ly on the cards for us while growing in Australia,” Jones-Evans said. “[Honolulu] would be a very similar offering to Australia. We may have to tweak our menu slightly for the huge Japanese population who visit Hawaii, however, there are also a lot of Australians visiting Honolulu, so we would hope that they would know the brand already and we wouldn’t have to make too many changes.” Around six restaurants have been earmarked for Australia, including Perth and the Gold Coast, as well as secondary stores for Sydney and Melbourne. “I think if you offer too many [stores] it loses its uniqueness. We want to keep the dining experience quite intimate and special.” Unlike Emporium, The Tea Salon at Westfield Sydney is situated within the centre of the shopping mall. Despite its format, Jones-Evans says shoppers aren’t deterred by the busy environment. “We like to associate the Tea Salon brand with fashion, so we will continue in fashion shopping malls. The space seems to work very well in providing that intimacy while still part of the general hub of the centre.” The Tea Salon’s focus is on a physical rollout of restaurants, but the brand is also looking to beef up its e-commerce platform. “It’s always  been part of the offering, but we’d love it grow of course. “We want to expand the range instore and online, but online is limited as we sell more instore. We will extend our range our teaware, as well as introduce new products like shortbread or cookies, products along those lines. It’s a work in progress.” This article first appeared in Inside Retail PREMIUM issue 1996.