Festal Paleo Cafe is a restaurant whose mission is to provide true nutrition and wellness through delicious paleo, keto, and vegan food that feed the mind, body, and soul. The cafe chooses and sources the best quality ingredients: local, wild, free-range, organic, and grass-fed meats. Festal Paleo Cafe hopes to transform the lives of their customers through great food and unparalleled service.
The cafe took over an existing restaurant in downtown Vancouver, which is close to train stations, to the financial and shopping districts, and several colleges. The wide range of possible customers creates multiple opportunities to provide healthy, natural, and wholesome food.
The interior needed to be fully revamped and upgraded to reflect the design sensibilities of the cafe and to highlight the quality of its dishes. Furthermore, the interior had to entice customers from different walks of life to capture as many people as possible and help them with their health and dietary needs.
Existing and up-and-coming restaurants and cafes posed a major challenge to Festal in creating a strong identity for itself. As a cafe that specializes in paleo, keto, and vegan dishes, Festal has an obligation to provide the best nourishment to its customers without sacrificing the quality of its food and services.
To demonstrate the mission of the cafe, the design was focused on creating subdued and minimal interiors using wood, metal, and stone. These materials help to create spaces for intimate and communal dining experiences without taking away the focus from the delicious dishes the cafe serves.
Primarily, the interior is a mixture of industrial style and barn-like aesthetics. From using incandescent bulbs to metal chairs, and subway tiles, the interior reflects the hard work and dedication of the cafe in providing nourishment to their customers. The use of darkened wood for tables, granite stone for work countertops, and dark monochromatic colours create a comfortable dining experience that is reminiscent of a relaxing day in the countryside.
Efficiency, quality of the product, and overall cleanliness are the top priorities for designing the kitchen and service areas. The efficient flow between the kitchen, prep tables, and display counters is achieved by properly designating areas for specific tasks and uses. The service and storage areas are tucked in strategic places to help keep the produce and ingredients fresh and clean.
The overall design of Festal Cafe creates that impression that good, delicious, and healthy food is possible without sacrificing taste, quality, and presentation.
