Sunday, 20 June 2010

Onwards and Outwards



A couple of months ago one of our customers came to me with a worried look and asked “Do you know who is taking the shop next door?”

“We are.” I replied

“Oh that’s a relief”, he said. “When I saw the wood battening going on the front I thought someone was ripping you off”.

We’ve had our eye on 14 Charlotte Place, the shop beside Lantana, since the beginning as it was also for lease when we were looking for a site. At the time it seemed a bit ambitious to take on two sites so we moved into 13 Charlotte Place and watched next door with interest as others went in….

and out again.

When we heard it was back on the market late last year it seemed fated that we should take it as Lantana had become slightly chaotic at busy times with staff, eat in and takeaway customers bumping into each other as they tried to navigate a small narrow cafe. Here was an opportunity to create two separate spaces for eat in and takeaway customers and let everyone breathe more easily.

Taking our cue from the Naval and Military Club (known as The In and Out Club) which had lettering on the gate posts of its old home on Piccadilly to guide London cabbies in and out of the club driveway,


we’ve sign posted Lantana to guide customers in and out of the two parts of the cafe.

The entry for customers who want to dine in (or outside)


The entry for customers taking out their coffee, cakes, salads, tarts, sandwiches


And for those who can't decide whether they're an innie or an outtie, there's even a spot where you can stop and have a think about it.


Thanks to Etienne (Lantana customer) and Suzi (Lantana waitress) for many of the photos (the good ones) on this blog post.

10 comments:

Petra said...

Love the innie & outtie comment! I read about Lantana in Olive magazine & will make sure to stop by for a taste of something lush in August when I come into the city for a shopping trip!

The Brown Paper Book said...

I visited Lantana today for the first time and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed my skim flat white and toasted banana bread....I'm an Aussie living over here and occasionally get a bout of home-sickness. But visiting Lantana today to catch up with a school friend cured me, it felt/tasted just like home. Thanks!

Drake Studebake said...

Here's a nice review of Lantana on Current.com/London:

http://current.com/groups/london/92521530_londons-best-caf-s-lantana-caf.htm

lauren said...

fantastic to see you guys growing innies and outies.

last time i was in london town, you guys were just kicking off. when i'm back in august, i'm looking forward to seeing the cafe version of a toddler :)

bravo.

Valentina said...

What a fabulous idea. I visited Lantana for the first time two weeks ago and absolutely loved it.

Anonymous said...

Just read about you in the SMH. Well done and good luck for the future.

I have to give you feedback on your website though, that you won't like, but please, for the love of whatever, get rid of Flash.

Your website takes so long to load and is all pretty but just irritating.

Also why just shove up pdfs of your menu? Put them in as the content. Why wait for the page to load as the animation goes on only to discover i have to then download the menu as a pdf.

It's not very accessible for your customers and is a lazy way of putting menus up. Why bother with a website?

Just stick to good ole HTML and javascript if you need to animate stuff./ Hell HTML 5 is coming out, flash is irritating.

Anonymous said...

Hello there! Just read your story on 'the Age' website and wanted to say congratulations on a wonderful achievement!

We currently have a lovely little espresso bar (Vice Coffee) after previously running a larger cafe for a few years.

To have done so well in taking the 'Melbourne' (Aussie) concept to the UK is really special - the photos look fabulous. If we ever come to London, we'll be sure to look you up! Keep up the good work!

Bonnie

Kitchen equipment said...

Congratulations on the expansion! I love the 'In' and 'Out' system you've got going on there... the photography is really good too. I frequent London most weekends so I'll be sure to drop by. Perhaps I'll try this banana bread I've heard so much about...

DM said...

Your takeaway is so convenient I didn't get around to actually sitting down until a couple of weeks ago! I had the Bert, and I'm still thinking about it. Absolutely brilliant.

JODIE said...

Wow! i am definitely giving you a visit next time Im in the area!! looks absolutely amazing!