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Cool materials and hot lighting take Springs Rolls Go from quick-serve lunches to full-service dinners.
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When Thai Hua opened his first Spring Rolls restaurant in Toronto at Yonge and Bloor eight years ago, he threw down the gauntlet. "My aim was to raise the bar for the Asian dining experience in North America," he says. Collaborating with Toronto-based interior design firm dialogue 38, he forged a chain of "quality without price, style without attitude" restaurants that stand out from under-designed, mid-priced competitors.
Eleven units later, Hua was restless. He saw a chance to broaden his market with a pioneering upscale fast-food venue whose look and menu could transition from self-service lunches to full-service dinners. The result was Spring Rolls Go, launched in 2007 at the juncture of Toronto's fashionable Church Street district in its downtown financial core.
Dialogue 38 principal Bennett C. Lo and his team conceived a design that would appeal equally to power-lunching executives or friends seeking a hip dinner destination, all while keeping the budget in check. "We believe it's always possible to create striking environments using simple materials," says Lo. For Spring Rolls Go, designers blended exposed old brick with more modern materials such as glass and wallpaper to give the place an inviting atmosphere by day that could shift to something more dramatic at night.
The choice of furniture and the layout make it easy to modulate the mood. A flexible configuration, including private booths, banquettes and communal tables, maximizes seating during the high-volume lunch rush while allowing sufficient lanes for wait staff when the menu moves to full service.
Judicious placement of directional lighting brightens the lunchtime atmosphere. When dinner service starts, the lights go down and candles glow at each table, lending a seductive flair. Backlit wooden screens and glass-topped red tables underlit by fluorescents are unnoticeable by day. Come evening, these shots of color pop, drawing the attention of pedestrians.
Having already earned design accolades such as an ARC Merit Award (an annual award from Cadillac Fairview, one of North America's largest real estate companies honoring new concepts in retail environments), Spring Rolls Go expects to do about $1 million in its first year.
SOURCES
Spring Rolls Go, Toronto
Client:Spring Rolls
Owner: Thai Hua
Design: dialogue 38; Bennett Lo, principal
Banquette: Bestway Millwork, Toronto
Casegoods: Bestway Millwork, Toronto; Kanada Glass & Windows, Toronto
Fabrics: Triden, Mississauga, Ont.
Flooring: Stone Tile, Toronto
Graphics: ALC Graphics, Toronto
Lighting: Contrast, Toronto
Seating: Upcountry, Toronto
Wall Covering: Metro Wallcovering, Toronto
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