Oojam, Hemel Hempstead

Oojam

Hemel Hempstead

Oojam

venues, February 2009, COMMENTS

When you walk into Oojam restaurant, or ‘modern India’ as its strapline reads, the surroundings at once seem familiar – stark white walls with a splash of colour, a modern, minimalistic interior, background music tinkling away and a funky looking menu serving main meals, lite bites, brunch and burgers.

Oojam’s design is a contemporary blueprint that can be likened (although not matched) to many of our favourite restaurant chain giants – Pizza Express, Wagamama’s, Fellicini. But this is the kind of instant recognition that operations director Michael Beard had in mind when he embarked upon a mission to establish the first - of what he plans will become - a large chain of modern Indian cuisine restaurants. Says Michael: “What Pizza Express has done for Italian pizzas, we want to do for Indian food; we want to make it accessible, with consistent high quality and a price point that meets the criteria of the local competition.”

The concept is one that has been replicated successfully by many worldwide, corporate operators for a variety of cuisines – fusing foreign menus with an English twist and serving it up within surroundings of a neutral palette. Bombay Brasserie and Tiffinbites spring to mind, but, when compared to the barrage of modern Italian, Chinese and Mexican chain restaurants on the high street, the presence of any nationwide (and particularly outside of London) modern Indian cuisine giant is fairly slim. It is precisely this gap in the market that Oojam aims to fill.

The debut Oojam opened on 2 December last year and occupies a previously empty retail unit at the Riverside Shopping Centre in Hemel Hempstead. Not a predictable spot for the launch of a new restaurant brand, but Michael explains that it is just this kind of commuter belt town that they aim to target for future roll outs. “It is these areas, just inside or outside of London, around Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire etc, where we can be fairly consolidated, so that the brand recognition grows,” he says.

The huge glass frontage of the site lends itself to the bright interior of Oojam and was one of the defining factors in the development of the design by Lifeforms Design and Ignite Marketing. They have executed a concept that is fresh, inviting and open – reflecting the ethos of the restaurant and the meaning of Oojam, which translates as ‘Enthusiasm’ in Indian. The template of white tiles is interspersed with dashes of spice-inspired colours, in the form of red and green fabrics on the fixed seating and upholstered chairs, and additional washes of orange and yellow on the odd wall. These colours transfer to the menu and branding, which is playfully designed by Ignite Marketing and teases the imagination with phrases like, ‘Oojam is Indian with Ooh! And we know you’ll love it too’. Says Michael: “We’re all about being open and making people smile. If we can’t put a smile on people’s faces, then we’re not doing Oojam justice – it’s our greatest objective.”

A tiered design, built into the space during the 10-week fit out by main contractor Pelican Red, maximises sightlines throughout the restaurant and allows all the customers to see the key feature of Oojam, the central, open-plan kitchen. Explains Lifeforms Design’s Felix Ngonadi: “You can see the movement in the kitchen from all around, but the smell is not intrusive because it’s behind glass.”

Movement and flow are integral to not only the design, but also the operation of Oojam. It is a round-the-clock venue that is open for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, offering food that fuses Indian and English cultures. Under the direction of Indian executive chef Anil Karhadkar, the team has developed an original and quirky menu that is prepared fresh daily. Dishes evolve throughout the day from chai-spiced porridge with cinnamon and English breakfast with chilli-cumin chicken sausage, to traditional chicken tikka masala, minty lamb and chickpea salad, then later to dill salmon kebab and railway lamb curry. Says Michael: “A lot of my friends have said, ‘How can you have Indian food for breakfast?’ But about 600 million Indian people manage it every day, so it is possible! We’ve set out to transform the way Indian food is viewed and consumed in the UK – and so far the response from customers has been brilliant.”

The tiered seating system encourages different types of dining throughout the day; café-style freestanding tables and chairs line the front window of Oojam for those dropping in for a coffee, which looks out onto outdoor seating for the summer months. Here can be found another unique design feature – a retractable refrigeration unit, which enables Oojam to provide a grab-and-go operation during the day, but slides into the back-of-house to make way for extra covers in the evening.

