LOBBY

LOBBY Foundations, the indie hospitality sparring program

Build the project
before you build
the place.

Starting a hospitality project is exciting. It is also the moment the most expensive mistakes are made. Foundations is a four-week sparring program for independent founders who want a concept that holds up, before spending money on branding, architects or a lease.

Apply for a placeSee how it works

4 one-to-one sessions. €2,900. Three projects per month. By application.

01, The tension

We are a branding studio telling you not to hire a branding studio.

Not yet, anyway.

Most founders spend their first €30,000 on a name, a logo, a designer and a lease and only discover the concept underneath was fragile once the money is gone. We know, because we are often the ones handed the brief. And a brief built on a weak idea produces beautiful work that does not sell a single coffee.

So before you brief anyone, us included, the project itself has to be strong enough to deserve it.

Foundations is where we find that out. Together, and cheaply.

The guarantee

If, after the first session, we believe the project should not exist as it stands, we will tell you plainly, and refund half the fee. We would rather lose €1,450 than help you lose €300,000.

02, Fit

This is for you if

  • 01You are starting your first hospitality project: a hotel, coffee shop, restaurant, guesthouse, members' space or a hybrid of them.
  • 02You have conviction and some capital, but not yet a concept that survives a hard question.
  • 03You are about to hire an agency, a designer or an architect, and you want to be sure the brief is right.
  • 04You are leaving a career, a company or a role, and this place is the next chapter.
  • 05You have a building, a site or a family property and no idea what it should become.

This is not for you if

  • 01You want a name, a logo or a visual identity. That is LOBBY Studio, and it comes later.
  • 02You want us to build your financial model or your investor deck.
  • 03You want unlimited access, weekly calls, or someone to run the project for you.
  • 04You want validation. We will challenge the idea, not applaud it.
  • 05You are already open and operating. That is a different conversation, write to us directly.

03, The four sessions

Four weeks. 4 one-to-one sessions. Work between each one, the sessions are where we push, the work between them is where it becomes real.

  1. 01

    Challenge

    What the project really is. Why it should exist. Who it is actually for. And whether the initial vision is genuinely differentiated, or a version of something that already exists on the next street.

  2. 02

    Position

    Audience, offer, experience, competitors, price level. Where you sit and, more importantly, what your point of view is. A place without a point of view is a room with chairs.

  3. 03

    Story

    The concept statement, the narrative, the key messages, the tone. The foundations any future brand, designer or architect will be briefed on.

  4. 04

    Move

    Priorities, budget allocation, launch sequence, the partners you will need, and precisely what happens over the next three to six months.

Between sessions you receive exercises and decision-making templates from the LOBBY Compass, the same frameworks we use on the projects we brand ourselves. Sessions do not move forward until the work is done. That is the point.

04, What you leave with

The Project Foundation Document.

A single, concise document you can put in front of an architect, a landlord, a bank, a partner or an investor without apologising for it.

  • 01The concept, stated in one paragraph anyone can repeat
  • 02Positioning and point of view
  • 03The audience, precisely, not “everyone who likes good coffee”
  • 04The founding story and narrative
  • 05Experience principles
  • 06The initial offer and price logic
  • 07Key differentiators, and how they hold under pressure
  • 08A reality check on the business logic: covers, average spend, revenue logic, order-of-magnitude capex
  • 09A launch roadmap for the next three to six months

It is not a strategy deck. It is a decision document.

05, Boundaries

What Foundations is not.

We are precise about this, because a program that promises everything delivers nothing.

Foundations does not include: naming exploration, logo or visual identity, interior design, architectural work, a full financial model or investor deck, or unlimited consulting.

We will sanity-check your numbers. We will not build your model. We will define what your brand must stand for. We will not design it.

When you need those, they exist, that is LOBBY Studio. But only once the foundation is solid.

We use these frameworks on the places we build

LOBBY is a hospitality creative group. We create concepts, brands and stories for places with soul. The frameworks inside Foundations are not theory, they are what we use ourselves, every day.

FRANK'S MARKET

FRANK'S MARKET

Coffee Shop and Furniture warehouse

ANCHOR

ANCHOR

Living apartments collection

HOTEL HUMANO

HOTEL HUMANO

Surf hotel & Restaurant

See the work →

Investment

€2,900

4 one-to-one sessions over four weeks.

Exercises and templates between each session.

Your Project Foundation Document.

Three projects accepted per month.

The full €2,900 is credited against any LOBBY Studio engagement started within six months of the program.

For the price of a logo you would probably have got wrong.

Apply for a place

06, Apply

Apply.

We accept three projects per month. Tell us what you are trying to build. If it is a fit, we come back to you within five working days with a call.

0 / 200 characters minimum

We read every application properly. If it is not the right moment for you, we will say so.

07, Questions

Frequently answered honestly.

  • Because three projects a month is a real limit, and because a program built on challenge only works if the founder actually wants to be challenged.