design:CASE / Sticks’n’Sushi

design:CASE Through a dedicated focus on interior and communication design, Sticks’n’Sushi has developed a strong design concept and a lead position as one of Denmark’s most successful restaurant and takeaway chains.

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This master case illustrates the value-creating and business potentials of design exemplified through the story about Sticks’n’Sushi.

FACTS ABOUT STICKS’N’SUSHI 1.000 kr

2004

2005

2006

17.275

21.448

27.348

Pre-tax profit

5.831

7.217

5.623

Post-tax profit

4.401

5.165

4.535

Gross profit

Sticks’n’Sushi was founded in 1994 by Kim Rahbek Hansen, Jens Rahbek Hansen and Thor Andersen.

Sticks’n’Sushi is a restaurant and takeaway chain that offers freshly prepared Japanese sushi and sticks menus.

The chain has an annual turnover of over 100 million Danish kroner and currently has some 300 employees in seven restaurants in the Copenhagen area. In 2008, Sticks’n’Sushi will open two new restaurants in Valby and Lyngby.

A deliberate design strategy through interior and communication design can also pave the way for international expansion. In the coming years, Sticks’n’Sushi is planning to open restaurants in nearby European cities.

STICKS’N’SUSHI (administration) 49, Nansensgade 1366 København K Denmark Tel +45 3311 7030 Fax +45 3311 7029 sticks@sushi.dk www.sushi.dk

Sticks’n’Sushi porcelain series, design Halskov & Dalsgaard Design and Design Factory

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

Kim Rahbek Hansen, managing director

hours. It soon became clear that the customers kept coming back, not just for the food but also for the ambience.

“Sticks’n’Sushi has a sense of humour, and that’s the spirit that we try to communicate to our customers. Every time we are about to deviate from that concept, we stop and take stock to get back on track.”

Kim Rahbek Hansen

Kim Rahbek Hansen describes the early days: “We had a sound business plan, which stated our mission and vision: Sticks’n’Sushi was to deliver sushi and sticks to as many people as possible, every day. Our vision was to grow our company to the benefit of the staff and the owners in Denmark and abroad, as long as it was still fun to do. That last sentence is still the most important one!”

TAKEAWAY BECOMES DESIGN

“We are ‘first movers’ – people keeps tabs on what we come up with. That is why w and brand development. That has cost us millions of kroner, but it positions us, an Every year, we invest part of the earnings in concept development in order to main Kim Rahbek Hansen

From the outset, Sticks’n’Sushi emphasised the down-to-earth,

One of them was the design of a medium-size paper bag

cosmopolitan style as their communication platform. They worked

for takeaway.

with architects and design and communication agencies to develop the interior design of the restaurant and kitchen, logo,

Takeaway customers typically had their food handed out in

menus and merchandise. The HR policy should also reflect and

aluminium trays that were placed in either a plastic bag or a large

communicate the Sticks’n’Sushi spirit.

paper bag. Kim Rahbek Hansen thought this was too impersonal and impractical for Sticks’n’Sushi. Again, he decided to go for

Kim Rahbek Hansen’s first focus was the design of the menu.

a more expensive solution and commissioned the design of

“It’s the first thing you pick up when you enter a restaurant.

packaging boxes and a medium-size paper bag that suited the

It’s like a price list that the customer chooses from, and that

purpose much better. They printed 150,000 bags, which made

makes it a crucially important means of communication. But

the entire business stand up and take notice.

menus were often greasy and sticky, even in fancy restaurants, and I found that puzzling. Instead, we turned the menu into

But the 150,000 bags for as many customers were soon used up,

a marketing instrument, using it as a business card that the

and the bag became a Sticks’n’Sushi icon. In fact, the bag became

customers would want to take with them.”

so popular that others copied the design. “We tried to patent the bag, but unfortunately we could not patent a size.”

“With the assistance of graphic designers and copy writers, we designed a menu, which we printed in 15,000 copies. A print

Then followed the launch of Sticks’n’Sushi merchandise, which

run of that size was unheard of, and it seemed like bad business

soon became hot items. The line included bottles of soy sauce,

when we could have made do with 10 or 20 menus. But it was

misodip, wasabi (the Japanese ‘horseradish’ used for sushi), pickled

all part of our communication strategy – and it became a huge

ginger and many other items. The design line also included T-shirts

success, which soon paid for itself.”

with text and graphics for the serving staff. The T-shirts became so popular that Sticks’n’Sushi was able to sell them as part of their

FIRST MOVERS THROUGH DESIGN With the success of the menus under their belt, Sticks’n’Sushi now had proof that the company’s communication design worked, so they quickly launched a series of follow-up initiatives.

merchandise selection.

we have employees dedicated to product nd it has proved to be good business. ntain our position as first movers.”

