Challenge
LEGO® House wanted a novel dining experience for families visiting the new LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. Something techy that embodied the joy of building, delivering on the endless possibilities for play and learning with the inspiring LEGO® brick.
Solution
The experience empowers children to compose healthy meals by building their order with LEGO bricks. The solution celebrates their builds by scanning them in 3D and making them the centrepiece of an on-screen movie about minifigs running the kitchen. As a grand finale, personally color-coded food boxes arrive by conveyor belts, in sync with the on-screen animation, and are handed out by robots.
Results
The LEGO® House MINI CHEF is the very definition of experiential marketing. Designed from the core brand experience outwards, with top quality, world unique ambition and backed by a huge fanbase, it is as enjoyable on its own merits as it is viral by design.
Two magic family moments capture the joy of building and pride of creation that are core to the brand. The experience quickly went viral and widely published. After two years of operations, it remains a must-visit for fans, retaining top marks for experience and having served over a quarter million meals.
1st year of operations
Fan video views
1st year of operations
Articles*
*House Grand Opening total coverage – many mention the MINI CHEF
1st year of operations
avg. guest rating
(85.605 guests)
2nd year of operations
Meals served
This is the house where the brick comes alive, and here, minifigs have taken over the kitchen.
Big enough to cook, but too small to deliver the food, their solution is to build things – conveyors to deliver bento boxes, robots to hand them out. Also, they have human helpers for menial tasks such as carrying drinks.
As minifigs speak Brick, you have to build your meal for them. The menu has icons and simple copy for children to follow.
Guests pick corresponding bricks, build them into whatever they fancy, and put their build into the Foodifyer. Inside it is a minifig running a machine that shows your build in 3D, and its corresponding icons.
You send your order off and watch them cook your food and put it in a box with your color lid on a conveyor. It then appears in the restaurant, where fun robots hand it out.
Guest experience
Families are attracted by dancing robots and a spiral conveyor with colorful food boxes. An entrance screen shows the menu and experience. They are shown to the table by staff who give their take on the story: a restaurant run by minifigs. Staff seat the guests and demonstrate how to order on the screen of a custom box on the table, called the Foodifyer.
The titular Mini Chef scans the guests’ LEGO-built orders. Guests then follow their builds being sent to the kitchen and their meals being cooked.
Backstage, kitchen staff receive and fire orders on the conveyor by way of a web based interface, triggering an animated sequence that shows the boxes being sent off.
The boxes appear on the conveyor in sync with the animation, and are handed out to guests, who recognize their box by the lid color and the image of their build on the slip.
Strategy
The House is a round-the-year destination for families primarily from northern Europe and with kids in the 6-10 age range, and fans from all over the world.
A family meal is an important moment of rest and recreation in an intense day of experiences. The Mini Chef is an informal mid-range option, between a quick snack in the Briccaccino Cafe and Le Gourmet fancy dining. The dancing robots are a key visual feature, attracting guest into the restaurant.
Photos ©Erik Nissen-Johanssen / Stylt Trampoli, ©LEGO House. Renders ©HiQ / LEGO House.