Vapiano re-opens following £1.8m refurbishment

The Great Portland Street branch of Italian restaurant brand Vapiano has re-opened following a £1,750,000 refurbishment.

Vapiano launched in Germany in 2002. The Great Portland Street branch opened in 2008 and was the first in the UK. It is the most profitable Vapiano restaurant of the 200 in operation globally.

Architects Finkernagel Ross were brought in to transform the restaurant within a six-week period.

The Finkernagel Ross team stripped the building with only the existing ceilings, perimeter walls, general ventilation and air conditioning units remaining on site. New electrical services were installed throughout and the restaurant's back-of-house and customer areas were completely refurbished with fresh new equipment, furniture, lighting and décor.

Phil Sermon, managing director, Vapiano UK said: "Finkernagel Ross have incorporated inspiration, creativity and practicality into their design and management of several very successful projects for Vapiano UK."

Finkernagel Ross acted as executive architects and project managers on Vapiano restaurants in Soho, Brisbane and Manchester.

Further restaurants in some of Vapiano's most coveted locations in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh are in the pipeline, with Finkernagel Ross starting work on Vapiano Centrepoint in September 2017.

Vapiano won a DiVA award in 2016 for Best Use of Social Media (Operator). It used both online and offline channels to reach its audience, who posted on social media such as Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook. One of its most original ideas was a selfie mirror in the toilets, to appeal to its selfie-obsessed guests.

In the first month of the campaign, followers grew 19% (against a target of 16%) and posts using the hashtag have only been positive.

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