Journey Audit and Mapping / Experience Design / Merchandising

Their Hawaiian button-up may be forever, but their F&B strategy is a moving target. That’s where we came in.

The full-service Tommy Bahama restaurants have a legacy in hospitality and craft, creating an oasis for fresh, quality food in mall destinations across the country. As the brand grows, it seeks to create a more casual, bar-centric F&B experience for its guests, where both shoppers and locals can grab a quick drink and bite in a fast-casual format.  And so the Marlin Bar was born. But a limited-service model was new for the company, and guests at the flagship location experienced confusion with the concept and procedures. In close partnership with Tommy Bahama, we worked to design a guest experience strategy for future Marlin Bars that is just as seamless, oasis-inspired, and mai tai-motivating as their legacy precedes. 

The success of Marlin Bar hinges on delivering the feeling of vacation and relaxation but in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. There was an inherent dissonance between the level of hospitality and ‘sit-back-and-relax’ ethos Tommy Bahama is known for and the level of effort and participation expected from guests in a bar-first, order-at-the-counter concept.

We conducted a comprehensive guest journey mapping exercise to identify the major pain points in the Marlin Bar experience and the opportunities for evolution. Then, we created a series of guest ‘interventions’ that can be used in the space to facilitate the journey — i.e. signage,  product merchandising, culinary theatre and freshness cues. To prove the concept, we championed the interior design strategy and architectural sets for a prototype location in Las Vegas, leveraging the learnings from our robust guest journey audit to design a truly immersive Marlin Bar oasis. 

Using our thinking and designs, the Tommy Bahama team was able to implement procedural and aesthetic changes making the Marlin Bar not just an accessory to a retail experience, but a destination in its own right. Our Marlin Bar designs have been implemented in multiple Tommy Bahamas, bringing that island spirit to landlocked retail centers across America. Aloha!