University Food Counters & Outlets

When you are designing a look and feel for a food counter, it is important that the first visual impressions transport you away from your day and make you feel different, this is an unwritten code, food and beverage design agencies should work to, and a sub conscious mindset embedded into your customers routine, after all 99% of us eat with our eyes.

Stainless steel, plainly laminated, painted or badly designed front of house food counters, walls and bulkheads are functionally the best for cleaning, durability and price, but will ultimately do nothing for your brand, help diminish your foods flavour, destroy the customer experience and negatively affect sales. Don’t believe me? Well more fool you… A University located in the midlands and I put this theory to the test when the institution refurbished a great little space in the heart of a new student accommodation block, the counters weren’t anything special, they were standard rectangles, took on the polished concrete finish of the floor, had a HIMACS (a cheaper alternative to corian) work surface and some pendant lights over, a pretty basic, standard food counter with some standard cafe table and chairs (that wobbled) with a copper colour design scheme throughout. The same chef, with the same ingredients, served the same burger over this counter than in other accommodation areas of the University, which were similar looking to the top left photo you see above, and the feedback was ‘This Burger tastes way better than the one served over in G block’ ‘Its not fair, why should this block get the best food?’ Some students were even convinced the service was quicker, and would have even paid more money for the burger served over these simple, yet designed looking food counters. If you still believe your food counter area shouldn’t be treated like the hero of your establishment, then please just go and stand in the corner and have some stern words with yourself please : )

A university caters for so many nationalities, a spectacular customer demographic and high volumes of footfall at peak trading times throughout term time, so its only natural we would want to cram as many food offers into each outlet as possible, if your food outlet structure can take multiple offers and you can clearly communicate the Italian pizza and pasta offer alongside the soup station or grill then go for it, but we advise you not to lump it under one identity this just dilutes the offer, confuses the customer and turns a potential food place destination into a school canteen, in 2024 universities need to compete with the high street more than ever. Imagine if your favourite Chinese started offering Indian dishes, and your go to Indian started serving Chinese classics, you would rightly start to question the authenticity of the food, the Friday night treat destination is immediately diluted and the whole food concept becomes less fanciable and more mundane, then you start to question the quality, the price, the ambience, so you start going to Nando’s instead for a really simple chicken and chips, feeling like you have found your Friday night happy place again.

A clearly defined food offer that communicates what it is, will always stand a better chance at winning at the till, Greggs is a perfect example of that quick baked food offer, Subway is another focussed offer, KFC, McDonald’s, Domino’s, Nando’s, Cafe Nero, Love Churros, Burger King, Wagamamas, Pizza express, the list is endless, its tough for a university to offer ultra focussed food outlets, I get that, just please, for me, try not to overload too much : ). Counters changing throughout the day can help, in this digital age, screens with the changing of day part menus and if designed correctly can also support different looks alongside the food offer. Interchangeable POS, different small wares, reversible tariff boards, branded furniture, walls will all help turn the breakfast counter into the lunchtime wrap station then into the coffee, ice cream and smoothie shop in the evening.

For main feed outlets where we have 400+ diners shuffle through, you have to mix and match, to feed 400+ diners though, you will have space, huge counters and all sorts of areas we can categorise, to make the experience less school like, but somewhere in between the high street and a food court for young adults, this has taken us years of learning with many mistakes made along the way. It has become 2nd nature for us now, architects, facilities teams, procurement and project managers across the university landscape are similar, its a bit of a family like approach to delivering student experiences, so when it comes to food outlets and counters they are generally similar in output, which keeps me busy, and allows us to reinvent the wheel on a project by project basis which keeps our creative minds ever flexed, which is positively amazing.

The transformation we inject into foodie environments is plain to see, but don’t be fooled into thinking any old designer and printer will do the same, its been a long learning curve for us / we / me over the last 25years to make sure we survey correctly, use fit for purpose materials, applicate the graphics in the correct way, challenge our clients counter functionality, treating the students as shoppers, using retail shopper marketing skills we have acquired of the years and a bundle of common sense to boot along the way. Project management is also a skill we have mastered, fitters will be fitters, building schedules rarely getting delivered, structural delays, you’ve heard it all before, we like to be the last ones in, so we protect our work, but that doesn’t mean the design can be delivered during the build stages, we have learnt over the years, what we present can often changes direction of the build, food counter approach flooring needs to be considered, shopper journeys, queueing, electrics, finishes and way-finding often get overlooked or just plonked in as afterthoughts, which makes a huge difference to the end result, and will often be more expensive than employing us to do this for you in the long run.

Here are some examples of work we have delivered to outlets which weren’t going to well, we got the call, we brought the design funk and told everyone what we were doing, as well as where to find the new food outlets, students are lazy, convenience wins over everything apart from price in the majority of a young persons mind, an effectively designed pavement sign or wall decal shouting about the new veggie / vegan food outlet will work, if the experience is a good one then the tribe will follow, even if it is 10 minute walk. This is another reason to bring in the experts earlier, during the planning phases, we will bring to the table all sorts of best food and beverage practices to the project.

Before

A walked past outlet on the main thoroughfare from Birmingham university station into the heart of the campus, just a perfect location, although Costa and Wok Station is 300m up the road with a cool basement seating area and outside spaces.

After

Disruptive, memorable and a focussed food offer, it’s trendy to be a student and vegan, right? Cool to be seen entering the vegan establishment and later be noticed, displaying the trendy coffee cup and branded paper bag with your vegetarian chocolate brownie inside. The unit sold more coffee as it was cheaper than Costa, and the healthier, vegan infused branding made it ok to frequent.

Before

What am I? What do I sell? What’s my name? Who is my customer? What is my colour scheme? How am I shopped? How do I look? When do we open? What’s on special today? There is literally question after question : (

After

I am a proud to exist food and beverage outlet located in a university, I am a deli with a salad counter, a noodle bar and I sell hot and cold drinks, my colour scheme is a dynamically patterned teal which complements the raw, natural surrounding textures and materials, I will be shopped from left to right thanks to the help of my brand new tensa tape, I look good now and boy do I feel good to, Im open from 8am – 4.30pm, my special today is buy any hot drink and get either a piece of fruit free or a cookie for just £1… No structural changes, we have given the food outlet an identity, a personality and a new set of clothes, the sales doubled overnight and the feedback on the look was amazing.

Below are some more before and after images of work we have delivered within the university catering outlets up and down the UK.

Before

After

In conclusion, the overall benefit of having a great looking food counter is it will heavily contribute to the sales success of the outlet, and here’s why: –

1. A branded food counter will provide a destination, give the whole outlet a desired personality that will attract and engage customers.
2. A visually appealing food counter can serve as a gathering point for students and staff, fostering social interaction and a sense of campus community.
3. Through a creatively designed food counter you have the opportunity to promote consistent, catering and university messaging.
4. Great looking food counters reflect positively, not just for the catering team but the whole of the university.
5. Food outlets, including counters are a fantastic locations to promote the catering, and overall institutions sustainability efforts.
6. You are competing with high street brands and the internet, you need to appeal to your customer base.
7. Effectively designed food counters and outlets boost staff morale as well as enhancing the overall dining experience.
8. Strategically designed food counters stimulate shoppers, and encourages them to make a purchase.