InterContinental Hotels Group
Brief "Define the future of IHG's luxury and boutique F&B business". IHG believe that there is an opportunity to better define, and potentially re-invent their approach towards F&B for these two brands, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo, in a way that not only improves the performance of this business line, but also drives the awareness and perception of the brand.
Strategy FMC carried out an in depth audit of the European estate for each brand to identify the issues and get a clear understanding of what needed to be done in order to fully answer the brief. The next stage was to wholly develop the concepts and philosophy for the F&B for each brand and this was achieved working with WhatIf Innovation. Also as part of the solutions we advised on the organizational structure for F&B Europe as well as marketing, training and implementation management.
Results The Project is now moving into the implementation with the InterContinental in Berlin and Hotel Indigo Kensington being the first hotels to have a complete overhaul of their existing F&B outlets.
Harvey Nichols
Brief The aim of the newly formed Harvey Nichols Restaurant Group was to locate iconic and substantial sites to develop their stand-alone restaurants. The Oxo Tower Restaurant Bar and Brasserie was the first of these such sites.
Strategy We found the site, pitched to the Landlord Coin Street Community Builders and won the bid to develop the unit. We employed Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands to design the Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie and worked with Michael Nash Associates on the brand identity and graphics. The team was very involved in the recruitment of the senior team and chefs and assisted in the training, menu development, wine lists and cocktail selection. We managed the process from shell and core to opening and beyond.
Results The Oxo Tower Restaurant Bar and Brasserie opened in 1996 with huge international interest and praise from the critics and to this day is fully booked and continues to generate very good profits on turnover in excess of £14 million.
Obika Mozzarella Bar
Brief We were approached by the Founder Silvio Ursini to locate, develop and manage additional sites in international locations for his Obika Mozzarella Bar concept that he opened in Rome in 2004. The first target was London with other cities to follow.
Strategy Firstly to gain a clear understanding of the Concept and understand the product, how it was made and how to get the Mozzarella to London so that it was a fresh as that served in Italy. The next step was to find the right location, manage the development and oversee the installation, set up suppliers and hire the management and team to run the outlet.
Results Obika opened in London in Selfridges Department store in Oxford Street under a concession agreement and traded successfully from the start. The next opening was in La Rinascente in Milan which to this day is the most successful site that they have in the group. Today Obika trades in Italy, England, The United States and UAE with currently with 17 sites open.
Nespresso Café
Brief FMC were invited to tender for the development and launch of the Nexpresso Café concept, working alongside the company's Retail Innovation Manager - Antoine Cornet. The brief was to advise on the detailed F&B offer, style and brand philosophy for this new business and assist the concept roll out into new territories.
Strategy Our approach started with two crucial elements; firstly a review of whether the outline concept was commercially viable and grounded, and secondly a thorough interrogation of the proposed design and layout for the operation. Working with the architects and technical teams , FMC evolved the concept into a fully working design capable of handling the volume and service quality required. The next stage involved working directly with the café management team to review recruitment, training and deployment strategy. FMC proposed a third party solution for the food offer and worked with premier, global catering providers Do&Co to develop an offer that could be locally produced in multiple locations and delivered fresh on a daily basis. This relationship has now resulted in a join venture partnership with Nespresso for the roll out.
Results The first Nespresso Café (pilot site) will open in Mariahilfstrasse, Vienna in March 2015 and FMC are now actively pursuing a London property for the second site.
LEGO Brand House
Brief To design and procure a fully interactive, child-friendly, restaurant experience for the new Lego Brand House development in Billund, Denmark. Utilising the unique and durable legacy of the Lego brand and product to communicate informative and educational messages about the food we eat and where it originates from.
Strategy Working with New York based design agency Ralph Appelbaum Associates and conceptual artist Marije Vogelzang, the consultancy devised series of seating layouts, production centres, and hi-tech interactive food ordering systems allowing young visitors to construct their meal experience in a Lego-style fashion. Using the same colour set and 'building blocks' philosophy of the bricks, we were able to visually and physically recreate the Lego play experience through food . The development is designed to cater up to 1,000 meals per day and additional creative work was done for external terrace dining and mobile snack carts.
Results The Lego Brand House is scheduled to commence building works in 2014 subject to planning and funding approvals.
The Savoy
Brief As part of the Fairmont Hotels £220m refurbishment of the iconic London Savoy in 2008-10, the consultancy was engaged to create and deliver the bespoke Savoy Tea Shop & Patisserie.
