Context
The Boston Public Market is a year-round indoor foodie paradise, and the only locally-sourced market of its kind in the country. It features locally-sourced produce, meat, eggs, cheese, flowers, seafood, baked goods, and specialty food from vendors like Taza, a stone ground chocolate company that has pioneered fair trade chocolate sourcing.
For their first retail location, Taza knew that the new Boston Public Market would offer their brand high traffic, visibility, and the kind of enthusiastic energy that is the soul of their brand. It was also a match for their ethical and sustainable values, and they made working with an architecture firm that shares these sustainability goals a top priority.
Response
The Taza Chocolate Bar is an experience—Chocolate Baristas stone grind freshly roasted organic cacao beans and make hot and cold specialty chocolate drinks while customers watch. We based the small storefront around the hand-carved grinding stones and gave the space the look and feel of a theater in the round. Baristas are fully visible, which reinforces Taza’s human-centered and fully transparent values as a company. The space hums with energy and fun as customers order drinks, churros, and disks of chocolate.
The storefront’s small booth space presented challenges, so we looked for solutions that would allow Baristas to move efficiently and work together without obstacles. We based the design on Taza’s bold, punky, witty brand identity and created electric blue steel modular units that can be reconfigured as needed. Vats of chocolate wait on display to be scooped into bold drinks, like the chili iced chocolate, while customers wait and check out the retail display.
