Hikaru Funnell Photography

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Case Study: Din Tai Fung

Brief.

Din Tai Fung are a well-known restaurant group - originating from Taiwan, and in 60-years, have opened flagship locations in over 10 other countries.

At the heart of their menu, are their world-famous Xiao Long Bao - which are made all-day in their iconic glass-fronted open kitchens. Each Bao features a minimum of 18 hand-folds and are filled with juicy minced pork, before being cooked and presented in bamboo steamer baskets.

Their London-based locations are in the historic Covent Garden, Selfridges of Oxford Street, and recently - Tottenham Court Road, within Centre Point.

Wanting to showcase their menu with a fresh series of content, and a scope for more frequent content creation in the coming months - I was approached by Din Tai Fung to capture restaurant photography.

Approach.

The project was kicked off with a discovery call with the UK team - looking at what they’ve previously done, what works, and more importantly - the types of aspirational restaurant photography that they liked and wanted to create for the UK brand.

We worked to refine the restaurant photography brief and decided to pool our time for the principal shoot to focus on their famous core heroes - dumplings, and their signature cocktails; the Din, Tai, and Fung.

With the first shoot at the Covent Garden location going smoothly and the content doing well - we have now booked and captured two additional sessions, covering more restaurant food photography, cocktails, interiors, and team portraits.

Already in use on their UK website, and digital touchpoints - it’s been great to see the content doing so well.