Pantrini’s is a successful fish & chip restaurant (Area finalist for Seafish Awards 2009), with a good customer base that was in need of a face lift. It’s absolutely imperative that the design as well as being more modern and having the obvious ability to attract new customers, it didn’t alienate its long standing customer base who represented a wide demographic.
Pantrini’s is a family run business that has been based within the community in different guises since the 1920’s. We felt it was imperative to ensure that we made a point of promoting the solid heritage of and how Pantrini’s has been woven within its local sea front community. We achieved this through using old pictures and images around the restaurant and the back of the menu’s, showing the various cafes/restaurants that the Pantrini family have owned, showing them over time as each new venture opened and different generations of the family business took over. These images/pictures really helped to tell a story of evolution and how the business has grown with Whitley Bay seafront over time.
As well as the above the owner had 3 key elements that he wanted the scheme to produce:
- Hardwearing - he was looking for a 10-15 year return on his investment
- To pull through the company’s logo and create a brand image – Pantrini’s has a very striking logo, coloured Yellow & Black, so we had to build these colours into the restaurant/takeaway and achieved this through the “Pantrini’s stripe”.
- The owner was very keen and had in his plans a future expansion, he wanted consistency across the look of his shops and therefore we had to design a scheme that had elements that were easy to replicate and help to make it instantly recognisable as a Pantrini’s outlet.
The Pantrini’s sea front operation was a converted into shops in the early 1900’s, meaning that we had to work with the confines of the original design and not afford the freedom that a purpose built blank canvas can bring. Despite the hurdles it could be no less efficient as an operation as a self made unit, we therefore had to make every nook and cranny, every bit of space count to deliver an incredibly smooth flowing, functional operation.
The job was of medium-large proportions for a single dwelling restaurant which obviously drives up the cost, however the owner had a tight/strict budget for a project of its size. The fact that we have all elements under one roof meant he could gain an immediate advantage dealing with us, but we also had to use all of our relationships and negotiating skills with our supply chain to ensure we could deliver the project within his budgetary constraints.
The project took 12 weeks in total and delivered on time, we also managed to find a way of working that still allowed the business to trade and operate on a daily basis. As ever we achieved an exceptionally high standard and delivered a scheme that has since won many plaudits.
“The look of the new shop restaurant is amazing, I was unsure how they would combine a modern feel without taking away the tradition that our regulars love so much. However they seem to have achieved it with ease, it actually seems funny looking back at what it used to look like, it looks so old fashioned I could never imagine it being like that again! Quay Shop Fitters also worked closely with me and my staff wanting to know every detail of how we work and operate to ensure that everything had a place and a home, to make our working day as easy as possible. Previously it could be a little unorganised with items finding their place by default rather than design. Hat’s off to Quay Shop Fitters, they’ve succeeded in achieving a very upmarket fish and chip restaurant.”
Paula Curran, Operational Manager,
Pantrini’s | Sea Front