand experience today than in the past?

I believe so. Today, people are feeling more disconnected from the tangible world and our senses.

We are yearning for human connection and searching for ways to slow down in our fast paced lives.

- What are the greatest opportunities to use design to improve the brand experience?

Design can educate and connect people. Using food as design is a powerful and the most universal medium that people can relate to and connect with.

- What is the hardest thing to get right about design?

The hardest part of design is to take a big, complex idea and simplify into a form where people can easily understand.

- What do you think the most important sense to attract customers aside from visual?

I don’t think it’s a specific sense but more of a feeling. Much like when having a memorable meal with great company, it’s the feeling and experience that ultimately stays with you - not so much the taste of the dishes.

- If you have time, could you comment on the importance of digital to dining experience in the future?

So much of our lives are becoming digital, it’s very likely that it will continue to seep into dining experiences of the future. I do believe that we will move towards designing more subtle ways of incorporating digital into our lives, especially dining, which is a tactile experience. Technology will be smartly used to make an experience more seamless, so we can focus more on our senses.

Rachel Lawes Owner of Lawes Consulting Ltd, Lawes Gadsby Semiotics

- If you have time could you comment on the importance of digital to dining experience in the future Consumers in is some parts of the world are starting to skip traditional environments (stores) and opt in for online shopping. There are a lot of smart people and marketers in the digital space producing apps and mobile shopping platforms and huge efforts have put into the technicality functions but are missing the brand elements.

More insights and expertise are needed to create a branded experience and emotional engagement when using these mobile apps - they need to be exciting and engaging which can be a real challenge Usually, when consumers visit these retail websites, there are a lot of price comparisons going on and they may not necessary make a purchase. But when visiting the store physically, consumer won't check and compare the prices in the stores.

Brands can’t just have a pure functional offer (apps, website), they need to be warmer and more aesthetic. There is an app called BLUE that uses shapes and colour to convey the weather forecast to you. Instead of using number and words, they use an attractive colour gradient like a rainbow to tell you what the day ahead is going to be like.

Online shopping, bypassing… marketers in Digital space there is a lot of smart people - apps, mobile shopping effort driven by technical functions but missing brand elements more insight in expertise in how to create a branded experience and emotional engagement in mobile apps needs to be exciting and engaged, it is a real challenge when consumers are visiting retail websites, lots of price comparison is going on as well. not really making a purchase consumers wont physically check the prices in the stores brands cant just be a pure functional offer (apps, website) warmer and more aesthicall apps called BLUE that gives you weather forecast, uses shapes and colour to convey the day ahead is going to be like. instead of number and words attractive rainbow like gradient

- What tools' such a 'customer journey' do you use or think could be useful?

Instead of telling you the tools, here is how we function. A few years ago, there was a large company that makes confectionary and sold all over the world and including supermarkets and specialise stores. Their British office gave us a call and wanted our help. They have already done a lot of market research such as monitoring sales and doing quantitative measures and survey people coming out from the supermarket and ask them about their experience such as why they like confessionary. Even though there were good numerical sales figures, majority were not impressed in the stores and the company was horrified with the interview results.

As the customer surveys do not reflect what the problem was in any detail, they came to us as we are a supplier of qualitative.

The first thing we did was visiting these confessionary places such as Tesco and look at how things were displayed and also took consumers with us to help us further understand the experience.

Semiotics is a study in culture The supermarkets display are done in exactly the same way. Everything is stocked and displayed the same. Can foods and cleaning products are all done the same, which is very uninteresting.

The company has also used graphic visuals to help themselves stand out a bit more but they were awful as they used stock photos of a person with the confessionary and there is no pleasure in the visual images and they were also confusing and hard to navigate.

When visiting these stores, consumers already know what type of confessionary they want, whether if it is crunchy or chewy but how the supermarket divided the aisles were ‘bag candy’ and

‘box chocolates’ and these term do not even exist in English and they do not excite consumers in buying sweets.

Confessionary should be the easiest thing to sale because it evokes excitement and pleasure What we did was produce a model for the company and tell them how to engage with the customers more.

There are lots of different aesthetics codes and the most common one is called WHITE CUBE which the store layout has a art musuem/gallery design. It is minimalistic, uses spot lighting to make certain products stand out like an art piece. eg. Prada, Nike. Using the lighting and surroundings to create a theatrical atmosphere - spotlighting a shoe and the surroundings are more dark.

Refers to a certain gallery aesthetic characterised by its square or oblong shape, white walls and a light source usually from the ceiling Another major aesthetic is called CIRCUS which is the opposite - everything is messy and it is piled on top of each other. e.g.. Selfridges during xmas time, there are loads of things going on in their window display, lots of bling and not only suggest luxury but also party time. Instead of using industrial shelving, they are honey coned shaped and have gigantic storages (jars) which are deliberately designed in this way. Making people to feel pleasure, thrill, special and premium.

For this company, we designed a practical rule book showing them what they can do and how they can do it. With the guidebook, they can see different ways they can display things. Afterwards, they implemented these ideas and measure the performance and sales and see how much time customers spend time in the aisles.

If you go on flckr, you can see how people take photos of confectionary and there are lots of interesting photographs produced by consumers - very warm and authentic, homey and more realistic.

I am also interested in ethnography, taking account into lighting, how products are arranged and the type of physical shelving unit used I would suggest you to look into arches, because it gives an impression of weddings and special premiums.

Once you pick a design, it is like expressing yourself to make an impact on the consumer.

Should brands and companies start to change their strategy in order to cater the Millennials? Do culture codes always change in order to fit with the current market or the language people use?

- Millennials is a useful construct, like Digital Natives, but at the same time one has to resist the temptation to regard these people as a unique breed. They're still consumers and social change is gradual, not sudden.

- On the one hand, yes, of course, retailers, restaurants, etc, need to stay in touch with changing social trends and design trends, especially if they are serving younger consumers because those things shape people's expectations.

- On the other hand, significant social change and large scale changes in aesthetics don't happen overnight, see point one.

monitor sales and they already did a lot of market research - people coming out from supermarkets and ask them about their experinece. quantitative measures good numerical sales figures, why they like confessionary unimpressed in stores horrify interviews It happens Problem and spoke to the company supplier of qualitative clients attracts sales come up of something customer survey does not reflect what the problem was in any detail first thing is discovery these places in tesco and look how these things are displayed and also took consumers Semiotics- study in culture. the supermarkets display everything else the same way, uninteresting displays. the graphics visual was awful (stock photos used)…no pleasure in visual images supplied display were confusing and hard to navigate consumer already knows what they want,,, crunchy or chewy supermarket divide - bag candy, box chocolate (bad english) - doesn't excite consumer in buying sweets confessionary should be the easiest thing to sale, evoke excited and pleasure produce the model for client and how to engage customers dominate aesthetics or codes - white cube aesthetics design- prada (6 dresses), nike…. art museum like design, minimalist, lighting, spot lighting… theatrical…… like in a art museum experience fashion boutiques - primary, h&m - thousand of stock items Godiva- musuem like aesthetics Other major easthectis - circus - everything is messy, piled on top of each other, Selfridges at xmas time - chaos, everything is very bold - xmas window have loads of things in their…busy visuals….lots of bling…. not only luxury and also party time Instead of industrial shelving - they are honeycone shaped shelling and gigantic storage. deliberatly designed this way. if you want people to feel pleasure and thrill, special and premium… arrive any con practical rule book prepared for the company- how to do it, what you can do. flckr - looked at how customers take photos of confectionary - really interesting photograph produced by consumers, very warm and authentic and homey, more realistic Prepared a guidebook on the way you can display your implemented and measure performance and sales and how much time customers spend time in aisle - brazil and malaysia and did local research, they are some variations, islamic art in malaysia Ethnography taking account into lighting and products are arrange and type of physical shelving unit used create arches for people to watch arches - wedding, special premium arches Once you pick a design, express yourself and make an impact on the consumer

Some principles, for example, arches making things seem special, have applied since the dawn of time and are not going to change within the next several hundred years. But the exact way that you execute the idea has to take into account historically and culturally specific tastes - arches made out of balloons aren't going to be suitable for all occasions, for example.

Appendix A

APPENDICIES Stephen Izzatt - How do you see the role and application of design in creating brand experiences, especially in creating senses ?

The key here was fast food with an attitude and all of the excitement of a hi tech, Japanese environment. The core brand value was ‘follow your fear to find you destiny’ – a go for it attitude.

Everything from the name to the identity system. to the way the robots were scripted and the stuff on the multiple screens was hi energy. The staff were carefully trained to be quick, attentive and constantly on the move - at speed. The centre of the brand was Yo!, not Sushi which has allowed the brand owner to diversify and extend around the same ideas of fast moving, fast delivery, supportive of life on the move with offers like Yo! Tel – hi tech capsule hotel rooms at airports.

- What are the greatest opportunities to use design to improve the brand experience?

By creating an environment that looks and feels like the values of the brand and consistent with the experienced promised in communication. Everything from the posters or ads which promote the venues should be consistent in look, feel and tone of voice.

- What do you think the most important sense to attract customers aside from visual?

