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BAR HOTEL RESTAURANT THEORIE • THEORY

Auch die Mitarbeiter-Garderobe passte zur Inszenierung. • The employees’ wardrobe also matched the staging.

I n former times, it was sufficient if a restaurant offered good cuisine, friendly service and
comfortable chairs in order to successfully attract guests. Today, it takes quite a lot
more! Ever since eating has become an issue of the world view and everything associated
with it has turned into a means of distinction, the scenography of eating food – to keep to
the picture – from the cold side dish to the pièce de résistance, the main course of the clas-
sic sequence of a menu has evolved. Today, visiting a restaurant has to be at least an expe-
rience, an event one can post, share and like on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. This
trend is excellently represented by so-called pop-up restaurants. This means temporary
restaurants that frequently only exist for a few weeks or days. They open in unusual
places, offer unusual staging and work with artificial scarcity. Although, on the one hand,
the short opening times put pressure on the clientele, they are made to feel extremely
trendy and up-to-date and thus able to boast about having been there. Whether the cui-
sine was good, the service friendly and the seating comfortable moves into the back-
ground: What counts is that one was there (and the others were not)! For the gastronomic
sector as well, the concept of the pop-ups is rewarding since this is where one can exper- Kerzen schirmten die sensiblen Bereiche der Kirche ab. • Candles screened the sensitive areas of the church.
iment relatively without any danger – with sequences of the menus, dishes and beverages.
For architects, interior designers and designers, on the other hand, the fast format is a
good opportunity to try out new approaches to designing restaurants, bars and cafés, to
test new furniture and materials as to their suitability and to try out moods and atmos- well as various large and small decorative objects wait here for their next job. Much also
pheres. Last but not least, the location itself stands to benefit – through a different percep- came from flea markets, some objects from specialist retailers – often things are also made
tion, a different audience or simply because an unused building is awakened from its by the team. For her concepts, Birgit Martinez pays attention to the option that existing
slumber.. On these grounds, pop-up restaurants can be true win-win solutions. objects can be used again. She also works a lot with plants. Despite all the opulence of
her productions – the issue of sustainability plays a major role for her.
Pop-Ups: Unusual staging in unusual places
Heaven Seven Eleven: heavenly pop-up location in Stuttgart
Birgit Martinez from Stuttgart is a professional when it comes to staging trendy pop-up
restaurants. She used to mainly design company events for well-known firms in the Birgit Martinez succeeded with her most recent and to date most impressive production at
Southern German region. For a product launch in the desert, she even came up with the the beginning of the year with the Heaven Seven Eleven, a pop-up location in the Stuttgart
idea to send several semi-trailer trucks with material right across Europe and had a tem- Johanneskirche. During the winter months, the churchgoers prefer to attend the service in
porary tent city constructed in Africa. For some years, however, there have been increas- the nearby and easier to heat community hall which is why the church built around 1870
ing requests by restaurant operators who want to commission Birgit Martinez with design- in neo-Gothic style remains unused for some time. This year, the Tailormade marketing
ing pop-up restaurants. For some years now and together with a caterer for events, she agency benefitted from the interval to make use of the church. Also on bord were the
has been staging the so-called Rauschenberger's Supper Club always during the winter Rauschenberger catering company which was responsible for the culinary part and Birgit
months. In the meanwhile, the seasonal pop-up restaurant in a historic industrial hall in Martinez with her team who were responsible for the scenography. A long table extended
Fellbach near Stuttgart has developed into an institution and people like to book it for from the entrance area to the altar. Smaller tables were placed into the side isles. Carpets
Christmas- and company parties and even for weddings as well. The workshops as well produced zones and pleasant sound insulation. A lounge-like bar with comfortable arm-
as the storage areas of Birgit Martinez and her team from Decor+More are also located in chairs and little low tables was designed in the choir area. All the sensitive areas were
the same building. Among her co-workers are interior designers, artists, florists and screened with hundreds of candles. Clever lighting control by the iLLUX technology com-
designers of visual marketing. There is also an experienced logistics- and installation pany immersed the church above the galleries into mystical semi-darkness to give the
team. In the basement of the hall is the soccer-field sized storage area for the Decor+More space a more intimate appearance. Coloured lights, on the other hand, emphasized the
material. There are stacked tables, benches and chairs; carpets, curtains and fabrics; choir area. Consistent with the theme, green trees, shrubs and potted plants on the tables
flower pots, vases and candle holders. In addition, materials for tents and scaffolding as complemented the sacral pop-up location and turned it into a heavenly garden.

166 • AIT 6.2018