Melt Design Hub puts a modern spin on an old concept for Carve. Breathing new life into the British carvery, streamlined and automated service elements are combined with a dark, atmospheric ambience to sate the hunger of the impatient lunchtime crowd. Featuring conveniences like totem pay stations, on-screen menus, cashless payments, self-service stations and one-step ordering, Melt has facilitated a fast, uncomplicated customer journey for Carve’s 140-square-meter space, enabling the restaurant to sustain a lunch capacity of 800 people while retaining a premium feel.

Melt combines these service features with aspects like in situ concrete, polished screed, black hot rolled steel totems, and charred-black wood counters, which reference the smoking and curing processes the meats go through. The space strikes a balance between the industrial and theatrical with a 10-m raised carving podium that takes centre stage, where dramatically spotlit chefs flourish their knives over hunks of meat for a hungry audience. And not all the signposts of a traditional dining experience have been done away with, as Melt added a communal off-cut timber dining table that seats 15 people.

In an era when office workers are demanding more from their lunch, Melt Design Hub collaborated with Carve to adapt to the overarching trend in retail and hospitality of creating an immersive experience for its visitors, offering more than fresh ingredients and an efficient turnaround. The design places the needs of the customer at the heart of the experience while upgrading the concept of the carvery through fast casual dining. By doing so, they’re carving out a new space in the lunch hour ecosystem.

Design: Melt Design Hub
http://www.frameweb.com/news/restaurant-carve-goes-cashless-with-roasts-for-the-lunch-hour-rush