Smell and sounds – but actually the most important is a sense that excitement, quality, speed, provenance – whatever is important to that customer – is on offer - If you have time could you comment on the importance of digital to experience in the future and brand experiences will evolve in the future Social media is now crucial as is the very difficult Trip Advisor and other review sites. Apart from people passing by on foot or in a car and being attracted to the look of an establishment, people make decisions on dining destinations based almost entirely on reputation. Much of that is via social media. Some is due to price and the location sensitive digital offers that provide vouchers and deals. Finally, if anybody is considering going to a restaurant, a website look up is par for the course.

It is always important to design around the core values from the name to how the servers dress and acted. By creating an environment that looks and feels like the values of the brand and consistent with the experienced promised in communication.

Smell and sounds are important senses but the most important is a sense that excitement, quality, speed, provenance Joseph Pine - How do you see the role and application of design in creating brand experiences, especially in creating senses ?

Well, design IS the process of creating sensory brand experiences. In Chapter 3 of The Experience Economy we outline a 5-step design process (that we call "depicting the experience"): * Theme the experience -- determine the organizing principle of the experience * Harmonize impressions with positive cues -- devise the takeaways of the experience -- what you want guests to have top-of-mind after the experience -- and then create positive cues in the environment (and among the behavior of workers) that impart the impressions, which in turn fulfills the theme * Eliminate negative cues -- get rid of everything that does not fit with the impressions and theme or otherwise detract from the experience * Mix in memorabilia -- have physical goods (free or for fee, finished or made by guests) available for guests to take away as reminders of the experience, bringing the memories back time and time again

* Engage all five senses -- for we take experiences in with our senses, and the more of them we engage and the more particularly we engage them (in theme) the better the experience And you will notice that the first letter of the five experience design principles spell THEME. - What are the greatest opportunities to use design to improve the brand experience?

It is the overall orchestration of myriad individual elements that collectively come together to create a cohesive, robust, personal experience within each guest. Also, when your business is one of staging experiences, then your work is theatre. Therefore you must direct workers to act in order to truly engage guests. Do not think experience design encompasses only the environment of the experience; it is also (even moreso) designing time -- the time guests spend with you -- which means embracing dramatic structure, an experience that begins, rises to a climax, and comes back down again.

- What do you think the most important sense to attract customers aside from visual?

Well, in a restaurant that is obviously taste, but recognize that half of taste is in fact smell -- and that the sense of smell is the greatest spark of memory. Most experiences focus on the visual and the audio, but really need to focus on all five senses. (Hotels/conventions/conferences always have "A/V guys"; they really need "5-sense guys".

- If you have time could you comment on the importance of digital to dining experience in the future and brand experiences will evolve in the future Competition gets tougher every year -- as do customer expectations -- so you always must refresh the experience on a regular basis. In fact, the initial experience should be designed for refreshability. The easiest way to do that is to embrace two principles of Mass Customization: modularity and digitization. If the design is modular, then not only can it be customized to individuals (the better to engage them) but it also can be cost-effectively refreshed over time. And anything you can digitize you can customize -- and again easy change over time. So look for more and more elements of the experience itself to be digital, the easier to customize it and refresh it.

Not only can digital technology enhance the physical experience, but regarding dramatic structure earlier, one of the ways to use digital technology is to have the opening of the experience (the "exposition" in drama terms) happen digitally, before the actual experience. And then the closing (the "denouement") can also happen digitally after the physical experience. Memorabilia is shifting too from the physical to the digital, where for some people they did not experience something unless they post pictures of it live and/or afterward. More and more designers need to incorporate the digital into the physical, and help guests use the technology they bring with them to enhance the experience and its memory.

What we will also see more and more is that companies will charge explicitly for the experience, instead of giving it away for free to better sell the goods and services they offer today. That means charging for the time guests spend with you -- that is what they value, after all, is the experience of that time -- and that means charging an admission fee, membership fee, or some other time-based fee. We are even starting to see that in restaurants, where American Girl Cafes, Next in Chicago, and Trois Mec in Los Angeles charge admission for the experience and the incorporate the food into that admission fee.

Key Insights from Interview - As humans we have multiple senses, but designers still insist on creating experiences which primary only appeal to the sense of sight. Senses are equally apparent in the relationship to brands but the marketing budget were overspent on visual communications alone.

- The vast majority of brand experience design and thinking is still in 2- dimensional - The hardest thing to get right with the design is to ensure that the experience is congruent with the brand values - most important sense is smell

- I think the feeling and experience created by the company is more important than just senses as

- Every aspect of the brand experience should be designed from the music, seating and

- There are different culture codes where companies can use in building their brand experience - Once you pick a design, it is like expressing yourself and passion to make an impact on the

-

-

packaging Since the restaurant market is more competitive, design is becoming more and more important Beyond the way the crew behaves, there is nothing more that defines the customer experience more than the restaurant design because thats where customers are spending time with us. The greatest opportunities for design are in the restaurant and how it’s designed and how it enhances the actual experience.

It is very easy to be insular, to design for yourself or to design based on what you think people want and how they might perceive something, than it is i to design something that you like. It takes a lot of time smell is important because it can trigger consumer’s emotions and hunger

- When designing brand experiences, we think about it relative to both consumers and our independent beauty consultants.

- We are attentive to out independent beauty consultants’ experience as they learn about the brand and pursue the business

- As customers expect flawless experience, every touchpoint through the brand is important - from

-

when they first learn about your brand and then gain information about it and through the transaction and post transaction experience. The experience needs to be consistent and seamless across the different functions in our organisation.

As chief marketing officer, I have to ensure the experience is consistent and seamless across the different functions in our organisation.

Customisation is the hardest thing to get right about design. Providing consistency while leaving room for a customised experience is a delicate balance act.

Online social networks are certainly a very a rich source of consumer insights.

Any one methodology, no matter how great it is, is probably never going to be comprehensive enough to keep up with the complexity of the consumer.

- Hamburgers the way they should be. It’s simple, confident and classic. We aim to do a few things and do them very well. No point in trying to cover everything on the menu, you’ll end up with everything being average

- Aside from keeping the quality and cooking of our burgers and fanatical attention to customer service consistent, this gives us a foundation to be something different by having each restaurant individually designed

- By having each restaurants uniquely designed, it ensures the customers to get a unique experience in whichever Byron brand they eat in. We also employ very passionate GMs who love what they do and about the brand and are really focused on the customer experience.

- It’s important for people to know they can communicate directly with the founder on social media, eg Twitter. and I tweet as a human being and not with a corporate hat on.

- I take it personally when things don’t go to plan and we try to instill that philosophy - Design is a communication tool, it can tell a story or drive an experience in the form of words (menu), visual presentation (food and the environment) and sound (music).

- Design can educate and connect people. using food as design is a powerful and most universal medium that people can relate to and connect with.

- The hardest thing with design is t take a big, complex idea and simplify into a form where people can easily understand

they are ultimately the things that stay with you

- Digital will continue to seep into the dining experience of the future. but in a more subtle way. technology will be smartly used to make an experience more seamless, so we can focus more on our senses.

- Semiotics can be used as an alternative to qualitative research - There are different culture codes which can that underpin contemporary communications. It is useful strategically in the sense of developing new communications strategies

consumer

- Brands cant be just have a pure functional offer(apps, website) they need to be warmer and more aesthetic.

Expert Validation Joe Pines I do think it looks good as a framework. Related to what I said previously, I like how you have taste and smell at the core of your Touchpoints model, and how you divide it into the tangible and intangible. You might explicitly think about dividing it into commodities (ie, food ingredients), goods (both tangible) and then services (activities) and experiences (both intangible, but only experiences are memorable). Your Dining Experience framework is one on which you can overlay the dramatic structure of the experience (which generally is not circular -- see Chapter 6 of the Updated Edition of the book). However, it is a good idea to display the experience as different zones with the consumer in at the core. The section in the middle is a good overview of the dining experience but it needs to be linked with the dining progress.

Mark McCulloh The experience tools and audit look good. The dramatic structure of the experience generally is not in a circle but in a form of a graph where complication is against time, it could possibly be overlaid with the Dining Experience tool. However, it is a good idea to display the experience as different zones with the consumer in at the core. The section in the middle is a good overview of the dining experience but it needs to be linked with the dining progress. The audit is well structured with questions and recommendations that can help brands to discover opportunities and weaknesses.

The guidebook is a really good idea as it has the tools to help understand the dining experience where restaurants tend to overlook or forget about them sometimes.

DESCRIPTION

WRITTEN EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

DESCRIPTION

WRITTEN EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- Arrived on a busy evening but managed to get a table pretty quick - A converted warehouse feel, big windows set in exposed brick walls, open plan kitchen and graffiti-clad toilets.

- The interior still has a soul, a life of its own - Silent films screened on the wall - Relaxed but yet buzzing atmosphere

- Byron might been around in London for a while but I never had the chance to try it. But after a recent meet up with some close friends and they cant stop raving about how good the burgers were

- Very excited

- I really appreciate the restaurant has a good menu of craft beers - good beer + burger = the perfect comfort combo!

- I ordered a craft IPA before my food order - The waiter has a very good knowledge of the menu

ORDERING

- The medium rare Byron burger was outstanding!

