LONDON workplace caterer, The Good Eating Company, has opened its first commercial café in the city. Requiring an interior design that reflects its core values, ‘the sophisticated charm of Forbo Flooring Systems’ Allura Flex Wood luxury vinyl tiles (LVTs), along with its ease of installation and maintenance, has helped to complement the stylish and relaxing dining environment’.

Overlooking the north side of the River Thames, the Northern & Shell Building located at 10 Lower Thames Street is an 11-storey landmark office tower, home to some of Britain’s biggest media groups. When a vacant ground-floor office space became available, The Good Eating Company took up residence and transformed it into its first physical venture: Café GEC. Fronted on the high street, the restaurant serves building tenants as well as the general public.

Giovanni Insalaco, managing director at Nova Design, commented: ‘The Good Eating Company has a history of over 20 years, and it was important that who they are, what they do, and what they represent as a business was reflected in the restaurant. While it’s called ‘Café GEC’, it is in fact, a restaurant, offering a bistro-style menu in a relaxed, stylish dining environment to suit the vibrant area around Lower Thames Street.

‘I chose Forbo’s Allura Flex LVT planks in the Grey Autumn Oak shade for its ability to replicate the look and feel of natural wood. By specifically opting for a herringbone installation, this helped to add dimension to the space and bring the floor to life. This has worked really well in contrast with the plain counter and solid coloured furniture in the restaurant. Having never used Forbo’s products before, it really was a game-changer both in terms of design and ease of installation. We’ve had lots of questions about what the floor is and received plenty of compliments – it’s fantastic.’

Says Forbo: ‘Adhered with tackifier rather than permanent adhesive, the high quality dimensionally stable Allura Flex LVT delivers answers to many of today’s key challenges by minimising valuable downtime. What’s more, Allura Flex is produced with 100% renewable electricity and contains at least 25% controlled recycled waste in the backing, minimising impact on the environment.

‘Through Forbo’s ‘Back to the Floor’ scheme, clean installation off-cuts of Allura can also be collected, where the flooring manufacturer will then recycle the material into its other products, avoiding landfill.’

Giovanni continued: ‘Café GEC is about 1,719sq ft and the installation of Allura Flex only took a day-and-a-half – I was very impressed by how quick and easy it was to fit. In the hospitality sector, first impressions are key, and the floor is one of the first things you notice and encounter as a customer. The beautiful Allura Flex design plays a huge role in helping my client to achieve their goals.’

Concluded Forbo: ‘Recognised as being easy-to-install and easy to maintain, Allura Flex is particularly suitable for flooring in retail, leisure, hospitality, and offices. It’s also the ideal solution for installation alongside products such as Flotex and Tessera carpet tiles, enabling integrated flooring schemes. Unlike many LVTs, the Allura collection is designed and produced in Europe by Forbo, giving you the assurance that it’s fully REACH compliant in terms of chemical standards.’

The GEC Café was awarded ‘Commended’ in the Fly Forbo 2020/21 competition. To find out more about this year’s Forbo Escapes: Discover and Reconnect competition, or to enter, visit
www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/forboescapes
www.forbo-flooring.co.uk