Behind the Scenes of Heart-Throbbing Collaboration Café Menus Featuring Manga Anime and Idols

To Avoid Discrepancies Between Photos and Reality

Once a request is received, the menu concept and illustration proposals (3-4 food items, 2-3 desserts, and 5-10 drinks) are created within about 1 to 2 weeks. After that, the designs go through client reviews, prototype testing, and revisions. Once approved, final recipes and plating guides are completed, and sometimes training for collaboration cafe staff is conducted.

“There are many details we focus on when developing the menu.

For example, if a character’s color is ‘blue,’ the ingredients we can use are limited, often leading to options like blue soda. In such cases, we try to differentiate by using unique toppings to ensure that our menu doesn’t overlap with other collaboration cafes as much as possible.”

Additionally, it’s important to consider the staff who will actually prepare and serve the food at the collaboration cafe.

“It’s essential to keep the recipes and plating guides as simple as possible.

Menus that require intricate preparation and plating can lead to confusion in the kitchen and delays in service. If the recipes and presentation are too complicated, it may result in variations in quality among staff, causing disappointment for customers who find that the food doesn’t match the photos they saw in the menu or promotional materials.

Therefore, we focus on creating recipes and plating instructions that anyone can follow to achieve consistent quality.”

Ginji emphasizes the importance of turning memorable scenes into menu items.

“Every work has its iconic scenes and famous lines. When you create a menu item based on a memorable scene, it resonates deeply with fans.

Now that chain restaurants are also getting involved, having menu items that capture the hearts of fans is becoming an increasingly important factor for collaboration cafes.”

As COVID-19 settles down and inbound demand begins to return, collaboration cafes have the potential to become a representative “killer content” for foreign travelers.

“I go to collaboration cafes almost every week, and I’ve started to notice more and more overseas tourists enjoying them just like we do.

I want to continue spreading the love for collaboration cafes among Japanese fans, while also ensuring that manga and anime fans visiting from abroad find our cafes delicious and enjoyable. I hope to support this mission from behind the scenes in menu development.”