Friday, 15 January 2010
Friday 15th Minutes
People in England - Look at coffee shops here. Leeds (Harvey Nicks)? Manchester? Places with a concept?
People in NYC - Visit Max B at different times of the day. Other shops. Look at BIG places (Rock Bar?) Indie bars. Buy coffees and keep the packaging. Menus etc. PHOTOS!!
Have a group meeting once we are back and bring all our photos together and brainstorm!
*Interesting* New York Times - RESTAURANT REVIEW | MAX BRENNER, CHOCOLATE BY THE BALD MAN
Tom #
When Bettys opened its doors for the first time in 1919 it was just as our founder, Frederick Belmont, had visualised – customers were greeted by a tempting array of delicious Yorkshire and Continental confections in the shop, and an elegant Café Tea Room served teas and meals in the traditional English style. It was an immediate success.
Nearly ninety years later and we welcome more than one million customers a year to Bettys. We’re still a family business and continue to stay true to Frederick’s founding principles that everything should be ‘fresh and dainty' and that ‘if we want things just right we have to do them ourselves’.
There are six Bettys Café rooms
Bettys Harrogate
Bettys Harlow Carr
Bettys Ilkey
Bettys York
Bettys Nothallerton
Despite countless requests we’ve firmly refused to open Bettys branches outside Yorkshire. Our commitment to keeping Bettys small and special means that we can keep a watchful eye on every detail – and make sure every visit to our tea rooms is a memorable one.
Frederick, traveled on the Maiden Voyage of the queen Mary's
He loved the splendor of the ship so much that he commissioned the queen Marys, designer and crafts men to turn a furniture store into his most sophisticated branch yet- an elegant cafe
This is an image from the Queen Mary's ship.
So Federick had mixed his love and experience of the queens mary ship and also his love for the Yorkshire outdoors which reminded him of his home country Switzerland and combined the two and created Bettys cafe and tea rooms.
Just a little secondary reaserch on Bettys
Tania
Thursday, 14 January 2010
YO! Sushi
Another dining 'experience', Yo! Sushi.
The website states that "YO! Sushi was a brand new concept in dining and catapulted Londoners into the 21st century which made us the most talked about dining experience." Max Brenner also has it's own unusual and exciting concept which could be developed into a brand that gets people talking!
http://www.yosushi.com/about
I particularly like the use of illustration on the wall montage to enhance the japanese experience, as one of the groups illustrators I would enjoy doing something like this for the Max Brenner brand!
Amy
Absolut Ice Bar
ABSOLUT ICEBAR LONDON is the UKs first and only permanent bar made entirely of ice. That temperatures in the bar are kept at a constant minus 5 all year round. Keeping with the experience of visiting this bar everything inside is made from crystal clear ice harvested from Northern Sweden. The bar is completely re-designed every six months with a brand new theme making visiting this bar a unique experience for its visitors.
I feel that the chocolate theme is something that really needs to be pushed as a new concept to be introduced to the UK. Customers would visit almost as an attraction, due to the exciting experience that they would fail to get from any other cafe bar.
Amy.
this is the link to the facebook group I love chocolate for people to comment about what their fav chocolate is. Hopefully people will do it, guess we'll have to wait and see!!!
Vic
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
High End Chocolate Brands
Lindt Chocolate
Suisse chocolate company Lindt have been established since 1845. They are a very popular chocolate produce with production companies in production companies in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, USA and Austria, distribution and sales companies in England, Hong Kong, Spain, Poland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Mexico and the Czech Republic as well as sales offices in Dubai and Ireland. Lindts main objective is to be the leading quality chocolate maker in all the relevant markets.
http://www.lindt.com/uk/swf/eng/about-lindt/history/1998-until-today/
Lindt are starting to make chocolate cafes, much like Max Brenner. They currently have two cafes in Australia. Which are seen as quite a big tourist attraction as well as something office workers can use.
http://www.cocklebaywharf.com.au/venues/45/lindt-chocolat-cafe/
Thorntons Chocolate
Thorntons Chocolate is a Bristish chocolate company established in 1911, it is the UK’s largest retailer in specialist chocolates. They have around 400 shops and cafes and 200 franchises. The Continental and Special Toffee account for almost £80 million of Thornton's sales and are often cited as two of the favourites among the Thornton product line.
They have tried to make an impact abroad in France, America and Belgium but this never been successful.
Green and Blacks
Green and Blacks is a company centering around using organic ingredients that are ethically sourced. ‘This perfect balance between taste and principles is what we stand for and why we pay a premium for all our ingredients.’ Green and Blacks was created in 1991, after a husband and wife team (Craig and Jo Sams) discovered the chocolate after Craig was sent a sample.
Craig was the found of ‘Whole Earth’- an organic food company. ‘Jo was convinced other chocolate lovers would appreciate it in the same way she had and they set about making the world's first organic chocolate.The final product was a high-quality, bittersweet dark chocolate bar, packed with 70% cocoa solids - enough to make chocolate fans sit up and take notice.’
http://www.greenandblacks.com/uk/home.html
Louise