“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.”

Sticks’n’Sushi was one of the first takeaway restaurants to offer online ordering. This required an investment in IT and a new organisation of the work routines.

Sticks’n’Sushi merchandise products But for Kim Rahbek Hansen, IT is also an element in the overall

Design Jesper Keller, NOW Design Office

communication design. Customers order from the web site, buy merchandise and receive news about s’n’Sushi, which makes the IT platform a key sales and communication channel.

The IT system also provides the staff with the necessary information for use in the internal communication.

Sticks’n’Sushi menu Design Halbye Kaag JWT

GIVE THE DESIGNERS THEIR SPACE

From day one, Sticks’n’Sushi has worked closely with architects

“The room was a challenge for the interior designer, because it had

and designers.

four large pillars in the middle. The design proposal was to put in four tables, each with room for 16 guests, in the room between

“We have always been fortunate enough to be able to attract

the pillars. That raised the issue of where to place the guests who

good people with good ideas and concepts, and we have made

preferred to sit at two-person tables. The architect’s answer was

sure to give them breathing space. Good designers don’t want to

that they could be seated at the corners of the tables, and that

work with you if you don’t give them some space. After all, they

allowed the couples to sit across from one another.”

are good because they know what works and what is the most economical solution, so we don’t want to interfere with their

The design was approved because it was an untraditional solution

work too much.”

that matched the Sticks’n’Sushi spirit. The concept also reflected Sticks’n’Sushi’s interior design principle for their restaurants – they

“That’s also why I’ve never believed in analysing or testing design

have to reflect the spirit of their local area. “Sticks’n’Sushi is about

concepts, for example with focus group studies. Once a large

messages and designs with an edge and a sense of humour, and

group of people have to agree on a design, the interesting edges

that’s what we expect to from the designers we work with – they

are often trimmed away, and the design is watered down.”

have to be able to capture the Sticks’n’Sushi spirit.”

“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.”

Kim Rahbek Hansen

As an example of the way they work with designers, Kim Rahbek

Vesterbro is a neighbourhood where untraditional solutions match

Hansen talks about the design of the Sticks’n’Sushi restaurant

the local spirit.

in Istedgade in the Copenhagen neighbourhood Vesterbro:

Sticks’n’Sushi, Istedgade, Copenhagen. Architect: All Sticks’n’Sushi’s restaurants are designed by Terese Erngaard, Diener & Diener, Berlin

DESIGN MAKES THE CHAIN STRONGER

GOOD ADVICE ABOUT USING DESIGN

By Kim Rahbek Hansen • Good design with an edge provides more PR value than ads can buy – that is good common sense and good business.

• Maintain your brand to keep your customers coming back. Aim for design, quality and ambience, that is what sells in the long run.

Anybody can cut prices.

The different interior designs in the Sticks’n’Sushi restaurants are a deliberate design strategy, as Kim Rahbek Hansen does

• Give the designers some space! Otherwise,

not believe that chains necessarily have to feature a corporate

the collaboration becomes dull and fails to

design, where everything from interior design, tableware, staff

provide optimum results. The customers are often

uniforms and signage features a uniform style.

more robust than you might think, and they can handle design and messages with a bit of an edge.

“We set out with a common colour scheme for our first two restaurants, but we felt that it got too boring. It is so orthodox to go for a strict design line. We wanted to preserve the same good ambience in our restaurants, even if it meant the design line had to be a little looser. It is the ambience that matters.

Our only requirement for consistency in the design line is the design of the menus and the communication design. Everything else varies from place to place.”

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.”

“We don’t believe that there is any money to be saved by doing the same interior design everywhere, and the answer is definitely not to choose the low-cost solutions and materials in order to establish a uniform chain in a hurry. However, high costs don’t automatically equal good style or good design.

We put a lot of effort into designing our restaurants to make them express exactly the spirit we are looking for. This can be done in a high-cost or a low-cost design. But it has to be based on a strong idea!”

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

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Text: Pia Dandanell Parrot

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