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LA BOTTEGA DEL CAFFÉ
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Stansted Airport + Tottenham Court Road
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Moodboards
Barnaby Gunning Architects
February 2014

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ITALIAN STYLE

3. Concept
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Forward looking Italian glamour with the confidence and
welcoming grandeur of a "Gran' Caffè"
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The coffee shop market in the United Kingdom is dominated
by a brown aesthetic that combines rough surfaces, wood,
brick and stone with chalkboards, reclaimed lighting and
artificial ageing to try and create a homely, improvised, feel.
There is a ritual to getting coffee in Italy that differs from the
Anglo Saxon coffee house - drinking coffee in Italy is both
social and functional, with quick consumption at the bar being
typical. The resurgence in coffee shops in the UK driven by
chains like Starbucks has tended to emphasise coffee
consumed at the table or taken out in cardboard cups.
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Italy is synonymous in the British mind with excellence in
gastronomy and where other international cuisines are often
intimidating, Italian food can be thrilling as well as
approachable and comforting. But Italy is also renowned for
excellence in fashion, design and manufacturing. Italian
companies have a reputation for stylish innovation. The
resurgence of Fiat around the cheekily stylish Fiat 500 brand is
an excellent example of this. La Bottega del Caffè will bring
this friendly yet fashionable attitude back to the ritual of
enjoying great Italian coffee and food.
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La Bottega del Caffè needs to differentiate itself from the style
of its competitors and emphasise its core brand values of
Italian passion and local spirit. The freshness of the food and
excellence of its coffee need to be prominent in the physical
attributes of the outlets and customers should feel that when
they are in a Bottega del Caffè they have momentarily been
transported into a glamorous, chic Italian bar.
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The materials used might combine high technology processes
like 3d printing and milling, the use of composites such as
glass and carbon fibre, high performance ceramics and heat
formed glass with traditional durable materials such as marble,
timber and steel or zinc.
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ITALIAN MATERIALS

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AN ITALIAN RITE

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ITALIAN GLAMOUR

7. Store Layout
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The primary element of the store layout will, like a grand Italian
caffè, be the bar. This will be clearly visible even from outside
the store and the layout of seating and even the back of house
areas will be considered to make the most of it.
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The freshness of the prepared food on sale is a key aspect of
the Bottega del Caffè so it makes sense to allow customers to
see focaccia being filled and displays being replenished. The
back-bar area should make a feature of this and although the
individual processes (slicing of meats, preparation of fillings
etc) are not particularly theatrical or glamorous, seeing the
preparation of the goods is the most effective way to illustrate
their freshness. Refrigeration, proving and baking are all better
handled in a back of house area along with food storage, dish
washing and waste management.
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Ideally the new Bottega del Caffè outlets are going to be busy,
particularly during the morning rush and at lunchtime, the
layout of the store needs to allow for a high rate of customers
whilst avoiding confusion, and preferably whilst allowing
customers time to make us pressured purchasing decisions.
There are different approaches to how this is best handled,
from the Pret a Manger system where sandwiches and
prepared foods are in refrigerated wall displays away from the
point of sale, to the Starbucks/Caffè Nero approach where the
customer queues past the food offerings before placing an
order.
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In quieter periods, and at the end of the day, the outlet should
avoid looking empty without the need to over-stock fresh food
that will consequently be wasted.
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Seating in the units should combine at bar consumption (this
might be standing) with tables and chairs and could even
include some more casual seating. All three areas should
feature great Italian furniture.
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£
cibo e bevande
preparazione
£
caffé

