Nigel Witham Restaurant Designer

18/05/2020

This is my local pub, The Star and Eagle Hotel in Goudhurst, UK yesterday evening. Sadly closed for now but still looking beautiful in the evening sun.

14/04/2020

There is a lot I agree with in this article. Many high end restaurants I’ve known exist only to impress each other and a few food critics at the expense of cheap labour and many honest, independent small businesses have been displaced from the only viable locations in the best cities everywhere by big money that doesn’t care about food or welfare as much as short term shareholder returns.

I hope there’s a return to a more balanced approach with more well-run independent operators getting a fairer share of the market.

Only a fundamental rethink will ensure their survival in the post-outbreak world, says food writer Jonathan Nunn

01/04/2020

An open letter to closed restaurants

(This won’t make me popular with other designers)

Times are unprecedented. The situation you’re all facing is grave. Many of your businesses have lost all of their customers overnight. Those still operating take out or delivery services are facing almost impossible challenges. Nearly all of you have put on brave faces, looked after your staff and looked for answers, fast.

Designers are telling you now is the best time to hire them. They reason that whilst it’s quiet you can refurbish or imagine new ways and create a fresh impression ready for when you reopen.

I disagree. What I think you need to do is save money and protect your core assets.

When you re-open your customers will be pleased enough that you’re still around in any shape or form. Many of these customers will be poorer too so they’ll be looking for cheaper ways to eat out and enjoy themselves. You won’t be able to offer these things if you haven’t saved money.

It’s likely that we won’t get back to where we were. The world will look and feel different. Right now no-one can say what that’s going to look like but you’ll need to adapt to it. It’s too early to imagine how though and few will have the data or the presence of mind to think straight and make clear strategic choices for a while.

So my suggestion is that you don’t hire any consultants yet. None of them will lose their knowledge because of COVID-19 and that’s all they need to help you. In a few more months they’ll probably know more too.

I believe that all professions should put their clients’ best interests first. It’s better for everyone in the long term. So my advice, for what it’s worth, is that your best interests are served by waiting. They’ll be enough designers around when you’re ready.

I’ll be one of them.

21/03/2020

The situation, especially for restaurants, is hard but it will pass eventually. All of us who are self-employed chose to enjoy more agency to act than others and our actions now will determine whether or not we’ll be able to look back later with dignity.

There are always options for open minds looking for inspiration. Those who make the right choices now and who pursue them with compassion and integrity will be rewarded.

11/03/2020

Some Perspective on the Coronavirus Crisis

I hope no-one finds this presumptuous but I’ve lived through previous crises so I thought I’d share a few thoughts with those small businesses for whom this may be a new, scary, experience.

Many small traders, especially in catering, are only ever a few weeks away from running out of cash. Some will go out of business, mostly these would have anyway, which is sad for them but an inevitable result of failing to compete and set aside emergency capital.

This failure of weak businesses will leave behind more market for those who survive when things get back to normal, which they will.

But when I say ‘normal’ I don’t necessarily mean ‘the same’. You may need to adapt to new demands so look out to see if your customers start asking for different things, or better still, ask them what they’d like you to change.

Whilst for now many may not make as much profit as usual, there will be more opportunities later because, when the market returns, there will be fewer competitors.

If things go quiet, it’s a good time to prepare by imagining new and better ways to do your work and connect with your customers. Counter-intuitively, it’s the best time to build market share by increasing promotional activity. This will reward you later.

No-one wants a health crisis but being in business is about being self-determining in all circumstances. You can choose to be defined by crises or by looking beyond them.

20/10/2019

Good to see my friends at Zooma Compton getting of to a good start with a full restaurant from the get go!

https://www.facebook.com/zoomacompton/

*Indian*Bar*Grill* Fresh authentic indian cooking*
A stylish new indian restaurant and bar. Perfect for cocktails with friends, beers after work or dining out with friends and family!

22/05/2019

A Mini Sermon About Design

First off, I’m sorry if this sounds like a lecture. I’m not sure how to express it another way.

I hear from a lot of customers who are confused about design. This is not surprising because design is complicated and is not the same thing as shopping, styling or decorating. Design is about making things that work. Great design is about making things that work and are beautiful. Engineers and Architects are types of designer. It takes years to train and get good at it and requires a deep knowledge of both art and technology. You can learn a little on a short course but it’s not enough to teach you more than the very basics.

During my career as a designer I've met lots of customers who believed they were better designers than me. Normally, they told me how to design for them by copying designs that had been made by others. This is not original thinking or using any imagination to see things in new ways so it’s not how genuine designers work.

If you’re designing your home only you have to worry about whether or not you like it, at least until you want to sell it, at which point you may have added value if you’ve done things well. If you’re designing a business, getting its design wrong (normally by basing it on your own personal tastes and not what the market demands) will likely work out a lot more expensive than hiring the most expensive designer you can find. As you can imagine, I see a lot of dreadful mess-ups.

If you’re confused about how to design then maybe it’s because you haven’t done your ten thousand hours (more in my case) of seeing projects through from concept to completion. It’s impossible to be confident in this situation unless you don’t know that you don’t know what you’re doing.

My suggestion is that you think about hiring an expert.

And lastly, there’s no such thing as free design. So called 'free design' is just a way for kitchen makers, and those like them, to sell modular units. I believe that the use of the term ‘free design’ has lead many to think that design is always free and an entitlement and that this leads to them not looking for paid advice when it would be best.

22/05/2019

Jamie's Italian and Other Failing Chains in the UK

Today’s news is that Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant chain has failed. This is just the latest in a string of similar stories.

I’m not going to comment on why this is happening but I have observed since the 1990s that there have been increasingly fewer viable restaurant locations available to smaller operators, who have been squeezed out and out-competed by bigger money. I’m not sure this has been a good thing.

So, whilst I feel sad for Jamie and, moreover, for his staff, I see a chance for new, fresh entrepreneurs to pick up where he’s had to call a break and I predict that the market will re-balance quickly away from stereotypical brands

For the first time in two decades there are lots of viable locations available now and most of them will have expensive infrastructure, including kitchens and ventilation systems that can be re-purposed for a fraction of their new costs.

Highly trained staff will be looking for jobs. Maybe landlords will accept compromises.

Brave, up and coming restaurateurs should see this as an opportunity that won’t last long

10/05/2018

Why Original Design is Like Writing a Novel

I was listening to a best-selling novelist on the radio this morning. She said her last book took four years to write.

Most books contain less than one hundred thousand words and I can write a thousand words in an hour, easily, but I could never write a novel, no matter how much time I spent trying.

That’s because writing a novel is not about how many words there are, it’s about putting them together in the right order to create a compelling narrative that rings true.

Original design is the same. It’s not about colours, style, typography, engineering and architecture. It’s about putting them all together to tell an inspirational story.

I can do that, but, like all great novelists find, it takes more than a few days.

01/05/2018

More Credit Where It's Due

I just got these photos of a restaurant I designed in 2016. it’s recently opened following a few fairly normal delays and teething troubles and I think it looks great! The reviews are good too so I predict that it will do well.

I put a huge amount of work into this design but I think at least equal credit has to go to photographer Martin Behrman, who has generously allowed me to use his images.

These days the majority of customers find your restaurant on line first so quality Images that really pop are worth a huge amount. I’d go so far as to say that there’s little point in spending huge sums designing and building a food outlet in the first place unless you’re ready to hire a top interior photographer, like Martin, to help you show it off.

Here’s a link to Martin’s website – go take a look!

http://www.behrmanphotography.com/gojk-interiors-page