- Love that it has a char grilled flavour

- I had the classic Byron burger with Dry cure bacon, mature Cheddar, lettuce, tomato, red onion and Byron sauce - The bun was nicely done, the Scottish beef was packed with meaty goodness, moist and juicy, the sauce and salad dressing was at the right balance

- Very friendly staff and gave us the restaurants business card and pin badges for us to keep - One side of the business card was like a playing card and the other side has the details of the restaurant

- Even though the restaurant was very busy, we were not rushed to leave We were given these pin badges when we got our bill - The staff also greeted us when we leave

EXIT

Experience Keywords: homey, warmth, earthy, smoky, happy

THE MEAL

- When we arrived at the restaurant we were immediately greeted by a member of staff.

- It smelt really good in the restaurant.

- The Wardour Street branch has a silent projection of vintage cartoons on loop on one of its walls, which is pretty cool.

- It was a causal atmosphere so everyone was quite relaxed.

- It has a very welcoming vibe

- There are so many burger offerings in every city at the moment, opted to give Byron a try - I didn’t check their website before hand

- From my friends, Byron’s burgers mean business

- Great ambience - I also love that they have a ton of condiments already on the table, including Cholula – one of my favourite hot sauces ever

- Service here is fast and friendly - Staff knew the menu well enough to make personal suggestions - The menu and look of the place is very simple. Classic, almost

ORDERING

- Best Macaroni Cheese I’ve had in any restaurant so far.

- Very juicy burger

- With dry-cured bacon, mature cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato with red onion and their classic Byron sauce, it was the ultimate burger!

- Good burgers, very good fries and great Macaroni Cheese.

THE MEAL

- The burgers are reasonably priced and delicious - I would definitely recommend the rest to others.

- Lastly, another nice detail is that the business card for each store happens to be printed on the back of a playing card - the card’s value being unique to each branch.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: nostalgic, rustic, aesthetically pleasing, fresh, warm

OVERALL: I love how each Byron’s is unique, every branch’s aesthetic designed to fit with the location that it’s in. It’s nice to see some thought being put into the design of each space: even though Byron’s is a chain of restaurants, it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

ENTERING

M, 29

PRE-DINING

BYRON BURGER

I thought the service was very good, friendly and efficient just as what this types of restaurant need. Byron produces quality burgers, nicely showcase how simple food can be so great, I agree with Byron’s statement: Proper Hamburgers! I will return.

ENTERING

PRE-DINING

BYRON BURGER M, 24 DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- Whilst each joint offers the same menu the food is served in a different setting and with it’s own personality.

- Relaxed, converted-warehouse-stainless-steel style, table service and booze, which reminded me of posh pizza at Pizza East.

- It felt very relaxed even though the restaurant was full

Every time I mentioned that I was looking for the best burger in London, friends mentioned Byron; facebook and blog and twitter comments mentioned Byron; and I talked about how I was long overdue a visit.

Being a burger lover, I must admit I had high expectations going into the restaurant as I am yet to find the perfect burger.

- I really appreciate the restaurant has a good menu of craft beers

I think I’d over-hyped it up. I was imagining the perfect drool-fest burger and I just don’t think its the perfect burger.

I’d want more cheese, stronger cheese, lots and lots of cheese. I waneted more taste of meat and charcoal. And the bun maybe toasted ever so slightly. And tons more relish and sauce, preferably dripping down my chin.

THE MEAL - Tasty soft bun, nice pinky burger.

- Lovely burger, but not perfect - The food arrived quickly and was presented beautifully,

- The Byron burger sounded awesome (comes with bacon and special relish sauce) but sadly my criteria says I need to order the plain cheeseburger.

- I ordered it with fries and coleslaw and obligatory courgette fries, which everyone also bangs on about.

- Very friendly knowledgeable servers

I think i need to go back again to appreciate it fully without all the hype.

- It was still very busy when we left the restaurant - The staff are very friendly and would ask whether how our night went and hope to see us soon - We were also give the restaurants business card when we left, beautifully designed. One side was like a playing card

EXIT

Experience Keywords: buzzing, excited, mouth watering, juicy, homey

ORDERING

- This particular space was once home to the original ‘Intrepid Fox’; a Rock’n’Roll watering hole often frequented by the likes of Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and the Sex Pistols.

- It’s New York meets Soho, and together they make no fuss, American style burgers.

- You can see the staff busy cooking in the open kitchen

- They kept the writing on the walls from the previous pub

- Byron is a chain of burger joints that have been springing up in London over the last couple of years, but it wasn’t until a month ago that I actually managed to eat at one. And a month later, we’re back again on a Friday night at the same branch.

From my last visit, it served very good burgers and I’m hoping my experience would be as good.

No nonsense, simple Menu. No starters just either Olives or Tortillas, then the main event!

The beef was juicy and cooked to an exact medium. The burger itself was also the perfect size. Unlike GBK burgers you can actually take a bite of the whole thing without the filling sliding out of the bun.

The fries were served nice and hot, although I preferred the homemade chips with skin we had the first time we were here which were much crispier.

THE MEAL I went for the house burger - the “Bryon Burger”, dry-cured bacon, cheddar cheese and the special Byron sauce, which from what I gathered was made from a mayo, ketchup and capers.

- Very simple and straight forward menu - The font was very easy to read - The hamburgers start at £6.25 for the classic which you can customise by adding a variety of toppings including a choice of cheeses, avocado and sauces.

- Good design overall of the restaurant

It was easy to pay and the staff are very friendly and asked how was our meal.

We were given the business card of the place and it has a nice touch to it. One side was designed like a playing card and the other side had the restaurant information

EXIT

Experience Keywords: buzzing, smoky bbq, content, warmth, comfortable

ORDERING

The great thing about Byron is that it feels like a fun, funky, edgy burger restaurant, and not like a fast food or a chain establishment. The table service was spot on, our waiter was friendly, and knew the menu well enough to make personal suggestions.

ENTERING

F, 26

PRE-DINING

BYRON BURGER

A decent burger at a reasonable price. There’s been quite a buzz about Byron burgers in the online food community. And for good reason, the Byron burger is a classic with decent beef patty, well flavoured and well cooked, a nice enough bun, a nice choice of ingredients to have inside your burger and some really nice options for sides. The courgette fries, essentially Italian zucchini fritti, are superb.

ENTERING

PRE-DINING

BYRON BURGER F, 29

DESCRIPTION

WRITTEN EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

DESCRIPTION

WRITTEN EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- First thing i noticed was the char-grill smell from the open kitchen - The interior of the restaurant was kept to the originality of the site - urban chic interior - Byron tries to preserve the look of its best sites

At last, a quiet work day when I managed to nip out for lunch.

ORDERING

American theme menu, burgers and milkshakes

- The staff was very friendly and helpful.

They explained all food on the menu and asked if we got any questions.

- The menu was easy to follow as different sections were clearly shown

- The cheeseburger with Gruyere and courgette fries proved well worth the wait.

- Ate in virtual silence, always a sign of enjoyment.

The fries were piping hot and delivered later than the burger. They were great though, a welcome alternative to the potato chip, I’m not a huge fan of skinny fries preferring the fatter kind so this was ideal for me, light batter and chunky vegetable, a side capable of making me feel virtuous even whilst eating a burger!

The burger itself was moist and cooked perfectly medium, with a nice char to the exterior, the lettuce, tomato and cheese all hit the spot providing crunch, juice and oozing melted dairyness.

THE MEAL

The service was competent and pleasant and despite the fact that the place was heaving, I was back at my desk within the hour, even with the 10 minute walking time to and from Covent Garden.

Straightforward paying process, there is also the option to pay in ‘Byron Money’ which is like a pre-paid card

EXIT

Experience Keywords: straightforward, cosy, romantic, friendly, smoky

- Decor is contriving to be a bit more upmarket and it’s odd to see patrons quaffing wine with their burgers - it’s more your shake or beer type fare - The place was being worked so hard paint had fallen from the walls and the concrete had started to crumble, exposed wires in the ceiling hinted at impending catastrophe.

- The distressed interior is all part of the design. It says, ‘Hey look at us, we’re so genuine and authentic, we’re so free of fuss and frills, we’ve not even decorated the place’.

Has a bit of a New York look to the decor Very relaxed atmosphere

I have been told that Byron is blatantly to be known as London’s best burger.

It’s been over a week since my last New York burger. I have been craving proper American Burgers

The staff was very friendly and prompt

- First impressions were that it had a bit of the New York look about it: thin, no frills, and even a chunky pickle giving a wave from the side.

- It’s perfectly juicy, pink in the middle, and the flavours are full and earthy.

- The home made, skin on, chips were excellent -The Scottish highlands beef sourced from small farms is freshly ground every morning. The burgers are cooked medium and are served with lettuce, tomato, red onion and mayo - add your own tomato sauce.

- The buns are plain and soft, toasted on the inside, and are apparently baked each day by a local artisan baker.

THE MEAL

- Service was uber friendly, enthusiastic and prompt - After consuming a whole burger, one (namely me) doesn’t feel heavy or sickeningly full.

- The Byron burger bill came in around £25, for two burgers, chips, onion rings and a couple of drinks.

- It’s good value given the quality of the burgers and a good choice in Soho.

EXIT

Keywords: personalised experience, memorable, hipster design, fresh, comfort

- The first thing you notice about Byron is that there’s cutlery on the tables.

I like to get into a burger with both hands.

I’m happy to cut it in half before I launch in, but that’s as far as I’ll go.

- Very simple menu, burgers and sides, easy to customise as well - Attentive staff

ORDERING

All in all, I’m a big fan of Byron. It’s not as good as the hamburgers I’ve eaten in the US, but it comes very close and I’ll definitely be back (again).

