From our brand positioning work with wagamama, we knew that diners perceived the restaurants as places to socialise, recharge and feel reinvigorated. wagamama wanted its menu to better communicate these brand values, while still portraying the dishes as fresh, healthy and nutritious.
We wanted to build a set of unifying menu design principles that wagamama could use to guide subsequent menu launches. We did that through a three-step methodology:
Using behavioural science and analysis from our preliminary research, we built a menu design playbook, specifically tailored to wagamama’s brand objectives. This playbook explored 15 key principles for menu design, from how the layout can encourage adventurous eating to how the language can be used to communicate wagamama’s relationship to Japan.
The specific strategic recommendations outlined in the playbook were used to lead the redesign of wagamama’s menu launch, including adding a welcome statement and freeing up more white space. These recommendations laddered up to a set of core, evergreen menu design principles to support all future designs.