RK Sweets - a well-established vegetarian Indian cuisine brand in the Northwest of England - recently moved to purpose-built premises in Preston. Extremely popular for its delicious Indian savoury and sweet snacks, the owners wanted to ensure RK Sweets remained a household name to the majority of local people, whilst extending its catchment area and customer base.

For several years, RK Sweets operated out of two separate premises, their retail shop and a separate kitchen area. The new premises, situated on a main thoroughfare through Preston, comprises a large takeaway area and dining facilities, combined with an extensive kitchen area allowing plenty of space to fulfil all their outside catering work.

The front of the new premises is 18m long and in the heart of the Plungington Road nightlife. It was originally 3 separate shops that have now (after nearly 12 months of renovating) been knocked into one huge area.

To help achieve RK Sweets’ objectives, stylish and modern signage needed to be produced for the new premises. Through personal recommendation, RK Sweets commissioned Paul Turner Displays (PTD) to deliver their signage solution. Paul Turner from PTD came up with recommendations which took into account the location, the lighting, passing trade and the desire to reach new customers whilst retaining the brand image with established customers.

The nature of the business means that customers visit RK Sweets during the day and well into the evening. As it is situated on a busy road, simple but clear signage was required so that passing motorists could quickly identify the new premises.

Paul Turner of PTD commented, “A 16 metre tray sign in 7 sections was constructed with LED push through backlit letters (50,000 hours lifetime) as well as stand off stainless steel letters that were carefully removed from the old premises, cleaned and re-sited. The backlit letters were produced in such a way that they are clearly visible during the day and at night they ‘glow’ making them instantly eye catching. The colour of the tray sign is an exact match to the door and window frames which had already been installed, ensuring the signage blends well into the ‘feel’ of the building.”

All the signage had to be manufactured and installed within a 2-week period, working in conjunction with the builders who were also using scaffolding that covered the front of the building right up to the day of installation.

Paul concluded, “Everything went to plan and the premises were open for business on time with the new signage received very favourably by the management. As an added bonus some passing businessmen liked the signage so much they have asked for similar signs for their 19 dental practices! We couldn’t have asked for more.”