Strategy Advise on spatial layout for the shop, retail units design brief and merchandising strategy for fresh, chilled and ambient products. Working closely with the Fairmont management team and specialist design agency Pentagram, the consultancy evolved a range of luxury food packaging that embodied the heritage, quality, and opulence of the Savoy brand whilst offering guests a robust, yet beautiful way of taking a memento of the hotel home. The consultancy sourced all of the fine teas and hand-made preserves, and advised on the fresh retail products made in-house.
Results The hotel re-opened in October 2010 to international acclaim and the Savoy Tea Shop & Patisserie has traded strongly from day one.
La Samaritaine / LVMH
Brief DFS, the Hong Kong based luxury goods and duty free retailer (and owner of LVMH) purchased the iconic La Samaritaine building in Paris with the aim of restoring it from derelict shell to its former position as the very pinnacle of high end shopping in the city. FMC were engaged to develop all aspects of F&B including 1300m² Food Hall and and 1400m² of cafes and restaurants.
Strategy In order to position the F&B offers for La Samaritaine at a world standard, FMC undertook extensive research of contemporary food retail globally and identified the key elements necessary for successful design and operation. The business also had to be structured to handle conducted tours of premium, Asian tourist groups so circulation and transaction handling were critical. Introducing the concept of 'tastemakers' throughout the retail experience helped to create a genuine sense of customer engagement. Detailed fixture briefs, ranging strategies, and floor layouts enabled the design team to realise the concept into 3D form.
Results La Samaritaine development is currently negotiating final planning approval for the complete development of the building and annexe and is anticipated to be completed in 2017.
la Rinascente
Brief To create the total food and beverage offer on the 8th floor of this existing flagship department store next to the Duomo in Milan. The brief included food retail, restaurants, bars, cafés. To bring together a team of specialists in kitchen design and equipment, lighting, epos, security, sound systems and all the other facets to create the total offer.
Strategy Firstly to gain a clear understanding of the Milan market in terms of food retail, restaurants, bars and cages. The consultancy then worked with its chosen architects and designers to develop a food market, various restaurants and food stations. FMC assisted Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands in the overall design concept, selected the concessions and assisted with contract negotiations and recruited the management team.
Results The food retail and restaurant floor has been a tremendous success for La Rinascente and they have rolled out the concept into other major stores over the past 5 years.
Fenwick Newcastle upon Tyne
Brief Fenwick's original department store in Newcastle upon Tyne has operated a hugely successful food hall since the turn of the last century, however in the last ten years it has been overtaken by the influx of alternative, quality food retailers into the city and a substantial lack of internal investment. FMC have been engaged to design and create a brand new offer comprising retail and restaurants over approximately 1,200m² of ground floor.
Strategy FMC conducted a series of Focus Groups with local shoppers and opion formers alongside an online survey of over 12,000 Fenwick customers. The survey produced an unprecedented level of response, and there was clearly a huge emotional attachment and sense of loyalty to the store and its heritage. Drawing on the heritage theme, and needing to differentiate from Waitrose & M&S, FMC created a layout with fresh, traditionally presented produce at its core surrounded by mid and premium brands. The retail proposition was strongly anchored by two brand new, own bought restaurant operations and a branded Asian concession restaurant. FMC will now realise the concepts with design agency CADA and the main contractor through to opening.
Results The Fenwick Board approved the detailed design drawings in December 2014 and £4m funding was awarded in January in 2015 for an Autumn launch of the new food hall and restaurants.
The Quince Tree
Brief To create a flagship, destination venue incorporating high end farm shop, deli, café, pub & restaurant with private meeting rooms on the outskirts of Henley-on-Thames. Taking the site from partial completion to full opening including all aspects of recruitment & training, product ranging and selection, PR & Marketing, and systems set up.
Strategy Carry out a full review of the existing plan and build progress, making relevant and practical changes without delaying the schedule of works. Working closely with the architects and business owner to increase versatility of the spaces whilst maintaining design integrity. Thorough research of the local and national market to create commercially sound food service and retail propositions across the site. Designed and implemented comprehensive range of own-brand retail products. Planned and delivered a comprehensive recruitment plan for senior management and provided full induction and communication package for them. Provided operational and strategic support to the owner and management team for 18 months post-opening and launched second site after 14 months of trading.
