Teriyaki Madness – Interior Refresh – Christopher Michael

Teriyaki Madness – Interior Refresh Case Study

Teriyaki Madness is a rapidly growing, fast-casual restaurant chain that serves up a fresh and bold take on traditional teriyaki bowls. While the menu is creative and delicious, Teriyaki Madness was struggling with an interior identity crisis. The witty, irreverent voice used throughout all of the brand’s marketing was not being reflected in their flat, mostly grey interiors. With 50 existing locations and another 50 new restaurants set to open in 2020, we were tasked with coming up with an answer to the elephant sized question in the room – “If we are Teriyaki Madness, then where is the “Madness” in our restaurants?”

The majority of the restaurants used large, flat colored walls and a uniform furniture arrangement which created an overall cafeteria feeling devoid of any of the vibrant, witty brand voice showcased across their marketing platforms.

Our objective was to create a more dynamic, engaging space that utilized bold, bright colors and layered textures reminiscent of the roots of teriyaki food.

The Brand Discovery process begins by creating an Inspiration Board using found imagery that exemplifies the dynamic space and layered textures and materials needed to create a less sterile dining environment. These materials are then shown on a Mood Board as a means of visualizing how the finished pieces would fit together. We used these combinations of images as a launchpad to open the dialogue and collaboration process with the Teriyaki Madness executive team.

We also created Conceptual Renderings of the space so that the Teriyaki Madness team could visualize the finished product and make revisions to the materials and treatments to best match their vision of the new interior.

Thoughts on the initial draft of the revised concept were that the space looked too much like a barbecue concept and was too dark. In order to better represent the freshness of the Teriyaki Madness product, the space needed to be much brighter. The large, overlapping poster wall showcasing the witty brand messaging was a success and would be carried on to the next round of revisions.

The next Inspiration Board, Mood Board and Conceptual Renderings would reflect these changes to the space. A large, bold mural wall using the Teriyaki Madness mark and the introduction of a fresh, teal color along with white tile and light wood floors helped to brighten up the space.

After a few more revisions and the introduction of our newly designed “Kung Fu Chicken” that added some fun, irreverence to the space, we landed on our final Mood Boards and Conceptual Renderings. The final space would include the addition of white tile, large swaths of the brand’s signature red, a darker floor and the overlapping poster wall.

After finalizing materials and textures throughout the four-walls of the space, it was time to shift to the furniture and fixtures. The addition of separate colored backings to the booths helped to tie in the overlapping color schemes used throughout the newly designed space. In an effort to keep the visual friction to a minimum, simpler more streamlined furniture pieces were chosen.

Lastly, we create a breakdown of the new design elements and show them overlaid across an actual store layout. These tools can be used by the internal design team to showcase the new ideas to general contractors and the design team.

Showcase of the new store design at the recently opened Downtown Denver location