Dive into 2025’s trend report to uncover the next big shifts in the food and restaurant sectors.
Why is interior design important for commercial spaces?
Interior design plays a critical role in the success of commercial spaces. It not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of a place but also improves functionality, productivity, and overall customer satisfaction. In this blog, we’ll explore the various reasons why interior design is so important for commercial environments.
Enhances Aesthetic Appeal
A well-designed commercial space can create a visually appealing environment that leaves a lasting impression on customers and clients. It reflects the brand’s identity and can set the tone for the kind of experience people can expect.
Whether it’s a restaurant, office, or retail store, the aesthetic elements of interior design—like color schemes, textures, and materials—are essential. They can evoke specific emotions and moods, significantly impacting how customers perceive a business.
For instance, the choice of colors can be used to create a calming environment or an energetic one, depending on the nature of the business. According to Robert Ancill, CEO of TNI Group, choosing the right colors can be an artistic connection that sets the mood of a space.
An eye-catching design can also serve as a marketing tool. An inviting and stylish commercial space can attract passers-by and entice them to walk in and explore what you have to offer. In the competitive world of retail, for example, an appealing store design can differentiate a brand from its competitors and draw in more customers. Read More
Differentiation – Now defined
Differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or entire offering from others, making it more attractive to a particular target market. This involves differentiating it from competitors’ products and standing out on the competitive landscape through unique positioning.
In the business world, differentiation is the key to success. It’s the process of making your product or offering stand out from the rest, appealing to a specific target market. By highlighting the unique aspects of your product and distinguishing it from competitors, you gain a competitive edge.
Differentiation can be achieved in two forms: Duplicate and Exclusive.
Duplicate Differentiation involves highlighting features that may be available elsewhere, but executed exceptionally well. For example, a restaurant that prides itself on first-class service is differentiating itself, but the significance of this differentiation may be limited if competitors also offer good service. However, when multiple points of difference are combined, like fresh and fast food at a competitive price with friendly service and engaging surroundings, it creates a powerful unique selling proposition.
On the other hand, Exclusive Differentiation sets your product apart by offering features that are truly unique in the market. This can be a patented technology, innovative design, or unique recipes. When executed well, this type of differentiation can lead to extraordinary success.
However, it’s important not to overlook Duplicate Differentiation even when Exclusive Differentiation has been achieved. Brands like Dyson have demonstrated that paying attention to all aspects of differentiation, including design in addition to patented technology, can maintain and enhance their competitive advantage.
In the restaurant industry, Exclusive Differentiation can be seen in unique recipes, food presentation, and environmental design. Service also plays a crucial role, with modern dining trends offering new opportunities for innovation and differentiation.
By understanding and leveraging the power of differentiation, businesses can truly stand out from the competition and attract their target market.
Customers today hold the key to businesses’ success or failure. Even before interacting with employees, a customer’s opinion of a restaurant can be swayed by a confusing website. It’s all about their Zone Of Possible Approval (ZOPA), which determines their emotional rating when making purchasing decisions. Small details like lukewarm food or overly frothy coffee can be deal breakers. But, with the right touches of duplicity and exclusivity, businesses can skyrocket their ZOPA ratings. Imagine giving a customer flowers on their birthday without any prior knowledge – that’s what makes a lasting impression.
In the competitive landscape of our globalized world, differentiation is the key to survival. The ability to stand out from the crowd, both through duplicating successful tactics and offering exclusive experiences, will determine who thrives and who fails.
At The Next Idea Group, we understand the importance of differentiation in staying ahead in the market. By identifying and creating trends, we give our clients the edge they need to outshine their competitors. So, join us in embracing differentiation and securing a special place in your customers’ hearts.
Author: Robert Ancill
robert@thenextidea.net
Home Designs For Life: Remodeling Ideas To Increase Safety, Function, And Accessibility In The Home
Designing the Future of Dining: Crafting Age-Friendly Restaurants with Renowned Designer Robert Ancill
Robert Ancill has always had a passion for creativity and design which led him to the restaurant industry where he created and designed restaurant and food retail concepts.
In 2006, Robert founded TNI Design, a high-energy innovative international design agency that provides modern and contemporary design solutions. Based in Los Angeles, TNI Design and its mother Group, The Next Idea has worked or consulted with clients in over 24 countries.