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BYRON BURGER F, 31

I did fear that it might not live up to my expectations as it had been so long coming but I was impressed with both the quality of the patty and the general dining experience at Byron.

ENTERING

- The staff at the door greet us with a warm smile - When we entered the restaurant, the light was dimmed and there were candlelights.

- The atmosphere was romantic-ish.

Finally I managed to venture to Byron Hamburger’s new (at least it was in November) branch in Soho on the site of the former Intrepid Fox

F, 26

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BYRON BURGER DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

Although the restaurant was busy and the atmosphere was electric the service was fast and concise.

- Love the design of the restaurant, they try to preserve the existing site as much as possible and design around it

EXIT

- The upmarket casual-dining chain puts a strong focus on design, as well as the quality of its burgers.

- It didn’t feel like a chain restaurant

- Simple paying process, was given the restaurant business card and it was designed like a playing card - Very friendly servitors, was greeted when we left

- Contemporary restaurant design: the aforementioned woodblock floors, some padded vinyl, paintstriped walls in cassata colours, metal-legged stacking chairs, exposed ventilation ducts.

- You can see the chef flipping burgers in the open kitchen

- Induces a cosy intimacy - Felt very rustic with wooden tables and chairs, the brand shown itself throughout it surroundings

- I went online to their website and had a look. They have a summer menu and also their standard menu, their brand story, and also a section where you can join their ‘Byron Club’ to receive exclusive events

Very straightforward website

Very simple and straightforward, staff with good knowledge of the food and very friendly

- With the friendly and happy staff on hand to help with the ordering we soon decided on our evening food.

- I opted for the Classic burger and HomeMade Skin On Chip - Knifes and forks were already laid out on the table and also condiments

ORDERING

- Burgers perfectly cooked, soft and juicy - The fries are excellent and a good generous portion size

It didn’t thrill me but it did hold true to Tom Byng’s principles. It was ‘simple and tasty’ food with a twist on the design

- We got our bill on a small wooden plate along with the business card, which was made into a playing card. Very creative idea - The upmarket casual-dining chain puts a strong focus on design, as well as the quality of its burgers.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: friendly, tasty, juicy, cosy, happy

- When they say classic, they really mean it. It comes with mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion and a pickle on the side. You can add your own ketchup and mustard if you like.

- The burger itself was fantastic. It was perfectly cooked, just the right amount of pink inside and with a bit of seasoning. I was less keen on the bun, it was one of those floury numbers. Give me sesame seeds any day.

THE MEAL

Byron is my go to place when I need some protein and want something that’s simple and quick without a lot of hassle. Their meat patties are juicy and made to order. I also like that you can get a good-quality side salad with your order. The decor in this branch is much fancier than what you would expect for a burger place!

ENTERING

M, 30

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BYRON BURGER

OVERALL: Tasty burgers and fries, good choice of salads as well. Love the interior, bright but warm and enough cosy corners for a good catch up with friends.

- There were plenty of US-style diners; GBK had arrived six years earlier and burgers were a staple of the gastropub menu.

- The difference is that Byron recognised that we have as much of an appetite for great design as we do for great burgers.

- Maximum attentiveness from the cheery young servitors: they were highly responsive to my tedious intolerances, ensuring that the garlic-tainted dressing for my lamb skinny burger came in a separate dish, and when Da Boyz’ burgers were wrongly caparisoned in bacon, they swiftly exchanged them.

- When evening approached, they applied the dimmer switch so that the ambience is mellow and tender from the lights

- Despite the fact that the burger choices are limited, the beer catalogue includes a big variety on different and very tasty beers. I have to admit though that the burgers and the beers are little overpriced.

- My waiter recommended the cider which was fruity and refreshing; we also ordered olives to begin

- Trendy typographic lockups, with hand written scripts to 3D signage set in Eurostile Bold adorn the windows and interiors, exposed brick work walls with vintage paintings and custom beer mats advertising Byron’s own brand of craft ales all help to build up a quirky brand that may appear to be disjointed and messy, but actually hints at quality, craftsmanship and humanity.

- Busy exposed area

Their brand identity is certainly unconventional in that there isn’t a clear system; there’s no consistent logo, colour or typeface – no two restaurants are designed the same.

Experience Keywords: exciting, content, juicy, casual, homey, mellow

THE MEAL

ORDERING

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F, 34

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BYRON BURGER

DESCRIPTION

WRITTEN EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

DESCRIPTION

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EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- The first thing that struck me was the staff, each wearing a funky t-shirt with words such as Byron, Classic, Cheese and Pickle - The waitress sat me close to the exposed kitchen where all I could see was delicious food coming out, from onion rings and home cut fries to delicious burgers and homemade coleslaw.

Their friendly manner made me feel welcome and excited to be there.

I have previously visited Byron before as they have multiple chains across London.

Each chain has its own design

Byron run a formula that works and should serve as a reminder to others that quantity in locations shouldn’t always mean a dip in quality.

- Staff are efficient and polite - Looking forward to the salad

- I particularly loved the avocado, which added a nice healthy treat to the large salad. Although very nicely laid out, I would have preferred the salad to be mixed together and diced up more, similar to how the cobb salad is usually served i

- Salad consists of chicken, crispy bacon, avocado, blue cheese, tomato, free range egg, iceberg and house dressing.

- You get a very generous amount of food, that is presented very well

THE MEAL

- Would I pick this again over a burger?

Yes, yes I would, but only if I was in a ‘I must eat healthier’ mood, otherwise I would go for the burger, which can work out a lot cheaper and if you want, there is an option to have a salad as a side dish.

- As we were getting ready to leave, the restaurant really started to fill up and there was a queue outside the door. We went at 6pm and it was very quiet - Got their lovely business card when leaving, it was like a playing card

EXIT

Experience Keywords: gastronomic, classic, relaxing, welcoming, comfortable

- I decided to try something new at the popular burger joint and went for one of their salads. I tried the Classic Cob, a salad that you find everywhere - Very straightforward menu and the font was easy to read. Lots of burgers to choose from and you can also choose your own fillings

ORDERING

- With the queue being about fifteen hungry people long I was excited to be entering - The décor was distressed chic, a metal and wood interior and a busy, exposed kitchen.

- Byron is light and airy, but doesn’t quite feel comfortable enough spend a significant amount of time in. Maybe it was just the table I was sat at, the booths did look a little cosier… and maybe with a drink or two on board I’d feel differently.

- The staff were welcoming and polite though and the service efficient.

I had high expectations from the reviews

ORDERING

- A real bonus was the sharp little drinks menu with a sharp list of wines. Best of all on the drinks menu is the range of eleven craft ales. I had the Byron Pale Ale, it was a hoppy treat.

- The menu is simple and classic, consisting of the classic cheese burger, chilli burger, skinny burger, the ultimate Byron burger and a vegetarian portobello mushroom option.

THE MEAL

- There was an elegant simplicity to the food although the Byron sauce was very reticent - The meat defined the burger, juicy and delicious

- Burger perfectly cooked medium rare Scottish beef, friable but moist.

- Good quality meat - The courgette fries were a decent distraction from the obligatory spud fries, sweet and crunchy at the same time. As a side there’s also macaroni cheese, one of the world’s great food horrors.

I now understand what they mean by ‘proper hamburgers’, for this is how I’ve always wanted a burger and fries to be – simple, tasty, perfectly cooked, a bit neater… and not leave you feeling downright greasy and guilty.

It has lived up to my expectations; the delicious burgers, large sides and craft beers are a winner and for the excellent value for money (especially for us poor students) it can only go from strength to strength. I will definitely being eating at Byron again.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: tasty, welcoming, smoky, fresh, home-experience

I’m in love with the food and their amazing milkshakes but it was the friendly, welcoming staff that made our experience really enjoyable and I look forward to taking my friends and family there in the future. Bonus: they also have a takeaway menu. Well done, Byron!

ENTERING

Read a few reviews online and then decided in going to Byron

M, 27

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BYRON BURGER

In a city with a large amount of choice for burgers it can hold its head up as a place to go for families, friends and couples, where the burgers are good but the salads are amazing and where a simple milkshake can become so much more.

ENTERING

F, 24

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BYRON BURGER DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

The service was appalling, the young staff employed are masters of total emotional detachment and don a constant degree of condescending sighs. And as they only spoke Mandarin; this made the overall experience more despairing.

Feels very cramped despite the white walls Very cold air conditioning

- Drinks took forever to come and we had to ask them twice before they brought it to us - I was impressed with the quality of the xiao long bao but not with other dim sum and dumplings. Other dishes are rather salty and there is more rice than meat

- The food came before the drinks!

- The food arrived all together at once.

- There wasn’t much room for everything so everything was stacked one over the other.

- The food was much better than the service

THE MEAL

- Confused and annoyed - Very inattentive staff and very hard to get their attention

- The hidden service charge was nowhere to seen anywhere in the restaurant except for a small print on page 3 of the a la carte menu!

- The bill was a random total, doesn’t list out what you ordered - The name of the restaurant was not shown, instead it was another restaurant name

EXIT

Experience Keywords: horrible, confused, annoyed, irritating, appalling

Feels legit and authentic with the chef making the dumplings fresh

Very excited

- The service here is rubbish, the waitress didn’t understand when I asked for a beer and then when she did bought it to the table unopened

- We ordered a selection of dim sum from the dim sum paper (written in chinese and simple english that does not fully reflect the dish) If you are a foreigner, you can only order from the menu as well.

