Creative Action’s Euro flavour for Smoushi

Restaurant start-up Smoushi has appointed Creative Action Design to develop its branding and interiors, in a job understood to be worth around £75 000 in fees to the consultancy.

Smoushi intends to broaden the appeal of sushi by creating a more European image than the market leader Yo! Sushi. This will involve creating an ambience that is ‘not immediately Japaneselooking’ and promises a ‘a wholesome meal’, according to Smoushi managing director Graham Cornhill.

He adds, ‘The retail premises need to be attractive from the outside, as well as the inside.

‘The problem is that many people, especially from outside of London, are wary of sushi.

‘We are putting a European spin on it, integrating hot food and trying to attract a cosmopolitan footfall.’

Creative Action Design managing director Ian Silverstein says, ‘We are embracing the culture [of sushi] and moving it forward. The brief is to emphasise the entertainment value of eating out.

‘We want an experience that lasts the whole day, so people don’t just think of it as a lunchtime thing.’

Cornhill says he is looking at locations in London for the site of the first outlet, which should launch in September.

Depending on the success of its flagship, Smoushi will roll out as a small chain in other parts of London and the Home Counties.

Creative Action Design pitched for the work last month against one other consultancy.