Ultraviolet is a single-table restaurant in Shanghai, China, opened in May 2012 by French chef Paul Pairet and the VOL Group. It is the first multi-sensory restaurant in the world. Ultraviolet uses different senses such as smell, sound, touch and sight to intensify the food through a very controlled atmosphere, this include visual projector and music. The restaurant has a single table of 10 seats and serves a 20+ course dinner menu for ten guests every night.
The dining room of Ultraviolet has no decor, no artefacts, no windows, nothing. Instead the dining room is equipped with multi-sensory high-end technology, 360 degree wall projection, dry scent projectors, table projectors, UV lighting and a multichannel speaker system, creating an illusion of being in many differents places, could be the beach or a rany night, or a tropical scene, the temperature of the room drops or increases, even a breeze might start to blow inside the room. All this acording to the dish that its been served. Each of the 20+ meal courses are paired with music and visual themes and atmosphere. For example if you are eating seafood, you will see images of the ocean along with sounds of waves and a little breeze.
His vision and concept of a meal does not put food as a lonely star, although its a sophisticated cuisine, he gives a critical importance to external factors in which most of the restaurant business don’t pay much importance , such as the ambience, the sounds, the silence, the colors, emotions, memories, everything playing together as one. For him its very important to stimulate not just the taste but all senses, creating a very sensorial culinary experience.
Ultraviolet restaurant it was ranked No. 24 on the list of the world’s best restaurants in 2015. The menu costs $900 per person. They only accept online reservations and waiting list could take up to 120 days to get a spot.
Ultraviolet does not make revenue! As they say, a “non-commercial enterprise.” That means they don’t make money. Instead of a profit forecast, they have “budgeted losses”. Since increasing the prices of their menu in 2015, Ultraviolet supposedly comes closer to paying for its operating costs, but it doesn’t, they don’t even get the money back from the initial investment.
If they don’t make much money in the restaurant how they manage to stay in business? The answer is mainly by brand positioning, reputation building, and special events, such as private catering, their staff would travel around the world providing this service for very selective clientele.
Ultraviolet restaurant invest so much money in the customer experience and labor cost (there are 25 staff members each night of service) that even with a high price as 900 USD per person, they dont make enough to cover costs operations. On top of this, all the high tech screens surrounding the dining room and sound systems its very costly. It’s not just labor and food cost which are usually the main expenses in a restaurant, there is also high tech and engineers labor cost to be paid. What really help Ultraviolet to stay afloat are their partners in business; 34 of them (VOL Group), they are the ones with the big bucks.
Imagine when you eat a plate of food and you remember or associate that plate and its smells with your childhood, now on top of that imagine music that reminds your childhood or transport you back in time, triggering your memories, all this happening at the same as you are eating, then you see pictures proyected that might remind your childhood, that certainly will bring emotions that combined with amazing food will definitely make your day to say at least.
Food & Technology 