Further into the restaurant, the lower tiers, separated by dark wooden panels and slick white screens, feature freestanding wooden tables and upholstered chairs, then higher up again is a similar set up, but with deep fixed seating forming a sociable and relaxed dining experience. Says Felix: “There’s a mixture of textures throughout, and different sightlines, so it’s playful and intricate as people move through the venue.” Accessibility is crucial, with a sloped ramp for wheelchairs leading up to the toilets. The playfulness of Oojam extends to the toilets, where each cubicle is tiled with one of the spice-inspired colours and the right-hand wall is covered by a white screen etched with the venue’s name over and over again. Says Felix: “We wanted the toilets to be unique and an extension of the brand, rather than an afterthought.”

Oojam’s lighting, carried out by Cwmbran Electrical Services, is delicate and discreet, and designed to maintain the venue’s brightness throughout the day. A series of spotlights cover the ceiling, rows of low-hung pendants dangle over the tables on the upper tiers and clusters of globe lights from Geoffrey Harris illuminate the entrance. Lifeforms Design contacted SSE Audio to advise on and implement the A/V installation. On the audio front, SSE chose an automated hard disc playback solution by C-Burn so that the playlists could be continually updated. The company installed Australian Monitor QF8 Ceiling speakers, which it uses fairly frequently because, says SSE’s Emma Barwell, it sounds good, but comes at a very good price and doesn’t require a lot of ceiling depth to install. The user-friendly Cloud CX263 zoner gives Oojam the option to add new sources and outputs if they need it, as the venue evolves. A DVD player allows the restaurant to play Bollywood films through the row of plasmas on the front wall.

Content is delivered via a digital signage software package called SignageLive and switching between SignageLive and the DVD is done via a Kramer Switcher. Explains Emma: “The beauty of SignageLive is that it can accept a whole load of file types and layouts, and a visual playlist can be created remotely by Oojam’s marketing team and uploaded to the screens on site. This will prove invaluable when they open more sites and need to co-ordinate marketing collateral between them.”

The investment in Oojam’s future is clearly apparent from its first £350,000 incarnation. Intelligent branding, a timeless and welcoming interior blueprint and a flexible technology infrastructure combine to make Oojam versatile for future roll-outs. “We aim to have around 20 over the next five years. The idea is to roll out a few quite quickly now that the market conditions allow us to do that and we can start to establish ourselves,” says Michael, who plans to take advantage of cheap sites that are victims of the credit crunch.

Comments Paul West, managing director of Ignite Marketing: “The team have carefully developed this project by putting the consumers’ needs first, but with the vision to grow Oojam into a thriving brand – UK and beyond. It won’t be easy in the current climate, but with a distinctive product, efficient operations, a cut-through brand who employ intelligent marketing techniques, success is imminent.” Through listening to their customers, acting upon the customer feedback forms and adapting the menu over the coming months, the team at Oojam hope to have a well-oiled machine that they can drive forward rapidly. If they are clever about positioning and keep pushing their marketing, Oojam has the potential to become a loved and widespread high street brand.

Oojam
Unit 9 Riverside
Hemel Hempstead
HP1 1BT
Tel: 01442 255 085
Owner: Oojam Ltd
Website: www.oojam.co.uk

Key Contractors
Interior Designer: Lifeforms Design // Flyers, Branding & Uniforms: Ignite Marketing // Main Contractor: Pelican Red // Sound & Visual Installation: SSE Audio // Lighting Installation: Cwmbran Electrical Services // Furniture: Protocol & Naughtone // EPoS Provider: Comtrex // Refrigeration: Space Catering

Drinks
Pouring brands: Finlandia vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels bourbon, Bacardi rum, Cazadores tequila, Bacardi (8 yrs dark), Tanqueray gin, Appleton rum // Premium draught lager: £6.60 (Meantime Indian Pale Ale; 750ml) // Standard draught lager: n/a // Lead PPL: £2.60 (Cobra) // Lead PPS: n/a // Cocktail list: Yes

Technology
Sound system: 10 x Australian Monitor QF8 ceiling speakers, 2 x Australian Monitor IS250P 250W line amplifiers, 1 x Cloud CX263 zoner, 1 x C-Burn LX system // Lighting: Geoffrey Harris Globe lights // A/V Equipment: 3 x LG M4210C LCD monitors, 1 x Denon DN-V310 DVD player, 1 x SignageLive HD player, 1 x Kramer VP-400N VGA distribution amplifier, 1 x Kramer VP-724XL video switcher

Words: RACHEL ESSON
Photos: DAVID CLEVELAND

From: February 2009 Issue

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