ORDERING

- The best dim sum that we had here was a sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf which had a little bit of everything in it.

- The tables are quite small and everything was delivered at once hardly leaving us any to eat.

- Everything arrived at the same time on our table and there wasn’t enough space for it.

- Not the best dim sum, very average and not legendary as advertised by their restaurant name and the food got cold very quickly because they had high air conditioning on.

- The worst thing was that we had to eat with our coats on, everyone did, it was so cold you couldn’t do anything else, it was like eating in a fridge.

THE MEAL

- Very unlikely to go back, they also tried to rip us off on the bill, we pointed it out to them and was treated with derision so I told them to keep the overcharge.

Terrible food. Dumplings legend? That’s a scam. Never go back. Worst dumpling we had tried ever. For heavy price as well.

A scam.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: terrible, betrayed, tasteless, cold, disappointed

OVERALL: The food here is mediocre, there are far better dim sum restaurants in and around China Town, we went here because our usual one was busy. Whilst most of the dishes were passable, none were legendary.

- Very simple design, you can see the ‘chop shop’ where the chef chops up the roasted chicken, duck and pork. There is also another kitchen where you can see chefs making the dumplings.

- You can hear Chinese songs playing in the background - Tableware: they used a paper like sheet to cover table

I have never been to Dumpling Legend but I have been to other restaurants in China Town for dim sum

M, 34

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DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE

OVERALL: The only good thing was the Xiao Long Bao which was the only highlight. Appalling service, there was a manager on the floor looking around and we tried to get his attention numerous times but it didn’t work. Even calling out to the waiter, they would sometimes ignore you

- Multiple guess and tick-yourself lunch menu.

- Mainly ordered Xiao Long Bao as this is their speciality.

- The server felt very emotionless, no expressions from them and they seem to be day dreaming and avoid eye contact

- White Walls, white tables - There wasn’t much space between each table - You can see the chef making the dumplings - The interior wasn’t much and very plain - There were many tables at the back of the restaurant, but they insisted on seating people at the front of the restaurant so it looked busy from the outside

ORDERING

My daughter wanted to meet here for lunch

M, 48

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DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE

DESCRIPTION

WRITTEN EXPERIENCE

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

DESCRIPTION

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EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- Lighting, which was like an interrogation strength and a bit of a mood-killer - Poor ambience - Didn’t feel welcoming

I was hoping for similar food and service

Some might think that it’s a good thing that the menu offers selections from all across the Chinese-speaking world but I beg to differ. (no focus on the cuisine)

- Disappointed with the food - Starter coming first disrupted the flow of the dinner and detracted from the enjoyment of the meal overall.

- They sent our meal to someone else and didn’t realize until we told them we didn’t have our food.

- They rushed it out and our chicken dish was still raw. It was so undercooked it wasn’t edible.

- The starter came out with the mains

THE MEAL

- I’m usually very forgiving but I don’t recommend people to come here Dumplings’ Legend is a bit of a missed opportunity let down by an over-ambitious menu that fails to consistently deliver.

- After terrible service they still charged us a service fee and never once apologized.

- The food provided by this restaurant are out of traditional.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: awful, disappointed, misfortune, unacceptable, tasteless

- Whilst we’re used to Chinese restaurants offering a varied mix of dishes, most places anchor themselves in one cuisine.

At Dumplings’ Legend, the offerings include Cantonese, Shanghainese, Sichuan, Taiwanese, and Straits Chinese dishes with no single cuisine dominating.

- So it was with some difficulty that I managed to order a mix of dishes that I thought might work as a cohesive dinner

ORDERING

Hard to communicate with staff and hard to get their attention.

Feels professional seeing the dumplings made fresh

- Very cramped between tables, very hard to enjoy the food - The staff just dumped the food on the table and they rarely make eye contact or smile

- Good dim sum but due to the air conditioning, it got cold very quickly - Inattentive rushed service

Don’t think there is the need to come here specially unless other places are full

- Very slow service when asking for the bill and doesn’t say what you ordered and you have to ask them to print out what you had to check - We were not greeted when we left

EXIT

OVERALL: The soup filled dumplings are quite special. Really very good and good value too. But service was appalling, even by Chinatown standards. I’ve never felt so systematically ignored. The staff must have received special training for avoiding eye contact.

- Lots of options for vegetarian and kids friendly - Very easy to order - The staff don’t understand much English and speak in Mandarin

THE MEAL

Experience Keywords: unprofessional, cramped, disappointed, feels detached, not happy

- Busy bustling restaurant - Decor is good, up market - Can see chef making dumplings

ORDERING

Good weather on a lovely sunny day in London adds to your appetite.

M, 28

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DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE

I was actually quite disappointed with this place... I though is was going to be really good as the name suggest but the dumplings themselves weren’t even close to the best that I have ever had.

- They prepare Xiao Long Bao to order right in front of you in their dedicated kitchen. Here you can stand and be mesmerised by they skill in show and maybe even pick up a few tricks - The interior was mainly white. White walls and white tables and with white lighting

This is a restaurant very similar to Din Tai Fung in Asia where the signature dish is xiao long bao, the famous soup-filled dumplings. Depending on their scale, these dumpling joints also serve dim sum and other dishes predominantly from the Shanghai/East China area.

F, 24

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DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- Tables by the display window are not ideal. Two or three seating tables, you will spend time scuttling and moving dishes around the table making sure there is space for the variety of dishes was ordered. It is ideal if you have a one dish meal.

- I realised that the dim sums were mostly steamed. Hence, note: when you go for dim sum, you want a variety; steamed, deep-fried, pan-fried, grilled and baked

- Not much variation of dim sum, mostly steamed - Menu felt very plastic and cheap

- Dumplings’ Legend’s exterior is painted in clean white paint. A huge glass display, flaunting the places’ diners. A clever business move. No surprises at all that chinese restaurants on Gerrard Street faces great competition.

- Inside, the entrance is spacious with the cashier counter to your left. Straight ahead are the stairs leading up to the floor above with more tables and a private room equipped with karaoke and a velvet cloth mahjong table. Toilets, on the same floor, look clean.

- Service was shameful. The “hello” and “welcome” words were used but with no significance.

- The waitress who ordered us to a table, with a response of a reluctant shrug as I took preference to another table than the one she had picked.

- Dishes which they are supposed to be well known for were not at all impressive, while the other unusual combinations just seemed like thoughtless whimsical acts.

- Dumpling pastry was thick and the filling a little tough and dry.

- Mango Pudding has a rather grainy texture. Served with evaporated milk, it tasted of, well, evaporated milk.

- The cheung-fun is silky, a nice texture, but the filling is somewhat cloying.

- The rice noodles beneath that are stuck together when you try to mix them, suggest that the noodles might have been sitting for a while before serving.

THE MEAL

- Judging by their response, I wondered if it was I that had behaved in a deplorable manner. Ouch, now, that hurts!

- Since when do managers decide whether to keep the discretionary service charge when it was a bad service!

We were treated to a lecture when we politely requested to remove the discretionary service charge; told that a discretionary charge was at the discretion of the manager rather than the diner!

EXIT

Experience Keywords: unprofessional, appalling, horrible, betrayed, terrible

ORDERING

F, 34

ENTERING

- You can feel the server has no passion when taking the order, not very friendly and don’t really care

- Good to see the chef making the dumplings, so you know it’s freshly made - Doesn’t sound very buzzing or busy like a normal dim sum parlour

- I have come here twice and both times felt rushed during my meal, with attendants taking away baskets with dumplings still in them which I then had to call after her to return.

- They are very slow to fill tap water requests and the first time they simply didn’t bring my friend a glass, despite her asking for it twice.

- Everything drops down a notch and the euphoria created by the xiao long bao gives why to a more standard Chinese meal. The garlic pak choi was solid though nothing special and the same can be said for the spicy pork belly and vegetables and the stir-fried vermicelli & ho fan with seafood and egg. It was palatable but just not mind blowing. The salt and pepper aubergine though proved to be a step above the rest and a dish I’d order again.

THE MEAL

- I don’t recommend people to come here.

- Appalling food and service - They started to clear our table and showing the next people to it even before we put our coats on!

- Were taken the pay machine as soon as we finished to eat. No-one bothered to say thank-you or goodbye.

- After terrible service they still charged us a service fee and never once apologized.

- Fake flavour and colour rich. Not to mention the incredibly rude and disillusioned staff.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: mediocre, disappointing, terrible, bland, stodgy

Overall though, a solid meal at a not overly expensive price. The Xiao Long Bao themselves are worth making the visit for. The service here is atrocious. Without a doubt the worst service I have experienced since moving to London.

- The variety of the menu is a very good - The menu is pretty elaborate and upon sitting down you are quickly attended to once you have placed your order the food comes quickly.

- Upon entering the restaurant the first thing you notice is a dim sum station open for viewing to customers, showing exactly what it is this place is good at.

- The place is a little bit crowed and the decoration a little bit poor

ORDERING

I went online to check out their website, quite poorly made, didn’t have much design to it

M, 44

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A somewhat below average meal that turned out to a bitter experience, for me. Glad they could afford to be high-and-mighty, but sadly with no grace. T he outside looks very inviting but that’s where it ends.