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9. Areas inside the Shop
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Choice
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While they are approaching the bar, customers should be able
to see the food products on sale clearly. Packaged goods and
bottled drinks should all be within the customers reach when
they are at the payment point and they should have a good
clear view of the fresh items that are behind the bar. Where the
existing regent street outlet uses the length of the bar to
display first savoury and then (eventually) sweet items, the new
outlets should provide more sales and payment points each
stocked with the full range of produce. At peak times, more
payment points might be active, in quieter periods the inactive
payment points might convert to additional bar area for
consumption.
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Ordering and Paying
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We should not underestimate the potential number of
customers in busy locations. Observation of competitors units
in mainline stations and airports shows that they is the
potential for more than 10 customers per minute in a decently
sized outlet. Many of these customers would not be prepared
to wait extensively to be served or would not return a second
time if they felt that a long wait was inevitable. Starbucks style
linear queuing is extremely limiting but it allows for relatively
low staffing levels. Most small outlets manage a single queue
with a pair of payment points at the end. Paired queues are
possible but the number of payment points is limited. The
customer engages with an employee as they reach then end
of the queue and once they have paid move through past the
coffee machines to pick up their drink. Prêt à Manger style
vertical queuing allows for a more organic queue with multiple
pay points and multiple drinks preparation.
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The type of food and beverage ordered and where it is being
consumed may affect the tax applicable.
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Preparation
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There are different timescales for the 'assembly' of an order.
Pre-packaged goods and bottled drinks are immediately
available where fresh food may need to be bagged up and hot
drinks may take a couple of minutes. Heated foods, whether
focaccia on the grill, lasagne or similar, are likely to need up to
five minutes preparation and may require customer
identification at the end. Customers who have paid need to
feel that they are still in contact with the team behind the bar
and it helps if they are aware of the progress of their order.
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Consuming
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On premises consumption will be at table and at the bar.
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At bar consumption would have the benefit of keeping the
customers engaged with the staff, allowing them to start
eating/drinking earlier and avoiding the need for staff to seek
out the customer at the end. At bar consumption also makes
it easier for staff to manage cutlery and crockery. It would be
feasible to manage a lower level bar area suitable for
wheelchair access as part of the overall design concept.
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At table consumption is more conventional from an Anglo-
Saxon perspective. Seated areas even inside the unit should
have more the sensation of street side eating. There will not. E
at table service, but customers will need to be able to carry
their food and drink to the table and staffing allowance will
need to be made to clear and maintain the seating area.
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Services
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W.C. Facilities on the premises should follow the design logic
of the overall outlet with high quality finishes and a touch of
glamour.
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Secondary Functions
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One of the brand goals of la Bottega del caffè is to engage
with the spirit of the location, and a part of this might be by
providing a forum for local activities, businesses, communities
and creativity. This might, as has been trialled in Regent
Street, be by encouraging exhibitions of work produced by
local artists, students etc.
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One possibility is to look for complementary locally produced
goods that could be promoted alongside the food and drink of
la Bottega del Caffè. These might be displayed at the point of
sale or behind the bar, or could be virtual promotions such as
links through to web based businesses or software/music.
Ideally these would not be food or drink related offerings as
these would most probably dilute the core brand. There is
potentially, a lot of management and coordination required in
establishing these kind of co-promotions.
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It is worth considering that traditionally, people develop an
affinity with a bar through familiarity with the people that work
there. Stopping for coffee in the same location each day and
being recognised by the staff is invariably more effective than
any less personal marketing event. This can be hard to
manage in urban locations where staff turnover can be high
but small things like ensuring the staff member's name is
clearly visible on their uniform and is permanent looking
(embroidered, not printed) all help the customer feel
comfortable in establishing a long term relationship.

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ITALIAN ABUNDANCE

13. Areas Outside the Shop
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Signage
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The Bottega del Caffè typographic brand is well suited to print
and merchandise but less developed at present from the
perspective of external signage. Potential customers need to
be able to identify the shop quickly and from a reasonable
distance. The bold typeface used in the secondary messages
would appear ideal for the external signage as a label using
simply the word "CAFFÈ" to the right hand side and possibly
on a projecting shop sign. This should be combined with the
signature brand to the left hand side of the fascia. The label
should be back lit and could be entirely screen based.
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This is particularly important for the Stansted airport unit
currently under consideration. Passengers emerging from the
retail area of the airside will see the Bottega del Caffè unit
directly in front of them and they need to be thinking from their
first glance that this might be a great place for them to grab a
coffee, something to eat and maybe something to take on
board their flight.
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View into the unit
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Shop frontage should prioritise transparency so that passers
by can see the bar area fully and get a sense of the spirit of
the shop. Internal and external lighting should reinforce this.
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External Seating
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External seating where it is possible should be exactly the
same as the internal seating, the sensation should be of the
exterior permeating the interior and the interior spilling into the
street.
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Visual Merchandising
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There are three basic principles that will underline the display
of produce it the new Bottega del Caffè outlets.
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1. Any customer should be able to see the full range of
produce clearly whilst they are queuing and whilst they are at
the point of sale.
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2. Fresh produce, which will be served by staff behind the bar,
should be prominent, comprehensible, well lit and kept in
excellent condition.
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3. Packaged produce and drink should be readily accessible
by customers at the point of sale.
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This can be supplemented behind the bar with further
marketing material in relation to hot drinks and pricing
information or brand graphics but the prime aim should be to
make the product display the primary place the customer
looks.

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ITALIAN SPECTACLE

15. MATERIALS