MCA Introduces… Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly

There aren’t many restaurants that you access via a merchandise shop, but Hard Rock Cafe is one of them and it doesn’t seem to have been putting customers off for all these years. But entering the new flagship café in the Criterion Building off London’s Piccadilly Circus does offer up a new experience for fans of its existing restaurants, and in particular the original Hard Rock Cafe – its only other site in London – which opened on Old Park Lane in June 1971.

What’s different about this café is that it’s the first to showcase Hard Rock Cafe’s more modern vision, with a new design style, an open kitchen concept featuring its ‘love all, serve all’ mantra displayed prominently above it, state-of-the-art audio and visual displays and contemporary memorabilia, including David Bowie’s last Ziggy Stardust outfit and Lady Gaga’s shoes.

Urban influences

A digital ceiling cascades over the staircase between the Rock Shop on the ground floor and the restaurant below, with a stage centred in the main dining room, a private event space for up to 40 people, and Tube station-shaped dining booths in addition to the standard tables and booth seating.

“The design style, which ultimately draws on inspiration from the city, includes Victorian-glazed tiling and the fabrics and colours of the London Underground, plus neon and urban lighting,” explains Stefano Pandin, area vice president of Hard Rock International. “We wanted the atmosphere and design to blend in seamlessly with the ‘bright lights, big city’ aesthetic of Piccadilly Circus, and I think we have achieved this.”

Pandin says the look and feel of the new location is really “the other end of the scale” to its Old Park Lane venue, which has a classic American diner vibe, and still holds the first piece of memorabilia that started the entire collection – Eric Clapton’s guitar. “The look and feel of Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly Circus embodies a modern evolution of Hard Rock Cafe restaurants and a representation of the brand’s future,” he adds.

The business, which now operates 188 cafés, 240 rock shops, 29 hotels and 11 casinos across 74 countries, had been looking for a location for a European flagship café for many years. “With London being the birthplace of the concept, it was a natural choice,” says Pandin. “We also wanted a strong brand presence in the city that has hosted our first location for so many years.”

The site of the new café was selected due to its position in the heart of the entertainment district, as well as the space it offered. “To house our flagship, it needed to be big,” he says. It took just over two years from identifying the location to opening the doors, with a complete overhaul needed of the souvenir shop formerly housed there. The new multi-level café spans 1,800 sq m, seats 320 people and is home to the world’s largest Rock Shop.

New menu launch

The new restaurant also features its latest menu – its most extensive update globally – with 20 new items. The headline act of the new menu is the range of steak burgers, as well as its Moving Mountains vegan burger, which Pandin says has been a hit with customers.

“We relaunched our new burger programme by keeping it simple – investing in quality, locally sourced ingredients, which are increasingly important to consumers,” he explains. Other new dishes include a tomahawk steak, barbecue chicken flatbread, beetroot salad and oven-roasted salmon with pineapple and mango salsa.

The brand has also created an opportunity for the social media generation by devising ‘Instagram-worthy’ food and drink items, such as its new 24-Karat Gold Leaf Steak Burger and boozy shakes, which have been incorporated to create ‘awe moments’ that will inspire guests to take pictures and capture their experience, says Pandin.

“With the leisure and dining out pound becoming increasingly stretched, we also wanted to reset the bar on value by creating new options that allow guests the freedom to customise their experience,” he adds. The drinks menu includes mini milkshakes alongside its standard size option, and new signature cocktails, including Sparkling Blue Hawaiian and House-infused Gin & Tonic.

Going global

The business is always on the lookout for strategic opportunities, says Pandin, with upcoming new Hard Rock Cafe locations including Kathmandu, Nepal; Gran Canaria; Asunción, Paraguay; and Chandigarh, India, as well as new Hard Rock Hotel, Casino or Hotel and Casino projects. For new café openings the modern vision principles will remain the same across countries, but will be city specific, he says.

The brand has expanded to other major global cities since its London launch, but rather than taking a scattergun approach, the business has only moved to markets when the right location is available and it remains distinctive from its competitors.

Pandin says the UK market is still strong for them, despite the struggles felt by many restaurant operators. “Our guests’ continued patronage has enabled us to maintain a positive trajectory consistently over the years. Opening a second restaurant and a hotel in London is a testament to the appetite for the Hard Rock brand,” he says.

In terms of future growth strategy for its cafés, Pandin says that it will “continue to have a dynamic and disciplined emphasis on its franchising model, coupled with a more opportunistic approach” for its company-owned café growth. All of its UK sites are company owned.

So, what has been the key to Hard Rock’s success over the past 48 years? “I would say our authenticity and our culture,” says Pandin. “The brand’s staying power can be attributed to our commitment to offering guests authentic experiences that rock. Hard Rock has become a haven for fans of music, food and great times.

“Since we kicked open the doors in 1971, the brand has also been committed to a wide variety of philanthropic causes and activities that reflect our ‘love all, serve all’ motto. This is what sets us apart from the rest,” he believes.

A strong employee culture is something the brand is proud of. That culture, including the happiness and welfare of its employees, is also vital to its success, he says. “It’s developed through investing in people – we promote from within and sanction an environment where individualism is celebrated,” explains Pandin.

“We have our very own cultural attaché, Rita Gilligan, the original rock’n’roll waitress who has been with us since day one. Rita was the first employee of Hard Rock, hired by the founder’s Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton all the way back in 1971.” These days she travels the world on behalf of the brand. “We couldn’t ask for a more dynamic and amazing spokesperson. She’s an inspiration to our staff,” he adds. “Hiring the right people is vital.”

Despite the more modern feel to the new Piccadilly restaurant it certainly seems like the brand has remained true to its history and ethos. Hopefully its restaurants will still be rocking in another 48 years.