Traditional flavors, modern technology. This is the concept behind Tahina, an exciting new food store that’s opening its first site in London in 2025.
Tahina fuses flavors and ingredients from a range of global cuisines to reinvent the grab-and-go concept. Its carefully curated and world-based food beautifully marries appearance and flavor, while offering convenience without compromising taste, health, or authenticity. “Our dishes have been developed by an executive chef with a wealth of experience acquired through fine dining European establishments to the top premium casual British groups. Unlike a lot of ‘fast’ food, Tahina uses quality ingredients to create grab-and-go food that’s truly delicious,” explain Emilio and Javier the founders of Tahina.
Emilio and Javier are also the team behind successful West End restaurant Lazeez Lebanese Tapas, which has been a fixture of Mayfair’s Duke Street for 16 years. Between them they have decades of experience in the food industry, working for brands including Aubaine, EAT., Mitchells and Butlers and YO! Sushi.
The flagship store will be fully autonomous via a range of technology, including AI, intelligent weight shelves, motion detector sensors and high-speed cloud computing, creating a seamless grab-and-go journey and transaction process. This means that customers can enjoy superb food quickly and efficiently.
“The world is changing rapidly and we’ve crafted Tahina around these new ways of living,” explains Emilio. “Our store is tech-driven, using the latest developments in autonomous retail and AI to provide a seamless and simple experience for our customers.”
Because of the ‘plug and play’ nature of the store, the concept can easily be rolled out across multiple sites. “We’re really excited about the possibilities,” says Emilio. “We believe there could be two types of Tahina store: flagship stores such as the one we’re launching in 2025, plus contract stores designed to be integrated with minimal services into access-controlled environments, such as offices, shared workspaces, hospitals, university campuses and airports.”
Climate change is requiring us to review every element of our daily lives, and Tahina certainly reflects this. “We want to offer maximum benefit for customers, but we also want minimum impact on the planet, so we’ve built sustainability into every element of Tahina,” explains Emilio. “All our dishes are cruelty-free and seasonal, and we support local suppliers where possible. Our store will have a closed loop recycling system for packaging, and we’ll work with charities to distribute surplus food or turn it into green electricity.”
The first Tahina store will open in London in 2025, with further stores set to follow.
Source: QSR Magazine
