JHP rebrands and designs interior concept for bbq international restaurant chain

The chain operates over 4000 branches across South Korea, China, Spain, Japan, USA, Vietnam, Australia, Mongolia, Malaysia and Singapore and European sites including Spain and Portugal. It is hoped a UK branch will open in Cambridge by the end of the year.

The consultancy, which was appointed on credentials, has worked with bbq for the past eight months on creating a new casual dining concept including the brand story, architecture and identity; interiors and the photographic suite. The brand identity and guidelines are used across all collateral including menus, uniforms, crockery, merchandise and packaging.

The new brand story focuses on chicken, positioning it as a ‘universal food’ found in most menus around the world.

Steve Collis, JHP managing director, says, ‘Chicken is at the heart of what they do. It’s a casual dining brand, not fast food: what they were doing was a bit more “fast food”. I think they thought the future was in a brand with a bit more of a rounded, family basis.’

JHP’s ‘international’ concept uses a mixture of material and finishes such as in-store art walls, tuk tuks, and a ‘poetry wall’.

Collis says, ‘It’s a concept that has plenty of flexibility. You can play down elements that aren’t relevant to particular countries or the timber may change for a hot country as it would look too heavy. It depends on the natural architecture of the area – it takes on the vernacular of the individual building.’

The new branding and interiors concept will initially launch in the bbq Seoul flagship at the end of the month.  It will be followed by the Saudi outlet before being rolled out globally.