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DESCRIPTION

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EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

DESCRIPTION

THOUGHTS

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- I liked the menu with the description of the dumplings and how to eat them, had some nice illustrations - The staff were not very friendly and only spoke Mandarin - They do not know the food well either

- Looks very authentic - It is nice to see the chef making the dumplings

- I didn’t have enough dumplings to judge, but it was good and I enjoyed them - The food itself was hit and miss but decent enough.

- Rather than being spicy, there was a burst of ginger soup as I bit into the pork xiao long boa. Some people are a bit fanatical about their xiao long bao.

- The prawn dumplings had generous amounts of large prawn pieces inside (too often it is minced finely) and were also good.

- The beef was incredibly tender and although it was only mildly hot it gave me the chilli hiccups which have become a recent embarrassing feature of when I eat something that is even vaguely hot.

I wished it was more clear about the service charges and it wasn’t written in the menu or anywhere

The service was efficient with the food coming out quickly and the staff perfectly friendly. My only gripe would be that they add 12.5% service to the bill but this isn’t made particularly clear and I suspect many people end up double tipping as a result. (I don’t have an issue with service being added, just the fact it wasn’t transparent.) We paid £19 a head all in.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: efficient, tasty, cultural, comfort, satisfied

THE MEAL

- It was a pleasure to watch and certainly my appetite was stimulated.

Promising start!

- It is hard to find great dumplings in Chinatown. Chinese Experience used to do the best ones but they folded last year, unfortunately. You can imagine my excitement when I first heard about this restaurant.

- I am used to eating on the street, in the hawker centres or food courts in the Far East. But I do expect more in this kind of ‘modern’ and ‘designed’ setting.

- This ‘music’, together with the chatting of the diners, were ‘amplfiied’ in the dining area.

- The tables were packed together and the aisles were quite narrow. My chair got brushed by the turbo waiters on average about 2 times a minute.

- The hard wall surfaces don’t absorb sound and reflect the sound back to the space efficiently. It does not help that they were playing music loudly.

ORDERING - The xiao long bao dumpling was at perfect temperature and the dumpling skin was thin enough but in terms of taste, there isn’t much to it - The spicy one is not that spicy but very salty- it reminded me of artificial MSG. I could not taste any crab meet in the classic dumplings with crab meat.

- The dumplings were served in bamboo steamers, the dumplings should have been placed with a good distance from each other so that when they are cooked, they will not stick to each other. Our dumplings stuck together and the skin was torn as the dumpling was lifted up.

- Lack of attention to details, careless mistakes!

- The technique of the dumpling was good but lacking taste

THE MEAL

- We declined to pay this due to terrible service and the clear attempt to conceal the service charge and the waitress cursed us in a different language before producing a new bill.

- It is very rare that I wanted to leave so badly in a restaurant

- They hide the service charge on the bill by producing an itemised bill with the total torn off and the total written on a separate piece of paper. Take the time to add up the itemised bill and you’ll see the total bill is 12.5% more.

- Having a modern minimal looking interior does not automatically mean that the restaurant becomes modern and upmarket. The manager needs to run the place with a modern mind, not like a traditional Chinese restaurant.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: worst, sullen, perfunctory, inattentive, neglected

It is very rare for me to feel that the design of a restaurant and its management style can work so badly with each other that it turns the dining experience miserable. Most of the errors in service could be down to teething mistakes, and the staff just being rushed off their feet, and while I hope the restaurant will improve and flourish, I won’t be returning for a long time, if ever.

- Walk past a gallery kitchen in which the chefs prepare all the dumplings fresh.

- The restaurant is mainly decorated in white- white painted plastered wall with mirrors. It certainly looks smart and modern from Gerrard Street.

- It was sunny outside and lots of light shown from outside and we were sat near the window

ENTERING

M, 26

- Its name suggested their dumplings, or Xiao Long Bao in Mandarin to be precise, are so amazing that they are legendary.

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DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE

Chinatown really needs an excellent Dim Sum restaurant and if one ever decided to move in, I’m pretty sure it would be packed out every day. Unfortunately Dumpling Legend is not the solution to this age old dilemma, but gets decent marks for effort.

- The restaurant has a good reputation for xiao long bao so we ordered a basket of the spicy pork xiao long bao. If there were more of us I would have been tempted to order a couple of steamers of different flavours, however, as there were just the two of us we decided to go for a bit of variety and also chose the steamed prawn dumplings.

- Thinking the dumplings might not be enough we also ordered the curry beef brisket.

- The dining room was white, all of it, which sort of aggrandised the glass-encased dumplings kitchen at the entrance.

- The white-chef-hatted cooks assembling the xiao long bao in the window - The restaurant wasn’t busy and there were a lot of staff hanging around the restaurant floor

ORDERING

On Thursday night I met up with Ed for dinner after I missed our planned catch up last week by flying to Chicago for work. I fancied Asian food. Bao has been on my wish list for a long time, but their new restaurant in Soho has only been open for a few weeks and we didn’t fancy battling the hipsters to get a table, so selected Dumplings Legend instead from Lizzie’s excellent list of recommendations.

F, 43

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DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION WRITTEN EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

- Staff unable to answer our questions or respond to our requests

- We didn’t get our drinks til after our 1st course and had to ask for them then.

- Menu was easy to follow but when asked about specific dishes, the server doesn’t know what ingredients were used and they do not seem to care or have tried all the dishes - Server also spoke very broken English and didn’t understand what I was asking

- It was very basic inside and a bit cramped. Apart from the reception staff everyone else was miserable and the service was poor.

- In a virtually empty restaurant we were seated on a table between two other couples, only centimetres away, making it awkward for all of us.

- The staff did not smile or seem to care - With the staff being unfriendly, wasn’t sure if the food would be great

ORDERING

F, 32

ENTERING

- Some of the food looked inedible and smelt like dishwater - As the room was so small, the tables beside us were able to see and hear us complain

- I ordered veg and pork dumplings which were passable, my husband ordered the won ton soup with noodles.

- I ordered special fried rice and some crispy chicken, by this time I was becoming extremely concerned. The two dishes arrived, both of which were cold, - The waiter disagreed with me about the food, called the manager who reluctantly said the chef would re-cook this for me. It was returned 5 mins later and it could be seen that the food has been scraped off the plate and the rice had been reformed in the bowl. It was again COLD.

- We hastily left the restaurant.

- I would not recommend this restaurant

- We were rather furious with the cold food and didn’t eat, so me and my husband got up and put our coats on and went down to the desk to pay.

- They wanted £45 for food we were unable to eat, wine that was like vinegar.

Discussions were had and my husband said I will give you £15 take it or leave it.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: dreadful, furious, cramped, overpriced, poor

CONSUMING

- I find their specials really weird, colourful dumplings...it can’t be natural

- We came early and the place smelt a bit of bleach - Not very inviting atmosphere and feels very cold - Felt like being in an interrogation room

- The dumplings were amazing and the dishes were very fresh.

- Mixed luck in the quality of the dishes we received meant this was a middling experience

- Whilst dim sum is prominent that is by no means the extent on offer. There is a wide range of dishes, many less well known than at the standard ‘chinese’. So selecting a meal is interesting and offers some novelty.

- Each dish is sufficient to share, so it is easy to make a range of options to mix and mingle.

- Shouting at guests is not nice and the service was not nice, if you actually can call this service.

- We tried to complain to manager but he was not interested.

In the end we asked if the invoice included service charge. It was not written on receipt, only total amount by handwriting.

Waitress ripped the receipt out of our hands and moaned she will check. She came back and said it is included. We said we refuse to pay for this. Waitress started to shout at us “What is wrong with you!? I served you, you have to pay service charge!”. We said: exactly this is the reason we will not pay for it.

EXIT

Experience Keywords: neglected, cold, offended, careless, awful

CONSUMING

Lovely food, good selection, priced for China Town. It’s true, the dim some was very good but what ruin my lunch was the waitress who greeted us in the foyer. She treated us like cattle on a farm - shouted at us abruptly and showed us to a table. We seemed to be ignored by the waiting staff and whilst we waited for our food we were told NOT asked to move tables to accommodate a larger booking. Dim sum was good especially the dumplings but my experience was ruined

- With the uneven table they put together, we ordered different dim sums - The servers ignored us and when they did pay any attention to us the service was sullen, slow and perfunctory.

- The menu was easy to read and follow and has a description of what the dish is, but visually design-wise was done poorly for a modern restaurant - There were also smaller menus places on the table featuring their specials

- You can see the cooks assembling the dumplings behind a glass window - The servers are not very friendly, barely smiled - They gave us a table in a hidden corner Menu got dropped in front of us on the table, waitress ran off.

- Lighting-wise: Natural lighting from the big window but we were sat further in and they used white lighting

Have been there couple of times with my girlfriend because the food were not too bad, but the staffs over there were awful

ORDERING

ENTERING

M, 29

PRE-DINING

DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE

I had high expectations of this place because I heard it had great dim sum and the looks of the restaurant seemed good with chefs making fresh dumplings. However, it was just a lie and it was really just for show. The staff were non engaging, poorly attentive and at times rude. They really didn’t seem to care. You can tell they do not want their jobs.

We chose it as it looked clean and modern from the outside and it was busy and had Chinese diners which is usually a good sign.

