After a request from the on-site catering team at Mars led by Malcolm Hopwood, General Catering Manager, Sodexo, Space got to work on developing a better and bigger coffee shop design that would rival coffee bar design on the High Street. More space, more choice and more flexibility were top of the list of priorities.
Space’s Steve Fear talked to those working and using the café to find out what cafeteria design they really wanted, before coming up with the bold new coffee shop design. More hot and cold options, fresh deli and sandwich ideas and more healthy choices, especially at breakfast, were the order of the day. As were longer opening hours and, ultimately, round the clock service for those finishing the late shift.
The solution was a clever galley-style servery, open at one end, with a generously proportioned food and drinks preparation area neatly fitted behind a sleek run of counter units to the front.
Everything is close to hand as a good coffee shop design should be with machines to make every kind of hot beverage, panini grill, microwave combi oven and chilled storage – this new cafeteria design makes it much easier for the team to deliver orders quickly and efficiently.
Customers work their way along the tempting displays of snacks, pick up a freshly baked danish or healthy fruit smoothie or linger and choose their fillings for a sandwich and watch while it’s freshly made up for them. There’s heartier fare from the hot food section, including porridge for breakfast and soup delivered piping hot from the special soup kettles.
Space believe that whether they are creating a kitchen design, coffee bar/shop design, cafeteria design or a restaurant design, the end user should be considered at every step of the process delivering ease of use for the team and a great customer experience.
“Space really listened to what we wanted and gave us a brilliant new café which is lighter, brighter and a pleasure to use,” explains Malcolm Hopwood. “Everything flows really nicely; people get their food in a more logical way and it’s simpler to work in too.
“Sales are up by 40% so far and we’re serving more than 600 hungry workers a day. The best part is definitely all the positive feedback we’re getting from our customers though; one of the directors said “at last – we’ve got a world-class café” while we’re asked daily when we’ll be open 24/7.”