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The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Any restaurant brand follows a sequence of dream, to visioned story, a name — articulation in space, made to place.

Space = cavitation + emptiness, silence and aloneness.
Place = warmth / humanity / beauty + containment / story [and possibly: spectacle]

Our role: dig in to the minds of the founding team — that’s Bradley + Mikel, following on — in the spirit of our earlier teamed collaborations listen, watch, explore, draw and build out — there’s a threading of the idea coming from the inspired minds of Bradley, food & Mikel, operations, service and guest attention.

Be there, be the beacons in the relationships to the guest. Talking to Danny Meyer, where in one string of days (3) in NYC — I saw him at 3 of his restaurants [none conveniently close-by, or in easy walking distance, one to another – instead more distantly dispersed in the city. And there he was — walking them, greeting them. Today, seeing Brad from the street, my car —
he leapt out, “hey, why aren’t you in there, visiting inside?”

That, the connection, it’s the glue between the man, the chef, the founder — and the person — the guest, the diner — there, so too: Mikel, operations, smoothing the easy liquidity of a well-run restaurant — which is one in several things, food, but it’s touch, love, grace, light, pleasure, sensuality.

Great restaurants and the brand stories they tell are invariably about people — the founders, their stories and the sync to the people therein — the guests. That’s it, that’s everything.

Great food comes from great people.

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Exploring the tactical sequence, new brand building in experience strategy

It might be proffered that there is nothing more experiential in brand development than restaurant design.

No brand promise — to offering — quite holds as much as the character of holism in brand sensation strategy design than the synergism of the design of food & beverage experience — eating, drinking, scent, light, human ambiance and the connection of the crowd — “happy” sharing; then, the “human brand” component — the leadership and live touch of the people: from founders and visionaries to chefs, servers and on-site offerers of guesttouch. How is a customer touched? My intimation doesn’t necessarily prescribe touching people, but more so — the points of contact and personal connection. People do that, for and with people, it’s part of how warmth and connectivity occur. Without that, brands fail — and more surely, restaurants die.

How the GIRVIN Brand restaurant | experience strategy function? It starts with touch, a gathering a brand think shop:

Our process is touch-based.
Long back, I realized that any successful restaurant is managed by [surprise!] — people!], the vibe and experience controlled by the human presence.

Since then, we refuse to work on a restaurant concept that doesn’t take into consideration — straight off — who’s [ or — will be] managing it?
Who will be there — directing flow and brand vibe [our thinking on warmth character and presence]?

Of all, a restaurant is — first and foremost — a place.

The hearth of warmth — fire, action, creativity starts in the kitchen.

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Fournder and chef, Bradley Dickinson, meeting with the kitchen-build team.

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Interior details [ Robert Norwood ]

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Menu assembly — simple, fast, daily customizable:

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen
The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen
The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

[Below:] William Johnson + Tim Girvin, key branding team members on Pearl and Koral.

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Courtyard signing / entry

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

Iced logo signing / opening launch party (also shown above)

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

A LOVELY EVENING, SOFTLY OPENING: KORAL
LAUNCH STORIES.

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

MIKEL (LEFT) SCHMOOZING

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

MIKEL (LFT CENTER, BRADLEY, RIGHT CENTER) REELING STORIES

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

THE MENU — THE PRINTING PLATE:
DISTRESSED WITH DRAWN SKETCHES OF THE LOGO IDEATIONS

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen
The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen
The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

THE CUSTOMIZED FONT / LETTERING — THE KORAL PRESS PLATE

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

“This, the art of our offering — made by hand — for you, by me”

The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen
The birth of a new brand | Bradley + Mikel's Koral bar & kitchen

I was studying some notes from Howard Schultz about the idea of gathering relationships, one by one.

That “the community of Starbucks would be built in a string of one-by-one embracements.”
That spirit of one-by-one, it’s really about friend to friend
and, in deed, step-by-step [generally speaking] is how the art of food [or drink] is made.

“This, I offer to you, made with care by me — just for you.

Tim | Downtown Seattle, The Pike Place Market
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BUILDING TRUE BRANDS
MONSTER STRATEGY + MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT =
E N C H A N T M E N T + B R A N D STORYTELLING