Café Couture: Why luxury brands like Prada are looking for a way into gastronomy
Luxury brands have long been selling more than just products - they sell emotions, experiences and lifestyles. The new Prada Café in Shanghai is a prime example of how fashion houses are taking their brand experience to new levels. In collaboration with iconic director Wong Kar-Wai, cinematic aesthetics merge with Italian style and culinary delights. What used to be pure retail is now a stage for brand culture.
Gastronomy as a brand catalyst
In the context of increasing brand inflation and changing consumer habits, new emotional touchpoints are needed. Gastronomy offers exactly that: a multi-sensory experience that works through taste, design and atmosphere - and thus has a deep impact on the memory. For luxury brands, the move into the hospitality environment is becoming a strategic tool to ensure relevance, reach new target groups and strengthen customer loyalty.
In the wake of changing consumer habits and an increasingly saturated brand landscape, premium brands are looking for new ways to maintain their relevance. Gastronomy offers a unique space to bring brand identity to life emotionally and reach new target groups at the same time. Expanding beyond traditional product sales thus becomes a strategic step that both strengthens brand loyalty and opens up new sales potential. We have analyzed 5 reasons why premium brands are expanding their core business:
1. create immersive brand worlds
Gastronomic experiences allow brands to bring their aesthetics and values to life spatially. In the Prada Café, fashion, design and cinematic art merge into a holistic experience that allows visitors to immerse themselves more deeply in the world of the brand.
2. reach and retain new target groups
Restaurants and cafés are low-threshold contact points through which younger or less affluent target groups also come into contact with the brand. Here, access to the world of Prada is via a cappuccino instead of a handbag - emotional, approachable and yet exclusive.
3. sell lifestyle instead of product
Luxury brands no longer just showcase products, but entire lifestyles. With gastronomy concepts such as the Prada Café, it is clear that brand identity today is conceived and lived holistically - from the espresso to the interior design.
4. strengthen brand loyalty through experiences
Unforgettable stays in curated brand environments leave stronger impressions than traditional advertising. Anyone who experiences a special moment in the Prada Café has a positive emotional connection with the brand - and remains loyal to it for longer.
5. open up additional sales channels
In addition to image building, cafés and restaurants can also be commercially successful and diversify the brand. In metropolitan areas such as Shanghai in particular, this creates new touchpoints with affluent consumers and another anchor in the global luxury ecosystem.
Between espresso and identity
Whether in the Armani Caffè in Munich, the stylish Café Kitsuné addresses in Paris or the charming American Ralph's Coffee by Ralph Lauren - it is evident everywhere: brands use gastronomy as a stage for their brand identity. Instead of classic retail, atmospheric places are being created where design, scent, sound and taste are perfectly orchestrated. Jacquemus serves its style in its own café at Galeries Lafayette in Paris - playful, photogenic and fully in line with the brand code. It's never just about coffee - it's about culture, community and character. This development shows: Gastronomy is becoming the new must-have in lifestyle marketing.
Our conclusion
Luxury brands are increasingly moving into experiential spaces - gastronomy is becoming a strategic stage for identity, aesthetics and proximity. Anyone thinking about brand building today must act in a multi-sensory, surprising and relevant way. Hospitality formats create genuine encounters, strengthen long-term brand loyalty and at the same time offer new, scalable revenue models. For brands, this means not just being visible, but tangible.
We believe that the current movement in the hospitality industry is just the beginning. More and more lifestyle brands from the fashion, media and interior design sectors will also discover the hotel market for themselves - as the perfect stage to showcase their world around the clock. Hotels are the next logical extension for brands that offer not just products, but entire lifestyles. In this environment, high-quality merchandise products are also gaining in importance: as part of the brand staging, as a sought-after souvenir and as a stylish statement in guests' everyday lives.
For us at Brandcraft , one thing is clear: Anyone who creates spaces where brands become an experience should also consider how these experiences can be extended beyond physical products. Premium merchandise in the restaurant and hospitality industries isn’t just a gimmick—it’s a powerful tool for building brand loyalty, differentiation, and value creation.