Monday is going to be a tricky day for Klaus Peter Kofler, the Chelsea-based CEO of upmarket catering company he launched 10 years ago. KP has the contract for The Magazine, a futuristic restaurant that sits next to the new Sackler Gallery by the Serpentine in Kensington, London.
Designed by the notoriously temperamental Iranian architect Zaha Hadid, it has been likened to a space station in a science fiction film. When it came to the practical matter of designing the kitchen and furnishings, like tables and chairs, Hadid ignored the conventions of cosy intimate ambience and went for a cold, deeply impersonal solution where diners perch at small strange shaped assortment of tables and hard chairs more suited to the astronaut class of diner than a family of four.
Refusing to consult experts in kitchen design, the result has been poor reviews and unsteady trade. So, on Monday, KP will go head to head with the trustees of The Magazine, insisting that from the start he pointed out the faults. If he wins the argument expect to see a very different style of arrangements this summer.