TIM HORTONS
Tim Hortons retail experience for the Indian market.
Services
CONCEPT & DESIGN FOR THE
DIGITAL MENU
Client
TIM HORTONS
Collaboration
NA
Location
DLF CYBERHUB, DELHI
Challenge
Canada's largest restaurant chain operating in the quick service industry—Tim Hortons was launching in India with an initial plan to open around 120 stores. With global aspirations but the need for a local adaptation, the senior management team approached Brands & Space with a challenge of designing the in-store menu panels. The brief explicitly mentioned that the menu design should adhere to the brand's guidelines, be in sync with the café interiors and at the same time appeal to the Indian customer.
Approach
After a thorough study of the brand's pre-requisites from a look and feel angle—multiple creative directions, food styling shots and layouts were explored. The effort was to have a fine balance between the food and beverage visuals and the listicle. It had to look appetising and also read easy. Structurally, the menu items had to be articulately classified in clusters that made the content consumption and cross selling across categories easier for the consumer.
We borrowed few generic shots from the existing brand guidelines, primarily of the signature beverages. Since the food menu was customised for the Indian palette, the styling and photography for it was executed from scratch. Attention to details—to ensure that the menu experience looks cohesive at a glance— similar angles, lighting and colour enhancements that were in sync the beverages were shot.
The menu was modular in nature with single panels changing with meal times of the day. Regardless of the dynamic, the look had to be cohesive with no one taking precedence or otherwise over the other. The bestsellers products were highlighted and strategically placed on each panel to ensure maximum visibility.
A disciplined and sharp grid system that ensured easy legibility of prices against the menu items was carefully crafted. Signature dishes were marked with the leaf icon from the brand asset library. Overall, attention to details on all hygiene information was diligently applied.
With huge and fast paced expansion plans of the brand, the first time detailed exercise of developing this critical retail touchpoint was achieved. Next, it cascaded across multiple formats and sizes of different store formats. Open artwork files with grid guidelines were shared with the clients team for future adapts.
As desired, the menu panels successfully incorporated the ‘glocal’ look. It blended seamlessly with the cafés retail ambience and appealed positively to the Indian coffee consumer.