Results The Quince Tree was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in its first year of operation and financial performance has grown steadily during the initial trading period. The launch of a second site in west London has allowed the brand to gain a foothold in a more urban environment and further expansion is planned for 2014.
Park Plaza Hotels
Brief The consultancy was bought in at the preconstruction stage to develop the total food and beverage strategy for the hotel, including the restaurants, bars, room service and banqueting. This was to include all front of house, back of house kitchens and support functions.
Strategy The consultancy worked very closely with the corporate team and the management of the other Park Plaza Hotels for which it had previously carried out a similar role. The hotel required sufficient flexibility to be able to feed all the 1,019 guest rooms at breakfast without ending up with a banquet type dining room. In addition separate areas were created to manage the very large banqueting functions, over 1,000 for dinner or 1,400 for delegate seating, without disturbing the other hotel guests. The team was very involved in the recruitment of the senior team and chefs and assisted in the interior design, uniforms, collateral and table top for each outlet.
Results The hotel opened very successfully and continues to enjoy high occupancy rates and good feedback from its guests, with Brasserie Joel achieving 4.5 stars on Trip Advisor
Project: £140m · Kitchen Installation: £1.7m · Size (sq ft): 670,000
InterContinental London — The O2
Brief "Create & Develop Five Original Bar & Restaurant Concepts for the new 5* property Intercontinental London The O2." IHG along with operating partner Arora Hotels wanted to ensure that they were installing world class, stand-alone F&B propositions within their new build hotel on the Greenwich Peninsula. To achieve this, they looked outside of the main architect and designer and engaged FMC to produce compelling and innovative concepts.
Strategy FMC undertook substantial market research into the local area, world food trends, and IHG guest feedback from their estate. Taking cues from the region's historical association with maritime, international trading, and artisanal production the consultancy created a series of complementary, yet individual bars and restaurants satisfying different day parts and guest requirements. The final concepts were delivered as a presentation package with mood boards, sample menus, detailed analysis, and design direction.
Results The Intercontinental London The O2 is scheduled to open in the Autumn of 2015 and will be realising all of the concept designs created by FMC.
Bob Bob Ricard
Brief We were approached by Leonid Shutov who had recently moved to London from Moscow if we would assist in finding a site and developing the rather unique restaurant and bar Bob Bob Ricard.
Strategy After an extensive property search we found the site in Soho and helped negotiate the lease terms from the current owner. We drew up a short selection of top design firms and David Collins Studio were selected to develop the incredible interiors visualized by Leonid. We assisted with the construction phase, recruitment of the key members of the team and provided guidance of training, licensing and operational matters to get the business up and running.
Results The restaurant has gone from strength to strength winning much praise for its design, humour éRing the buzzer for Champagneé as well as the excellent food and service.
Fenwick Brent Cross
Brief Fenwick department store Brent Cross is undergoing an £8m refurbishment and development plan, with an additional floor being added and substantial reorganisation of the trading MATs. In order to bring the catering offers up to a standard that reflects the new retail proposition, FMC were asked to create a new customer restaurant on Level 3 and also coordinate the relocation and repositioning of the staff canteen, providing 250 meals per day.
Strategy A move away from the outdated and low quality counter service offer was proposed, so a complete review of back of house facilities and total catering personnel was undertaken to establish the strategy for change. Working with DLSM, the consultancy designed a new 100 seat restaurant and coffee bar, with a table service menu-driven offer. Substantial re-training and implementation of operating standards and systems was carried out enabling all of the existing team to be retained, supported by key new appointments in front and back of house. The new food offer and standards have been used to drive the updated canteen menu and the new space has been specifically equipped to hold, and dispense a much improved proposition.
Results The new customer restaurant launched in Summer 2014 and is trading substantially above previous figures. The staff canteen move is set to be completed in February 2015 in line with the overall development of the new top floor.
Jumeirah
Brief To create the total food and beverage offers for, Al Iwan, Al Mahara, Al Muntaha, Bab Al Yam, restaurants and bars, for the worlds first 7* hotel, starting from shell & core right the way through all design to opening. Working alongside world renowned architects and consultants we formed the basis and layout designs for the food and beverage offers, then became the pre-opening team to opening and implementing.
Strategy Two years of development prior to opening we created the concept for the restaurants and bars. The consultancy then worked on sourcing the produce, quality and supply lines to provide the menus and offers we created. It assisted in the overall design concept, oversaw the total fit out of the F&B areas and construction, we then recruited internationally the senior management team and Chefs which were then overseen by the consultancy through the opening for 12 months of the initial trading period.