PRE-DINING

DUMPLING LEGEND CHINESE

APPENDICES Casual Dining Sensory Experience This questionnaire is for academic research for MA Design & Branding Strategy, Brunel University. No personal data is required. The following questions are relevant to my design research project of designing an emotional experience in Casual Dining Restaurants. Your responses will be evaluated along with other information, which will only be used for my research to create a sensory experience framework.

Please choose one casual dining restaurant you have recently dined at and fill out as much detail as you can based on your memory and your sensory experience (sight, touch, taste, sound, smell).

4. How often do you eat out each week? * Mark only one oval.

Appendix C

1­2 times a week 3­4 times a week 5­6 times a week Everyday 5. Why do you usually go out to eat? * Mark only one oval.

Because I'm Hungry There is nothing to eat in the house

*Required

It’s a routine 1. Gender * Mark only one oval.

Male Female 2. Age * Mark only one oval.

Going with others Meeting others 6. When do you usually eat out? * Mark only one oval.

Breakfast Lunch

16­20

Dinner

21­26

Going with others

27­31

Meeting others

32­36 36­41 above 42 3. What type of restaurant do you choose when you eat out (Non­special occasion)? * *think of times when you meet up with friends or grabbing a bite after work or uni Mark only one oval.

7. What are the most important factors influencing your choice of the restaurant? * Tick all that apply.

Reputation Design Environment Word of Mouth

Cafe, Coffeeshop (Starbucks, Pret A Manger, Costa, Nero

Ambience

Fast Food Restaurants (eg. Mcdonald's, KFC, Burger King, etc)

Advertisemnt

Restaurant Chains (eg. Pizza Express, Zizzi, ASK Italian, Nando's)

Location

Family­run Restaurants (Stef's Italian, L'Ulivo,etc)

Type of Food

Independent Restaurants (Bill's, Jinjuu, Flat Iron, Breakfast Club, Burger & Lobster, etc) Fine Dining Restaurants (HIX, The Ritz, Pollen Street Social, Galvin at Windows

8. Name of Casual Dining Restaurant you have recently dined in? *

etc)

9. What was your first impression after entering the restaurant? *

10. Were you excited to be at the restaurant when you look around the room? *

19. Was there a Menu Board hanging in the restaurant? * Mark only one oval.

Yes No

11. What was the scent of the restaurant? * 20. What cutleries were laid out? How did they feel like? * 12. What colours/decor did you see? *

13. Was there an attention to detail in the design? *

14. What can you hear? * eg. background music, noise level of restaurant

21. How did the furniture feel? Were they comfortable? *

22. What materials were the furniture? * Please select the appropriate Tick all that apply.

Wood Plastic Leather/Faux Leather

15. What was the mood of the restaurant? *

Metal Glass Other:

16. Did you have to wait to be seated? * Mark only one oval.

Yes (Didn't make reservation) Yes (Made reservation)

23. Was the font type on the Menu easy to read? Did the written description reflect what’s on the plate? *

No 17. What lighting did the restaurant use? * Please select the appropriate Tick all that apply.

24. Did the food go well with the atmosphere of the restaurant? *

Dim Lighting Warm Lighting

25. Did the plates have a consistent style? *

Bright Lighting (White Light) Natural Lighting Other:

26. Was there an attempt to make the food visually appealing? *

18. Were there anything special about the interior design? * 27. When you took your first bite, what were your immediate reactions? *

APPENDICES

Appendix C

28. Were the flavours balanced? *

38. Did you stay for longer after you have paid for the bill? Were you under pressure to leave? *

29. If the dish was exciting, what made it so?

If it was mediocre, why? * 39. Were you greeted when you leave the restaurant? * 30. Did the decor of the restaurant fit well with the food? What could have been different? *

40. How was the overall experience? Were there any problems or things you didn't enjoy about? *

31. What were the colours of the food? * 41. What was the vibe of the restaurant like? * Please select as many as you like Tick all that apply.

32. What was the server like? Did he/she interrupt your eating experience? * eg. friendly, careless, welcoming, knowledgeable, rude, slow

Memorable Emotionally Engaging Distinct Vibe Uplifting Energy

33. Were you rushed to pay at the end? * Mark only one oval.

Welcoming Gloomy

Yes

Tense

No

Sterile (Quiet) Busy

34. Were you ask to take away the left­over food? * Mark only one oval.

Lighthearted Cooperative

Yes

Other:

No 35. If Yes, were the packaging designed to suit the restaurant? Or were they plain packaging that can be bought anywhere?

42. What 5 words can you relate to the restaurant? * It can be anything such colour, sound, surroundings, ambience

36. Did the server know you were ready to pay for the bill or did you ask for the bill? *

43. What feelings can you associate with the restaurant? *

37. Did you pay by card or cash? Was the paying process simple? *

44. Please rank your satisfactory level of the tactility factors * 1­ highly dissatisfied, 10­ highly satisfied Mark only one oval per row.

1

2

3

4

5

48. Please rank your satisfactory level of the flavour factors * 1­ highly dissatisfied, 10­ highly satisfied Mark only one oval per row.

6

7

8

9

10

Comfort of Furnitures Temperature of the Food Thermal Comfort (Temperature of the restaurant) Touch and Feel of the Materials Tableware

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

N/A

7

8

9

10

N/A

46. Please rank your satisfactory level of the smell factors * 1­ highly dissatisfied, 10­ highly satisfied Mark only one oval per row.

2

3

4

5

6

Artificial Smell (eg. chemical scents, citronella) Natural Smell (eg. food)

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

2

2

3

4

5

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

5

6

7

8

9

10

50. How would you rate the intensity of the experience * 1­ lowest intensity, 10­ highest intensity Mark only one oval per row.

1

1

3

Brand of the place Service performance Comfort of the space Unique Design Food quality Atmosphere/ambience (interior design, lighting) Price Location

2

3

4

Emotional experience (eg. how connected did you feel) Cultural experience (eg.learning/understanding customs, social behaviour of the food origin)

47. Please rank your satisfactory level of the visual factors * 1­ highly dissatisfied, 10­ highly satisfied Mark only one oval per row.

Colours of the Restaurant Colours of the Food Decorations Used Light Materials Internal Architecture (Inside the Restaurant) External Architecture (Outside the Restaurant) Ambience

3

1

Music Used in the Restaurant Noise generated in the restaurant

1

2

49. How would you rate your satisfactory level of the following (during your restaurant visit)? * 1­ highly dissatisfied, 10­ highly satisfied Mark only one oval per row.

45. Please rank your satisfactory level of sound factors * 1­ highly dissatisfied, 10­ highly satisfied Mark only one oval per row.

1

1 Food Beverage

6

7

8

9

10

51. Can you please grade your sense experience * 1­ lowest intensity, 10­ highest intensity Mark only one oval per row.

1 Sight Touch Smell Sound Taste

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

APPENDICES 52. Could you please select the words that best describe each of the VISUAL sensory experience during your visit? * Please choose at least three Tick all that apply.

Appendix C 54. Could you please select the words that best describe each of the TASTE sensory experience during your visit? * Please choose at least three Tick all that apply.

Light

Sharp

Dark

Chewy

Bright

Sweet

Plain

Sour

Fancy

Syrupy

Clean

Hot

Old Fashioned

Cold

Spacious

Bitter

Dull

Pungent

Cramped

Sticky

Homey

Astringent

Lightness/Darkness of the Colours

Bland

Intensity/Saturation of the Colours

Burnt

Other:

Zesty Earthy

53. Could you please select the words that best describe each of the TACTILITY sensory experience during your visit? * Please choose at least three Tick all that apply.

Rich Fresh Other:

Heating Cooling Wet Dry Dull Rough Smooth Furry Texture Sticky Hard Soft Feeling Scractchy Rubbery Other:

55. Could you please select the words that best describe each of the SMELL sensory experience during your visit? * Please choose at least three Tick all that apply.

56. Could you please select the words that best describe each of the SOUND sensory experience during your visit? * Please choose at least three Tick all that apply.

Aroma

Loud

Natural

Soft

Perfume

Echo

Spices

Happy

Kitchen

Deafening

Sea Pine

Noisy

Pungent

Melodious

Fresh

Sorrow

Clean

Chattering

Sweet

Melancholia

Strong

Nostalgic

Salty

Mellifluous

Smoky

Energetic

Sour

Cheerful

Spicy

Quiet

Antiseptic

Buzzing

Stinky

Dull

Rubbish

Other:

Other:

APPENDICES 57. Can you choose 5 words to describe your emotional experience * Tick all that apply.

Appendix C Eager

Frustrated Angry Irritated Unfulfilled Discontented Depressed Sad Miserable Scared Afraid Panicky Embarrassed Ashamed Humiliated Envious Jealous Lonely Homesick Sexy Romantic Passionate Loving Sentimental Warmhearted Calm Peaceful Contented Fulfilled Optimistic Encouraged Hopeful Happy Pleased Joyful Excited Enthusiastic Guily Proud

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APPENDICES Appendix D Guidebook

FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR CASUAL DINING RESTAURANTS

Anyone can replicate the food, but it is the Brand that differentiates it

you should hold off and fix some other areas first. Either way, we hope this helps you move forward with confidence and enjoy the ride.

a lot of thought before taking the leap. This guide book has been put together for you in hope that it will spark something either way.

