2018 marks the hospitality industry’s farewell to urban design and industrial style. The days of vintage bicycles on the wall are over. The economy is picking up and guests are looking for chic spots to go for dinner. A modern, stylish decor fits in with that. Out of the box and bold. In other words, instagrammable. Not only the food on your plate is important, so is the plate itself and the table underneath.
The concepts developed for culinary establishments by Rein Rambaldo’s Horecafabriek score high with a critical audience such as millennials. How does he manage to invent spot-on concepts that fascinate young audiences over and over again? Watch the video.
Instagrammable is key
Social media is an essential part of it. Instead of banning them, hospitality entrepreneurs might as well embrace the many smartphones that are increasingly present during a night out. Why not visit the inspiring StreetfoodClub in Utrecht or SoSo in Zoetermeer? This idea can be seen in the bright pink restaurant concept at MaMa Kelly in Amsterdam, designed by Rein Rambaldo.
The more instagrammable your restaurant is, the easier it is to make a name for it through the social media channels of your guests. Make sure to be the first to set a trend. It’s not interesting to do the same as others because you see they’re making money. It’s for that reason that MaMa Kelly in Amsterdam opted for an entirely pink design. The source of inspiration was a small New York restaurant that was completely pink. Rambaldo was surprised by the people visiting the restaurant and was greatly inspired. ‘The little restaurant was packed with a mix of young and old: women and men. This showed me that pink is just a colour, in the end it’s about the product,’ says Rambaldo.
“The design shouldn’t be too distractive. That is quite tricky at MaMa Kelly. Guests pull their phones from their bags and pockets like guns when seeing the entirely pink interior. People want to take pictures straight away, but that’s what our specially designed selfie box is for. Guests queue up to take a selfie in it. It turns out that the chickens and lobsters pictured on the carpet and the upholstery of the chairs and sofas in the basement are also popular to share on social media. Every level of the four-floor restaurant is different. “As a result, guests have something new to discover every time they visit. That allows MaMa Kelly to keep up with the big boys in Amsterdam.”