Robert sits on several companies and NGO Board of Directors and is regularly quoted in the media on global restaurant and food trends.
Robots in Restaurants: A Cost-Saving Revolution or Job Stealing End to Hospitality?
The future of automation technologies will play a significant role in restaurant automation strategy. However, the Jury is out on the emergence of robots in restaurants. Some individuals view them as a threat to jobs and the ever so important human element of hospitality, while others see them as a cost-saving revolution that will alleviate the ever-acute staffing crises. Whatever the public opinion, reality dictates that robots are, more and more, taking over certain restaurant tasks and systems, and directly impacting the restaurant experience..
Several factors, including rising labor costs, a labor shortage, expensive rents, and employee turnover, have led restaurateurs to look at automating repetitive tasks, actively reduce labor deployment requirements, and ultimately increase profitability. Robots are, therefore, the most obvious and vociferous next step!
Robots are now found in various types of restaurants; from Royal Caribbean cruise ships, that use robotic bartenders, to Costco pizza-making robots, which have helped keep prices low. Other fast-food chains, such as Chipotle and Picnic, have updated their operations with robotic technology to create tortilla chips or make up to 100 pizzas per hour.
Presently, robots are more likely to support restaurant staff by carrying out tasks such as chopping ingredients or cleaning. Automation is also being used to improve customers’ experiences when making reservations, placing orders or paying for their meals. Order kiosks in place of cash registers is becoming more and more prevalent. However, as the future becomes the present, we will begin to see the introduction of human like robotic servers, bartenders, hosts and even valet attendants, consequently robots are only in their infancy and will evolve quickly over the foreseeable future.
The Future of Restaurant Design
Robots are coming to a restaurant near you! How the hell do we design for that?! Turns out there are quite a few things you may not know about restaurant and hospitality design. Today’s guest, Robert Ancill, shares his insight on interior design and formats for restaurants and hotels, ranging from the psychology of design to robots replacing staff.
Robert Ancill has spent over 25 years in the restaurant industry, designing and overseeing the launch and operations of over 40 new restaurant brands and 500+ restaurant or café openings or remodels. His projects have taken him to 24 countries, where he has worked with clients in a wide range of businesses – from restaurants and hotels to offices and luxury homes. Robert is particularly experienced in franchising and development in international markets. Read More
The Future of Restaurant Design with Robert Ancill
Robert Ancill, the CEO and Creative Officer of TNI Design, an Interior design agency based in Los Angeles joins Enterprise Radio.
Listen to host Eric Dye & guests Robert Ancill discuss the following:
Sizzler enlists Restaurant Design studio, TNI Design, for new look.
LOS ANGELES, Calif., — Creative restaurant design studio, TNI Design, has been enlisted to redesign Sizzler locations around the country.
TNI, an acronym for The Next Idea, has completed their pilot design for Sizzler’s Corona, California location. It serves as the new remodel other locations will undergo over the next few years.
“In partnership with Sizzler we created Sizzler’s new interior design and now we are applying the design to around 60 locations over two years,” Robert Ancill, CEO and creative officer at TNI Design said. Several are currently “in design” phases now.
Proteins ride the roller coaster
Cost volatility and plant-based alternatives reshape restaurant
The protein category has been, well, put through the meat grinder for the last three years.
From fire sales of steak and seafood inventory at the start of the pandemic to soaring demand for chicken wings that fueled shortages and a surge in costs to the ups and downs of beef prices, operators have struggled to manage their protein-based menu items. On top of these challenges, the pandemic also coincided with the rapid expansion of plant-based alternatives, a trend that may or may not have staying power.
The tumultuous protein commodities environment hasn’t prevented operators from continuing to innovate with protein dishes, however.
Operators also remain committed to plant-based alternatives as that category continues to evolve. “I actually got more innovative through the pandemic because you had to,” said Chad Rosenthal, chef/owner of The Lucky Well barbecue restaurants in the Philadelphia area and the founder of a pandemic-born concept called Motel Fried Chicken, which he is transitioning to a 100% plant based concept.
Amid supply shortages and rising prices, Rosenthal said he had to take beef brisket off of his Lucky Well barbecue menu for a total of about a year.
He continued to innovate with pop-ups featuring lower-cost proteins that had dependable supply, which was how the original Motel Fried Chicken concept was born. Read More