Maybe you’ll see how you’re in just the right position to jump in or maybe you’ll see that

becoming a more durable brand but are afraid to engage with an agency. You’re not sure if it’s the right thing to do or if it will backfire on you. The good news is, you’re right to give it

reading this because you’re considering a re-branding for your restaurant or interested in

We’ll go ahead and assume that you’re

BEFORE WE BEGIN...

Self Evaluation Questions to help evaluate your brand and to determine opportunities to win

Core Factor The factor that builds a durable brand

Advice Possible Recommendations and Solution

Explanation of Core Factor A brief explanation of the core factor

This guide introduces different elements that can help improve your restaurant brand. The brand audit is created to help you evaluate the current situation of your brand and acts as a starting point whether if you would like to take your brand forward to consult an agency or fixing on some areas first.

HOW TO USE THE AUDIT

Dining Decision

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Taste

Smell

...then, we move onto the Dining Experience, when the customer is at the restaurant and the Intangible Touchpoints and Tangible Touchpoints a customer would encounter and the senses that are present at each layer.

From the centre, it starts with the consumer at the core and then layer by layer going outwards from the inner ambience to the outer ambience with the different touchpoints and senses they engage with.

First, we need to understand the Dining Experience process as a whole from the pre-dining stage to the end when the customer decides to come back or not; and the Physical Touchpoints and Virtual Touchpoints at each stage....

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Conduct Brand, Experience, Product, Service, Competitor Audit

Restaurant Brand wishes to improve

ONLINE and OFFLINE SEAMLESS CONSISTENCY

SEMIOTICS and TRENDS

Opportunity to win

RESTAURANT DESIGN, STYLE, PERSONALITY

CREATING A DURABLE RESTAURANT BRAND FOOD CHOICE

ENGAGED RESTAURANT STAFF and CREW

BRAND CORE VALUE DELIVERY

Build Solution based on...

CORE FACTORS IN CREATING A DURABLE RESTAURANT BRAND

You can’t be all things to all people. Your target audience can’t be men and women ages 13–59. You have to define a select group and go after them only. If people outside of that group get on board, great. But once you start targeting too many audiences, you’ll lose your core base. If you do indeed have more than one select audience, start small and target one at a time.

Always stay true to your core values, don’t feel intimidated if there is a new competitor. Just because your competitors are doing it, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily right for you. Their immediate and/or long-term goals aren’t necessarily the same as yours. Keep your focus on where you want to go with your business and avoid jumping on the re-brand wagon all for the sake of “just because.”

People like to know there are good people or a good story behind a business. Make sure that story is well-crafted and aligned with the business to make that essential emotional connection with the audience.

What are some of the emotional ways that your product/service are special and one-of-a-kind?

Are people confusing you with another competitor?

Why did you go into business? What was the spark that motivated you to start your business and kept you committed? List the reasons why you started your business and look at how they align with your feelings about it today.

What is your unique selling point and brand story?

BRAND CORE VALUE DELIVERY

Brand is a promise delivered, so what is your brand in the eyes of your customers and your teams that helps them be more engaged with you and be a part of building your business.

Whatever your core Brand DNA is, you must deliver this at every single touchpoint and through every sip/bite.

Keep track of your staff’s growth, progress and motivation. Your staff are as important as your customers, they need to be looked after as well. Staff who enjoy the work atmosphere create a positive vibe in the restaurant and customers can feel it. It is all part of the dining experience. People are more forgiving with bad food but not service quality.

Engaged staff deliver better for you. People will want to work for you, they will buy into what you stand for and will want to give their best. These are your brand ambassadors who interact with your customers, they need to know the brand story and values and be happy to adapt to different customers and fulfil their requests.

Have you done a brand assessment with your employees?

Ask your crew: How would you describe our Menu? e.g. Healthy, Indulgent, Equivalent to fast food?

Who do you think our competitors are?

How would you describe the vibe of the restaurant?

Your Menu Design: The choice of material choice, type face, colour of the menu needs to reflect the brand values, style and personality.

If the food you are serving is not common or well known or there is a large variety of choice, images and illustrations are ideal as they can be understood by the customer much quicker. It acts as a preview of the food the would be serving. The descriptions and names has to excite the customer

Expanding your menu is A-OK as long as it doesn’t get too far from your core offering too quickly. Sometimes it is ideal to stick to simple, solid foods and create a quality experience and atmosphere around it.

Are they aligned with the brand?

Is the food suited for your audience?

What audience are you trying to attract? e.g. family-friendly brand?

How is your emotionally? Are they enjoying their job?

Do you have weekly meetings with your crew?

Are their answers consistent and aligned with you exception?

FOOD CHOICE

The food your serve at your restaurant is your main product. The quality of your ingredients, choice of food and visual presentation defines your brand and how it may differentiate yourself from other competitors. Remember to stay true to your brand values and aesthetics, everyone can cook the same food, but it is the brand that differentiate it.

If you have a huge variety of food choice on your menu, are they consistent in quality and presentation?

If no, it would be ideal to shrink your menu and focus on a few dishes and to perfect them

Do your employees know what your brand is all about?

ENGAGED RESTAURANT STAFF and CREW

Having engaged Restaurant Staff Front and Back of House that connect with engaged Head Office team are vita. An engaged workplace encourages commitment, energy and productivity from all those involved to help improve business performance.

Are the touchpoints and aesthetics streamlined?

Does your aesthetic align with your brand promise?

What mood do you hope to create?

How do you want your customers to feel when they are in your restaurant?

Introduce sight elements which may evoke pleasant memory where the customer feels connected based on their own past experience .

For example, apply a fireplace in restaurant to remind homelike aesthetic; employ wood materials to remind a natural aesthetic.

Bright spaces with high ceilings breed sense of energy and vitality, and dim spaces lighted by wall sconces or lamps convey a cosier feel. Light not only has function of illumination, but affect people physiologically and psychologically.

A design element maybe the use of an open kitchen. People usually have their kitchen open to the dining area in a home. In restaurant design, transferring part of kitchen to dining area may create a homelike environment. Moreover, since sound enhances other sensory perceptions, placing the kitchen in the dining area provides customers with sound produced from the cooking process, which may stimulate appetite as well as reinforce taste and smell sensations. It becomes an entertainment as well and enhances customers’ anticipation of the food and enhances the eating activity from simply taste and smell to a sensory complex of vision, hearing, taste, and smell.

What are the key adjectives that describe the brand personality?

Describe the look and style.

The personality and emotional quality of the experience is just as important—if not more so—than product differentiation. It may be important for people to know that they can contact directly with the founder on social media platforms and connect them as a human being and not with a corporate hat on.

Differentiating by product is not enough. The entire experience must be unique. It’s the feeling and experience that ultimately stays with the customer.

Do your online channels (website, social media platforms) have the same brand tone?

What does your name say about you? Is it dynamic? Memorable? Fun to say? Does it make you proud to say you have a hand in it?

Have you set out a Brand Style Guide so you and your staff crew can always refer to?

Is your brand image, colour, style consistent across all the touchpoints?

Is your logo flexible to accommodate the packaging, social media and signage requirements of a variety of locations?

Do you have various versions of your identity that use different colours or font from each other?

ONLINE and OFFLINE SEAMLESS CONSISTENCY

Consistency is needed in everything you do.

Strong communications at every possible touchpoint that create emotional engagement with the customer. It is all part of the dining experience from the point when the customer engages with the restaurant website to the point when they leave the restaurant.

Do you deliver on a consistent brand experience from your operational behaviour to your external branding?

RESTAURANT DESIGN, STYLE, PERSONALITY

Design is a communication tool. It can tell a story or drive an experience in the form of words (menu), visual presentation (food and the environment), and sounds (music). The experience and design is as important as the food.

Beyond that, the language is so rich. When people are online, they are typically talking the way they talk to a friend. So, even in contrast to focus groups where people are trying to sound like “good” consumers, online they are a little less guarded. Because of that condor, You can get a much better sense of how people are feeling and how they are sharing your brand. e.g. Instagram - How are your customers taking photos. Twitter - Do they share their experience or complain?

Online social networks are certainly a very rich source of consumer insights. In terms of being able to get a very quick check on the pulse of your franchise, or people who aren’t in your franchise, it is particularly attractive to be able to plug into those networks and explore ideas and opportunities.

Is there a new competitor in your market?

Whether your key customers are dissatisfied, satisfied, or loyal? And who your advocates are?

What influences the “post-purchase” touchpoints on satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy?

What are your key customers’ needs, in each lifecycle stage with your brand?

Who are the most passionate users of your product/service? Try to define them. If there are several types, create categories that describe the different types of customers you have and theones you want.

Which interactions (or “touchpoints”) these key customers most value, and why?

Which customers are your most valuable, and why?

SEMIOTICS and TRENDS

There are definitely trends and market directions in the restaurant scene (street food, small plates and espresso coffee bars, to name a few over the past decade). It is crucial to be aware of these trends but when restaurants start obsessing over trends, they forget about what’s important: what people want to eat. A strong concept has a strong chance of outlasting fashion trends.

There are always new inspirations. Look around your area for new ways to make your mark while staying true to your roots.

You don’t need a complete make over, a light refresh might be all you need. Take customers’ views into consideration, otherwise you’ll risk alienating your core audience and you might be seen as attempting a shallow face lift.

Thank you for reading this guide! It was designed and written to help you decide if re-branding your restaurant is the right choice for you in this space and time.

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW