Louis Vuitton has confirmed the opening of its first café and restaurant at its new flagship boutique in Osaka, Japan. The restaurant is set to open in February.
According to WWD, Michael Burke, chief executive officer and chairman, Louis Vuitton, confirmed the development while hinting at more eateries and even hotels could be a future expansion for the brand.
“We think the so-called experiential luxury is something that will be important in the future,” says Jean-Jacques Guiony, chief financial officer, LVMH, which owns the Louis Vuitton brand. The restaurant, to be called Le Café V, will be located on the top floor of Vuitton’s new four-level Osaka flagship boutique, with a menu by Japanese chef Yosuke Suga. There will be an adjoining bar and a terrace attached to the restaurant as well. Next to the bar will be Sugalabo V, serving only dinner to a select few via an open kitchen that mirrors the Tokyo branch of Sugalabo. The boutique is set to open on Feb. 1 while the restaurants will start serving patrons on Feb. 15.
Louis Vuitton isn’t the only luxury brand entering the restaurant space. Gucci is set to open a restaurant on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Calif. in spring 2020.
From June 28 to Nov. 10 of 2019, Rodeo Drive hosted the 22,000-square-foot Louis Vuitton X pop-up and Instagram hot spot, which showcased the luxury house’s 160-year history of collaborations with notable artists.
Louis Vuitton also joins other fashion brands that have made their way into the experiential retail space in recent years. Brands, including Ralph Lauren (The Polo Bar), Prada (Pasticceria Marchesi), Tiffany & Co. (The Blue Box Cafe) and Burberry (Thomas’s) have begun to leverage experiential retail to lure new customers in with bars, pastry shops, restaurants and more.
