2014 Silver Best brand building campaign

How did the campaign make a difference? This campaign gave Dishoom authenticity and stand-out from the hundreds of other Indian restaurants in London – using storytelling and design on the restaurant plates to create a point of difference and establish a new loyal base of customers.

The plates featured in restaurant reviews, design blogs and exhibitions with the stories read out on local radio, increasing average weekly covers by 28% which equated to £350,000 in incremental revenue in the first 5 months. Dishoom had bookings for both lunch and dinner, extremely unusual for any restaurant one year from launch.

Strategy Many Indian restaurants in Britain are not seen as being authentic. But Dishoom, a new Bombay café, was incredibly proud of its authentic Indian dishes.

Dishoom engaged the wider Indian community to create content which in turn attracted locals seeking the ‘real deal’.

Using social media and blogs to launch a new restaurant is nothing new but creating sharable content in the restaurant itself was. It also helped explain the brand’s authentic persona and grow a loyal fan base, as summed up perfectly by the co-founder, Shamil Thakrar: “We love sharing stories at Dishoom – especially through design. What we most enjoyed about this idea is the way it literally bakes these unique and personal stories from Bombay’s beautiful old cafés into Dishoom. It makes them into something that every guest can experience for themselves and encourages them to share stories of their own. In this way, the memories live on.”

Creativity Many older Indians have their own fascinating and funny stories to tell about the original Bombay cafés. So the team went to India to gather their stories and turned them into unique designs.

To get them directly into people’s hands, the best anecdotes were printed on the actual plates Dishoom use in the restaurant, each tale with its own typographic treatment to enhance the story.

The plates attracted a vibrant Indian clientele, who in turn attracted new guests, and all were invited them to share their own experiences of Dishoom by submitting their stories online.

Again, the best were selected and fired onto the plates, mixing the old stories with the new to continue the storytelling tradition.

Putting the stories onto plates shares them around from diner to diner – and a new generation allowed to experience the rich culture and history of the past.

Results 80 plates were created at launch using original Bombay café stories – and there are now over 150, with customers helping create the very fabric of the restaurant.

The plates were widely featured in online and offline design publications, on radio shows and at The London Design Festival and in the Telegraph Culture section.

The campaign increased average weekly covers 28% – an extra £15,114 a week since the launch.

Dishoom are enjoying full bookings for both lunch and dinner just one year from launch – something very unusual for London restaurants.

Due to popular demand, Dishoom are making copies available for sale. Special bespoke requests are allowed too – one customer proposed marriage to his girlfriend with his message on a plate.

Off the back of the success of this campaign, Dishoom is planning the launch of a third restaurant.