Cafe Rio’s New Look
When Café Rio recently opened its newest location in Cottonwood Heights, customers walked in to a more sleek, sophisticated interior. The new look will eventually be incorporated in the 80 existing Cafe Rio locations. I wrote about the new design in my Standard-Examiner column.
Gone are the mismatched wooden tables and chairs, painted a multitude of colors with the “distressed” look. Now the tabletops are all pure white, “because our food is beautiful, and when you put in on a crazy multi-color table, it takes away from the actual beauty of our plate,” said Ben Craner, Cafe Rio’s chief marketing officer, who oversaw the redesign.
The fresh-Mex assembly-line concept is still the same, where you watch your meal as it’s being built to your specifications. But the ceiling height was raised so customers can better see into the kitchen and watch as the cooks chop tomatoes, squeeze limes, grill meat, and roll out tortillas. The idea, said Craner, was to make the kitchen more of the centerpiece, and to make sure people understood that their meal was being made from scratch.
“We want all the color and contrast to go to the kitchen, and when you walk in and have 15 different colors of tables and chairs, the person doesn’t know where to look,” Craner said. “The new design also allows more interaction between our customers and our team, and we think they’ll enjoy the overall experience even more.”
Craner said the switch to a new design evolved slowly, and involved guest surveys.
While the current Cafe Rio are kind of fun and folksy, “The atmosphere didn’t add anything to the actual experience,” said Craner.
Surveyed customers complained that the wooden tables were permanently attached to the floor, so they couldn’t be scooted together to accommodate a bigger group. Some customers wanted a counter with stools and communal tables for solo diners. So the new design incorporated several different seating options, “to make it more efficient and more friendly,” said Craner.
There are picnic-style tables with attached benches that can accommodate a family of six.
There’s also a counter with stools, and long bench seats with tables that can be easily slid together or apart. There are also free-standing, moveable tables and chairs.
The new design may be tweaked before it’s incorporated into the nine stores opening soon in Colorado, Arizona, Washington, D.C., Washington state and Maryland, said Craner. So it will likely be a year or two before your local Cafe Rio gets a remodel.
For 12 Surprising Facts About Cafe Rio, click here: https://chewandchat.com/2014/08/cafe-rio-chat-ceo.html