PRESS RELEASE: The McBride Company Brings the Peanuts Café to your Neighborhood
The McBride Company Brings the Peanuts Café to your Neighborhood
Charles Schulz’s beloved Peanuts Gang serves as the backdrop for this “new American hangout”
Manchester Center, VT, – The McBride Company, a creative concept and design firm, has collaborated with Peanuts Worldwide LLC to create an experiential dining concept as unique, jazzy, and nostalgic as the iconic comic series by Charles Schulz. The design centers around an intimate “neighborhood” café concept, with a larger version for flagship locations. Core to the design is ensuring an experience that, like Peanuts, appeals to all ages through immersive interior design, great food and drinks, and a welcoming environment.
“Counter to today’s fast-paced and hyper-connected world, the Peanuts café concept harkens back to a time when great cafés were the cultural hub of social interaction and the epitome of cool,” said Ryan McBride, Creative Director of The McBride Company. “With a brand and design concept that resonates with people whether they are age five or eighty-five, we’re confident that this dining destination can become the ‘new American hangout.’”
The café, a blend of neighborhood restaurant, decadent bakery, and hip coffeehouse, takes a contemporary approach to mid-century modern architecture and bohemian design, creating an inviting, artsy, and cozy atmosphere. Against a playful backdrop of cool jazz and cozy nooks and crannies, guests can enjoy their coffee with a “Great Pumpkin” muffin, or indulge in an “exactly what I was looking for” menu. An in-house distillery provides local craft beer as well as frosty mugs of “Woof! Root Beer.” Additionally, elements that tie back to the Peanuts television specials—such as the beloved “teacher talk box”—and iconic holiday memorabilia are cleverly incorporated into the design.
Subtle surprises within the space will allow guests to connect the dots emotionally based on what Peanuts means to them: black and white comic strips, storyboards, and cels incorporating pops of color will fill oversized frames. A small stage reminiscent of Lucy’s psychiatry stand will host live performances, and an in-character retail area will make for a unique shopping experience. The concept is currently available for interested developers.
“At the heart of Peanuts’ continuing worldwide popularity is the fact that Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Pigpen, and the rest of the gang speak to the universal concepts of community and friendships, resonating across a wide demographic. Bringing those experiences to life in the form of restaurants and other location-based experiences is an important component to our global strategy as we look toward the brand’s 70th anniversary in 2020,” said Craig Herman, Executive Director of Peanuts Worldwide LLC. “The McBride Company masterfully captured that inclusive ethos in their café design concepts, and we look forward to seeing it come to life.”
About The McBride Company
For more than 30 years, The McBride Company, a creative concept and design firm, has specialized in cultivating experiences that become destinations for clients in the hospitality and leisure industries. The firm’s ability to successfully design experiential spaces helps clients achieve measurable business objectives while providing guests more enjoyable experiences.
The firm’s clients represent nearly every facet of the hospitality, retail, restaurant, and leisure industries and include Margaritaville, MTV, Nickelodeon, Peanuts, Hasbro, Smithsonian Institution, Simon Property Group, Hard Rock, Bloomin’ Brands, Universal Parks & Resorts, Breakers Hotel, and The Walt Disney Company. The McBride Company provides a wide range of services including conceptual design, architecture, interior design, graphic design, special feature design, art direction, and strategic planning.
The McBride Company has offices in Manchester Center, Vermont and Miami, Florida. For more information, visit www.mcbridedesign.com and connect with The McBride Company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
About Peanuts
Charles M. Schulz first introduced the world to the Peanuts characters in 1950, when the Peanuts comic strip debuted in seven newspapers. Since then, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have made an indelible mark on popular culture. The new series “Snoopy in Space” launched on AppleTV+ on November 1, 2019. Peanuts animated specials and series air on major networks and streaming services, including ABC, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang in the U.S.; Family Channel in Canada; and the WildBrain Spark network on YouTube. Fans also enjoy Peanuts through thousands of consumer products around the world, amusement parks attractions, cultural events, social media, and a daily comic strip available in all formats from traditional to digital. In 2018, Peanuts partnered with NASA on a multi-year Space Act Agreement designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students. The Peanuts characters and related intellectual property are 41% owned by WildBrain (TSX: DHX, NASDAQ: DHXM), 39% owned by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and 20% owned by family of Charles M. Schulz.