| Title | LEGO HOUSE MINI CHEF |
| Brand | LEGO |
| Product/Service | MINI CHEF FAMILY RESTAURANT |
| Category |
D01. Touchpoint Technology & Tech-led Brand Experience |
|
Entrant
|
HIQ GöTEBORG Göteborg, SWEDEN
|
|
Idea Creation
|
STYLT TRAMPOLI Göteborg, SWEDEN
|
|
Idea Creation 2
|
LEGO HOUSE Billund, SWEDEN
|
|
Idea Creation 3
|
HIQ GöTEBORG Göteborg, SWEDEN
|
|
PR
|
LEGO HOUSE Billund, SWEDEN
|
|
Production
|
STYLT TRAMPOLI Göteborg, SWEDEN
|
|
Production 2
|
LEGO HOUSE Billund, SWEDEN
|
|
Production 3
|
HIQ GöTEBORG Göteborg, SWEDEN
|
Credits
| Erik Nissen Johansen |
Stylt Trampoli |
Founder |
| Jonas Holmsgård |
Stylt Trampoli |
Copywriter |
| Niels-Jørgen Jensen |
LEGO House A/S |
Head of Operations |
| Andreas Hagersjö |
Stylt Trampoli |
Art Director |
| Rebecka Linneroos |
Stylt Trampoli |
Project Manager |
| Anneli Suomalainen |
Stylt Trampoli |
Architect |
| Johan Brandstedt |
HiQ |
UX Strategist |
| Cari Johansson |
HiQ |
Key Account Manager |
| Mats Sällström |
HiQ |
Project Manager |
| Ola Janson |
HiQ |
Business Developer |
| Søren Holme |
LEGO House A/S |
Producer |
| Mads Mommsen |
LEGO House A/S |
Producer |
| Kathrine Talks |
LEGO House A/S |
Producer |
| Mikael Cederbom |
HiQ |
Art Director |
| Josef Larsen |
HiQ |
UX lead |
| Mattias Reintz |
HiQ |
Solution Architect |
| Mikael Persson |
HiQ |
Animator |
| Jerker Lindsten |
HiQ |
CEO |
| Tomas Koch Dustow |
LEGO House A/S |
Solutions Architect |
| Stuart Harris |
LEGO House A/S |
Senior Experience Designer |
| Martin Bergek |
HiQ |
Business Developer |
| Johan Sanneblad, PhD |
HiQ |
Business Developer |
| Kalle Johansson |
HiQ |
Systems Architect |
| Fredrik Björkenfors |
HiQ |
Software Engineer |
| Tamm Sjödin |
HiQ |
Web sorceress |
| Michaela Skeppstedt |
HiQ |
Systems Developer |
| Daniel Jonsson |
HiQ |
Test lead |
| Nick Mannion |
Quarterre |
Design consultant |
| Kenny Kiernan |
Freelancer |
Illustrator |
| Matt Wilde |
HiQ |
Technical/lead/VFX Artist |
| Frederik Karmdal-Larsen |
LEGO House A/S |
Project Manager |
Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?
LEGO® House is a unique experience house. The 12,000-square metre house is filled with 25 million LEGO bricks ready to give LEGO fans of all ages the ultimate LEGO experience.
With the Brick reflected in the largest to the smallest detail and always within arm's reach, it's filled with one-of-a-kind creative play experiences, learning spaces and amazing builds – embodying one of the world's strongest brands, and stirring the inner child.
And even here, the MINI CHEF family restaurant stands out as one of the flagships, delivering fun, engaging, memorable and sharable family experiences, up to 800 times a day.
Background
LEGO® House matured much of the rest of the LEGO House concept before we were brought on board. Now they wanted to add a novel dining experience for families. Something unique and high tech, that embodied the joy of building and reflected their brand values of Creativity, Fun and Learning Through Play, furthering their mission: to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.
We were tasked to create a 45 minute family dining restaurant that only LEGO could have done, and that was hard if not impossible to copy. They wanted families to compose their own meals using bricks according to the Eat Well Plate. And with tired families as the core audience, balancing fun and simplicity was key.
Also, staff needed all the supporting tools to serve the experience – hot food on table, with a smile, a thousand times a day and up to 250 times per hour.
Describe the creative idea
This is the house where the brick comes alive, and here, minifigs have taken over the kitchen.
Big enough to cook, but too small to deliver the food, their solution is to build things – conveyors to deliver bento boxes, robots to hand them out. Also, they have human helpers for menial tasks such as carrying drinks.
As minifigs speak Brick, you have to build your meal for them. The menu has icons and simple copy for children to follow, You pick corresponding bricks, build them into whatever you like, and put your build into the Foodifyer. Inside there is a minifig running a machine that shows your build in 3D, and its corresponding icons.
You send your order off and watch them cook your food and put it in a box with your color lid on a conveyor. It then appears in the restaurant, where robots hand it out.
Describe the strategy
The LEGO® House is a round-the-year destination for families primarily from northern Europe and with kids in the 6-10 age range, and fans from all over the world.
A family meal is an important moment of rest and recreation in an intense day of experiences. The Mini Chef is an informal mid range option, between a quick snack in the BRICKACCINO Cafe and LE GOURMET fancy dining. The dancing robots are a key visual feature that pulls guests in.
The guest journey was structured as a 45-60 minute session, centered around the two magic moments of building your meal together and getting it from the robots. These moments were designed to be fun and easily understood on children's terms, as well as memorable and shareable.
Aside from word-of-mouth, the Grand Opening featured royal and celebrity guests, and a full day of VIP guests trying out the House, encouraged to share.
Describe the execution
The overarching storytelling and key decisions for UX, design and tech were set during a 4 month pre study, after which followed 1,5 years of production of hardware, tech, content, branding, and staff interface.
The experience was storyboarded and acted out iteratively between staff, guests and "robots", with continously improved prototypes, from the very first weeks.
Three larger user tests were conducted, at the LEGO® World fair, In a Copenhagen restaurant, and with the full solution in Göteborg, before installation and trimming-in on site in Billund.
The restaurant seats 150 guests, plus an additional 100 outside during summer, with a throughput of 800 guests per day, seven days a week on high season.
A TripAdvisor sharing prompt and entrance video were added after the first 6 months, along with adjustment to reporting, menu and staffing.
Staff storytelling continues to evolve to this day.
List the results
MINI CHEF fan videos gathered over 1.2 million views on YouTube.
85.605 guests served in the first year of operations – September 28, 2017 to September 27, 2018.
Guest survey: 3194 reviews, avg 4,45/5.
Trip Advisor rating of 4/5, out of 182 reviews.
1.116 articles from Grand Opening, many of which mention the MINI CHEF as a highlight.
MINI CHEF is a finalist in the Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Design in November in New York.
A Netflix documentary about the LEGO® House was awarded a Gold and Silver Dolphin in Cannes.