CREATING INNOVATIVE & EDUCATIONAL DINING EXPERIENCES
PROBLEM
How Do We Make The Rainforest Cafe More Accurately Represent The Rainforest To Provide Evolving Educational Experiences?
The Rainforest Cafe in its current form is themed as an "eatertainment" venue. It was mainly popular in the 90's and has seen a downward flow in sales and sentiment. Landry's bought Rainforest Cafe in 2000 and began removing some of the experiential elements. Between 2000 and 2015, ~20 stores were closed with only a few new locations opening up.
With no clear growth strategy, long wait times for food that is often disappointing, and an overall concept where the novelty has worn off, it is clear to see why most people will only try it once. Even people who love it only find themselves there once a year.
CONCEPT
Shift From A One-Time Spectacle To An Inspiring And Adaptive Experience That Makes People Want To Come Back
To make an impression with impact for families on vacation (or staycation), we needed to create a new precedent for how parents can interact with their children at dinner and provide an enchanting, immersive, and authentic rainforest experience. By recognizing that the affect of the rainforest is everywhere, our team use that as a creative concept. We reimagined the space of the restaurant, communicated it's new direction, refreshed the menu offerings, and explored new ways to move the brand forward.
USER EXPERIENCE
Create Interactive & Educational Moments Upon Entry
Bone Conduction Advertisement
The affects of the rainforest are all around us. To push this creative concept further, our team concepted and built a prototype of an ad that uses bone conduction technology so the user will hear sound without a speaker. When the user places their ear onto the surface of the ad they will hear the sounds of the rainforest. More photos of this prototype ad are in the process section.
Retail Redesign
The restaurant will be divided into zones that represent layers of the rainforest, including the Forest Floor, the Understory, the Canopy Layer, and the Emergent Layer, creating an authentic rainforest experience. Based on where you are seated, diners will experience different elements of an actual rainforest. The restaurant layout was concepted in Illustrator and prototyped within Sketchup.
Plant-A-Tracy Interactive Tree Planting Experience
Rainforest Cafe currently has a talking tree named "Tracy" that is near the entrance of some of their restaurants. Our team identified an opportunity added to this concept to create the Plant-A-Tracy Interactive Tree Planting Experience. Upon entering into the waiting area, families will be able to use the Plant-A-Tracy experience to name, select a tree type, and plant a digital tree in the rainforest of their choice. Updates on the production of oxygen that their tree provides are sent to their parent's email. This builds social responsibility within kids and connects them to the importance of the rainforest while bringing the Rainforest Cafe experience outside of the restaurant.
