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Music, signage and atmosphere influence how long customers stay, how they feel, and how they perceive a brand.
In restaurant environments, these elements help shape atmosphere, influence how guests feel throughout their meal, and enhance the overall dining experience.
PizzaExpress has built a strong position as one of the UK’s most recognisable casual dining brands, with a large estate, loyal customer base and ongoing investment in menu innovation and restaurant refreshes, including the recent launch of a smaller, QSR-style concept site. Our observations and suggestions could support and further enhance that positioning.
Music was present throughout the restaurant but at a very low volume, sitting firmly in the background and often becoming indistinguishable from general venue noise.
The playlist leaned towards soft, seasonal “love song” selections, which worked as a neutral and pleasant backdrop but did not actively contribute to the dining atmosphere.
For a brand like PizzaExpress, which already invests heavily in menu innovation and restaurant design, music represents an underused opportunity to strengthen identity and enhance atmosphere across different dining occasions.
There was no use of digital signage within the restaurant.
Communication and promotions were delivered through traditional printed materials, with no dynamic visual elements in-store.
This creates an opportunity to introduce subtle, branded screens that support storytelling across the customer journey - from menu highlights and seasonal dishes to ingredient provenance and limited-time offers.
Move away from passive, seasonal background playlists towards a curated music identity that reflects the brand’s personality and adapts across different dayparts and dining occasions.
Tailor music throughout the day - from calmer daytime sessions and family visits to more energetic evening and weekend trading periods (using Startle Studio’s scheduler).
Bring in small, branded digital screens to highlight menu innovation, seasonal campaigns and ingredient storytelling in a way that complements the restaurant environment.
Based on your brand, audience and environment, here’s an example of how your music could feel with Startle.
This playlist has been designed to reflect PizzaExpress’ warm, soulful and contemporary identity - blending modern soul, retro-inspired grooves and smooth, characterful vocals to create an inviting and relaxed dining atmosphere. The intention is to move from passive background music to a more intentional, brand-led soundscape.
The intention is to:
Choose from our library of over 100 professionally crafted playlists spanning genres, moods and sectors, or opt for curated soundtracks designed to enhance restaurant atmospheres.
We offer simple, scalable digital signage to support menu storytelling, seasonal campaigns and promotions - helping create a more engaging dining experience.
With Startle Studio, you’ll have full visibility and control of all your venues’ music and signage schedules from a central platform, ensuring consistency across your entire estate.
We’ve worked with multi-site restaurant brands to create more engaging, social and atmosphere-led environments across their estate.
We partnered with Zizzi to help refine their in-restaurant experience across multiple locations. By aligning sound with Zizzi’s contemporary Italian positioning, we helped create a more consistent and engaging atmosphere across the estate - supporting both everyday dining and promotional campaigns.
This approach included:
From my first interaction with Startle I have been very impressed with the understanding they have of what we're looking for. Creating a 'vibe' or environment within a space is something quite hard to explain but the support and reactivity they gave throughout the curation process was incredible.
Head of Business Development
Book your discovery call to explore how music and signage could enhance experience, consistency and engagement across your estate.
On this call we’ll:
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