Results Burj Al Arab has become one of the worlds most iconic buildings as well as its global status for such exacting standards and International awards. The Jumeirah group has since grown exponentially having had had such overall success of the Burj Al Arab.
Project: £450m · Kitchen Installation: £5.8m · Size (sq ft): 1.2m
Eden Project
Brief To design and procure adequate facilities to produce and serve up to 15,000 high quality food & beverage transactions each day ranging from 'grab n go' snack pods to full table service restaurant operation , and all associated logistics and support services to facilitate this. Once built, the consultancy were responsible for recruitment, training and development of the entire F&B team for the site.
Strategy The consultancy worked directly with the lead architects and project management team to design a full, on-site CPU kitchen facility capable of freshly producing all of the food for the site on a daily basis. In conjunction with this we created a combination of self-service, counter service and table service restaurant and café offers with a capacity of over 1,000 cvts. Speed of service and transaction processing was paramount whilst also ensuring a sympathetic and considerate approach to the Eden Project core values and philosophy, and delivering a consistently high quality product.
Results Eden Project opened in Spring 2003 and immediately surpassed all forecasts for anticipated visitor numbers. The consultancy were able to mobilize additional resources to assist in the creation and operation of a series of pop-up food and beverage propositions to cope with the huge demand. Eden Project has continued to prove hugely successful and has secured its place as one of the country's top visitor attractions with around 1 million visitors per year.
Project: £141m · Kitchen Installation: £1.3m · Size (sq ft): n/a
Tsvetnoy Central Market
Brief To create the total food and beverage offer, including food retail, restaurants, bars, cafés and a night club, for this iconic new-build department store in Moscow, from shell & core right the way through to opening. To bring together a team of specialists in kitchen design and equipment, lighting, epos, security sound systems and all the other facets to create the total offer.
Strategy Firstly to gain a clear understanding of the Moscow market in terms of food retail, restaurants, bars, cafés and night clubs. The consultancy then worked with its chosen architects and designers to develop a food market, café, two restaurants and a night club across three floors of the store. It assisted in the overall design concept, oversaw the total construction, brought in the selected operators and recruited the management team which were then managed through the opening for 18 months of the initial trading period.
Results Tsvetnoy has won numerous international awards and continues to trade very successfully. F&B turnover exceeded US$25 million in the first year of trading and is a major contributing department to the overall success of the concept
Fondaco dei Tedeschi / DFS
Brief Fondaco dei Tedeschi is an iconic Venice building located next to the famous Rialto Bridge and has served as a trading post, palace, market, and residential property during it's 800 year history. Purchased by the DFS Group in 2013, the property will be transformed into Veniceés foremost, premium retail expereince with a mix of fashion, beauty and food. FMC were engaged to create a compelling and exceptional food retail proposition.
Strategy An initial study was undertaken of the city and tourist shopping habits, which coupled with research into the wider Italian fine food & drink markets helped to develop a bespoke gourmet shopping experience, representing the very best brands and independent producers. The unique internal structure of the building lent itself well to creating a series of boutiques, each focusing on a speciality area and staffed by 'experts' in their field. Detailed ranging, fixture specifications, floor layouts and cashiering strategies were presented alongside technical data and specification for food production and food service facilities.
Results The Fondaco dei Tedeschi development is currently submitted for planning approval with the Venice authorities and the building is expected to be completed by 2018.
Arnotts
Brief To undertake a feasibility study for the development and launch of a new Foodhall concept within Dublin's oldest department store. To carry out a comprehensive review of the own-bought and concession restaurant mix within the store and make recommendations for changes and improvements.
Strategy Initially, we compiled data and information from researching the food retail market around Dublin and cross-referenced this with UK industry information to create an innovative and commercially attractive proposition. Several schemes and locations were developed for a Foodhall development along with extensive product ranging and merchandising data to provide a turnkey operation. The in-house restaurants were independently reviewed and we seconded an Executive Chef to the store for 6 months in order to implement a thorough overhaul of purchasing and production. We also worked one to one with the Catering Manager for the business to implement new systems of reporting and operating to increase profitability.
Results The consultancy achieved a significant uplift in EBITDA during a twelve month period, returning an additional €300,000 profit across F&B operations. Due to the economic crisis in Ireland at the time, the banks recalled their capital investment in the business and the Foodhall development was not carried through.
