Starting with its restaurant in Richmond, London, PizzaExpress calls this new concept of dining its ‘Living Lab’, inviting public feedback on the new style, before rolling out the features and designs to all of its sites in the UK.
Research has shown that 84% of customers have had an evening out ruined by excessive background noise, while 70% say that they regularly struggle to hear their fellow diners. So, the chain has created a dining environment, with the help of award-winning designer Ab Rogers, to create parabolic booths – domes that hang from the ceiling and deflect background noise and absorb 50% of reverberative sounds – so that the experience is a more pleasant, and quieter. They’re based on similar technology used in the Royal Albert Hall.
In addition, the company has fitted personal iPod docks in its seating areas, which also feature technology to reduce disruptive noise. And they include a ‘light on’ to attract the attention of the waiting staff.
A PizzaExpress statement said: “We’ve set ourselves the challenge of reinventing our restaurants for a new era. We’re experimenting with just about everything, from design and acoustics to service and food.”
If successful, PizzaExpress will bring the technologies to its other restaurants throughout 2011.
Source: Pocket-lint/PizzaExpress
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