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A vision of communication
When Kim Rahbek Hansen, Jens Rahbek Hansen and Thor Andersen opened the first Sticks’n’Sushi restaurant and takeaway in Nansensgade, Copenhagen in the beginning of 1994, they agreed that the food should be 100% Japanese. The interior design, however, should be cosmopolitan in style, and Danish and international pop should be playing through the loud-speakers. As a result, Japanese tourists and resident Japanese did not feel at home and stopped coming. The place was embraced by many other customers, though. Many, many other customers.

Sticks’n’Sushi had struck a chord with their target group of Danes who liked the idea of a freshly prepared Japanese meal at an affordable price without having to shop and chop for hours. It soon became clear that the customers kept coming back, not just for the food but also for the ambience.

Takeaway becomes design
From the outset, Sticks’n’Sushi emphasised the down-to-earth, cosmopolitan style as their communication platform. They worked with architects and design and communication agencies to develop the interior design of the restaurant and kitchen, logo, menus and merchandise. The HR policy should also reflect and communicate the Sticks’n’Sushi spirit.

Kim Rahbek Hansen’s first focus was the design of the menu. “It’s the first thing you pick up when you enter a restaurant. It’s like a price list that the customer chooses from, and that makes it a crucially important means of communication. But menus were often greasy and sticky, even in fancy restaurants, and I found that puzzling. Instead, we turned the menu into a marketing instrument, using it as a business card that the customers would want to take with them.”

“With the assistance of graphic designers and copy writers, we designed a menu, which we printed in 15,000 copies. A print run of that size was unheard of, and it seemed like bad business when we could have made do with 10 or 20 menus. But it was all part of our communication strategy – and it became a huge success, which soon paid for itself.”

“We are ‘first movers’ – people keeps tabs on what we come up with. That is why we have employees dedicated to product and brand development. That has cost us millions of kroner, but it positions us, and it has proved to be good business. Every year, we invest part of the earnings in concept development in order to maintain our position as first movers.” Kim Rahbek Hansen

“We have always invested heavily in the design of graphics, labels and packaging, because it is essential for us to position the chain – and it has proved to be a good investment.”

“For example, we recently developed our own porcelain series for the restaurants. The series was presented at Biennale for Crafts and Design 2007 and was designed by Halskov & Dalsgaard Design and Design Factory. It is completely unique to our restaurants.”

Give the designers their space
From day one, Sticks’n’Sushi has worked closely with architects and designers.

“We have always been fortunate enough to be able to attract good people with good ideas and concepts, and we have made sure to give them breathing space. Good designers don’t want to work with you if you don’t give them some space. After all, they are good because they know what works and what is the most economical solution, so we don’t want to interfere with their work too much.”

“Sticks’n’Sushi is about messages and designs with an edge and a sense of humour, and that’s what we expect to from the designers we work with – they have to be able to capture the Sticks’n’Sushi spirit.”

Design makes the chain stronger
At Sticks’n’Sushi, the food is the key focus area. This is where economy of scale can be achieved in the production process as one of the benefits of being a chain. The menus that the customers order from are the same across all the restaurants and takeaway outlets. The variation in restaurant design offers customers a variation in experience and ambience within the chain, but always with the unique ‘Sticks’n’Sushi spirit’.

“Our customers know what we’re about in terms of the food, so they pick a restaurant based on the ambience they’re in the mood for. Because we are able to offer a wide variation in ambience, customers don’t have to go to a competing restaurant. They are able to shop around within our chain.”

“A good design concept is good for the bottom line in the long run, and our design strategy has borne that out.”