LEGO HOUSE MINI CHEF

Short List
TitleLEGO HOUSE MINI CHEF
BrandLEGO
Product/ServiceMINI CHEF FAMILY RESTAURANT
Category E02. Innovative Use of Technology
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
Name Company Position
Niels-Jørgen Jensen LEGO House A/S Head of Operations
Cari Johansson HiQ Key Account Manager
Rebecka Linneroos Stylt Trampoli Project Manager
Erik Nissen Johansen Stylt Trampoli Founder
Johan Brandstedt HiQ UX Strategist
Frederik Karmdal-Larsen LEGO House A/S Project Manager
Søren Holme LEGO House A/S Senior Producer
Kathrine Talks LEGO House A/S Producer
Mads Mommsen LEGO House A/S Digital Lead
Mats Sällström HiQ Project Manager
Stuart Harris LEGO House A/S Senior Experience Designer
Jonas Holmsgård Stylt Trampoli Copywriter
Andreas Hagersjö Stylt Trampoli Art Director
Ola Janson HiQ Concept developer
Mikael Cederbom HiQ Art Director
Tomas Koch Dustow LEGO House A/S Solution Architect
Mattias Reintz HiQ Solution Architect
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
Josef Larsen HiQ UX / Business Developer
Mattias Hagbard HiQ UX lead
Daniel Jonsson HiQ Test lead
Nick Mannion Quarterre Design Consultant
Mikael Persson HiQ Animator
Matt Wilde HiQ VFX Artist
Kenny Kiernan Freelancer Illustrator
Jerker Lindsten HiQ CEO
Martin Bergek HiQ Business Developer

Describe the creative idea

Families are attracted by dancing robots and a spiral conveyor with colorful food boxes. An entrance screen shows the menu and experience. They are shown to the table by staff who give their take on the story: a restaurant run by minifigs. Staff seat the guests and demonstrate how to order on the screen of a custom box on the table, called the Foodifyer. The titular Mini Chef scans the guests’ LEGO-built orders. Guests then follow their builds being sent to the kitchen and their meals being cooked. Backstage, kitchen staff receive slips with guest builds and fire orders on the conveyor, triggering an animated sequence that shows the boxes being sent off. The boxes appear on the conveyor in sync with the animation, and are handed out to guests, who recognize their box by the lid color and the image of their build on the slip.

Describe the execution

LEGO ®wanted to create a unique family dining experience that embodied the joy of building, reflected their brand values and promoted healthy eating, to expand upon their mission: to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. Situated in the 12000 sqm LEGO House in the center of Billund, near a 14 meter LEGO Tree, the restaurant seats up to 150 guests inside, 100 outside, 800 per day, 250 per hour, seven days a week Touchpoints include entrance screen, menu card, iPad app in custom box, staff system, conveyor, robots and a printed paper slip. The design puts building with bricks front and center. The environment balances bright and colorful plastics with organic materials, all proportioned in scale to the brick, for a playful yet premium feel. The story is told on child level, with their build as the centerpiece, and all elements supporting the illusion of living minifigs. The robots were designed as something kids might build themselves. The two magic moments of builds appearing on screen and children interacting with the robots make viral sharing material. Staff can also improvise interactively with the robots. The story, design and solution was defined during a 4-month pre-study, after which followed 1,5 years of production. The experience was storyboarded and acted out with prototypes from the very first weeks. Three large scale user tests were conducted at the LEGO World Fair, in a Copenhagen restaurant, and with the full solution mounted in Göteborg, before installation and trimming-in on site in Billund. A TripAdvisor sharing prompt was added after the first 6 months, along with updates to tech and design, and an entrance video. The House celebrated its first year of successful operations on September 28th, 2018. Tweaks are still being added, in the spirit of “Only the best is good enough”.