July '08 News

SHH have completed a bold and striking new design concept for Russian tearoom operator Teaspoon, with the first outlet to house the new design now open in the new-build O'Key shopping mall in southern St Petersburg.  Teaspoon is an existing, 6 year-old and 70-strong Russian chain of tea and pancake houses, based mainly in St Petersburg and Moscow region and sited in high street and hypermarket locations. 

We were briefed to create a highly contemporary concept, but one that was specifically Russian and non-generic!  The strongest new design feature – a 6m-high wraparound ceramic wall - took the existing orange of the Teaspoon brand and added two further tones of orange, along with black and white for contrast.  Taking inspiration from traditional Russian folkloric art, the colours were combined to create a location-specific, huge scale ceramic wall, which dominates the space. 

Igor Kolynin, Marketing Director of Teaspoon, commented on the design: ‘This is a great design concept which exceeded all our expectations.  One of the main tasks for the design was to raise the average spend by 30%.  Encouraging customers to spend more money is not a matter of pricing, but a question of the environment, which should encourage longer dwell times and higher spend.  Early signs of success include an increase in customer numbers and average spend is already up by 30%.  We really wondered if foreign designers could understand Russian style, rather than giving us a tourist’s view of Russia.  We wanted to move from the fast food to the casual dining sector and with the new design we have succeeded in this.’