Wagamama looks to diversify

Wagamama is looking at ways of diversifying its brand into other areas while building up its Japanese noodle bar chain.

The company is currently looking at how it could expand its core values and transfer them to other fields such as retail and hotels, says Wagamama development manager Haruo Morishima.

Pentagram is creating a generic noodle bar brand, in anticipation of Wagamama’s long-term plans to diversify.

The company is talking to three or four unnamed interior specialists for the design of its new restaurant sites. The plan is to use different designers for each one, says Morishima.

Sites in Manchester and west London, and the central London areas of Islington, Camden, and Marble Arch are all being considered, and an interiors appointment will be made when the first site is signed up at the beginning of next year. Wagamama also plans to establish a restaurant in Paris.

“We want to extend the minimalist branding of the noodle bars,” says Morishima, “and to build up a design specification for the company which will be the working brief for future sites.”

The two existing central London noodle bars were designed by John Pawson and David Chipperfield Architects.

Pentagram is also working on the prototype of a menu redesign and is looking to repackage the wet towels and chopsticks.

Meanwhile, internal graphics, such as stationery and manuals, are being revamped by freelance designer Bill Williams.