WHAT IS RAW?
Raw is Mono Charlie’s new culinary experience, built around the elimination of human rules and social constructs, things animals already live without. Taking advantage of Mono Charlie’s existing animal branding, Raw pushes it to its fullest potential.
Unlearn table etiquette. Forget your manners. Just go for it. Let your gut guide how your journey at Mono Charlie looks and feels like. Raw is a judgment-free zone where there is no right or wrong way to eat, behave, or experience the moment.
Experience a jungle-like environment shaped by the people around you, though you may find they no longer resemble regular people anymore.
El Mono Charlie is a distinctive pizzeria that prides itself on its food and community. The restaurant takes its name from Charlie, a monkey who lived in La Taconera Park during the 80s and became known for his rebellious, mischievous nature. Pamplonicas would flock to see him, watching as he stole anything he could get his hands on. Even today, Charlie lives on in people’s memories. El Mono Charlie has become an emblematic icon of Pamplona, fondly remembered by an entire generation.
However, the connection between the restaurant’s name and the real monkey feels almost coincidental. The main challenge is customer traffic: the younger target audience is largely unfamiliar with Charlie’s story, and the restaurant lacks a distinctive spark to stand apart from the many bars and restaurants surrounding it.
After conducting several interviews with the restaurant’s owner, staff, customers, local residents, and other stakeholders, my partner and I gained a deeper understanding of the restaurant’s inner workings and daily operations. Combined with our previous desk research, this primary research allowed us to define our four most important personas.
Through our analysis of Mono Charlie’s four selling avenues and primary research, we identified a wide range of pain points, which we distilled into three key issues. From there, we formulated our insights and challenges, ultimately defining one core challenge and one key insight.
We conducted several co-design sessions to generate a wide range of ideas, involving participants from different backgrounds to bring diverse perspectives into the process. Guided by the challenge above, the sessions used roleplaying games and Crazy 8s to help participants respond meaningfully to the prompt.
Many ideas centred around games, senses, and interactive elements, all connected to the desire to take a break from daily human worries and stresses. Repeated themes across profiles helped reveal clear latent needs.
For the prototyping phase, we focused on testing the most challenging touchpoints to observe how people reacted to them and responded through instinct. The products within the journey (deconstructed food, finger bowl, and a pictorial menu) were established as a means to an end. The focus was not on the food itself, or how it tasted, but on how people ate and interacted with it.
We wanted to challenge the way people behave in a restaurant and eating environment - from how they eat and communicate to their table manners and etiquette - in a meaningful way that adds value to El Mono Charlie and its customers.
Our first approach to creating Raw was to challenge people by deconstructing Mono Charlie’s main food item: pizza. By taking something familiar and “flipping it upside down,” we aimed to make it less immediately recognisable and trigger a more instinctive response.
The goal was to encourage people to dig into their food messily, without caring about anything else.
For the initial hygiene approach, we researched restaurant practices in countries where eating with hands is the norm. Our first idea was to provide wet towels before and after the meal, allowing people to wash their hands while clearly marking the beginning and end of the journey.
However, the backstage logistics were too complex for Mono Charlie’s understaffed capacity, and the towels suggested delicacy and manners rather than Raw’s wild, messy identity. This led us to rethink the approach.
Inspired by how monkeys wash their hands in puddles, and how finger bowls are used before and after meals in countries like India, we integrated this element into the Raw experience. During prototyping, participants used the finger bowl throughout the meal as a cleaning measure while enjoying its playful, splashing nature.
Through prototyping, we concluded that all menu items should be “deconstructed.” The focus of the service became how people eat, and how they question their usual restaurant behaviour. By deconstructing the food, guests must decipher it and rely on gut feeling or instinct to understand how to eat it.
This process creates a break from routine overthinking and self-awareness. We often live on autopilot, but Raw encourages people to switch into the present. Without rules, instinct becomes the guide.
We all eat with our hands. We are all animals.
We often move from one thought or place to the next without fully immersing ourselves in the present. At Mono Charlie, the idea is to let go of social anxieties and focus on having fun, connecting with those around you on a more primal level.
By eliminating individual portions, people are encouraged to share their food and decide how to divide it equally (or unequally). The deconstructed food challenged participants’ behaviour, but the results were exactly as intended: they embodied our core values throughout the experience, validating the proposal.
MISSION
Create a judgment free environment, where you have to decipher through your instincts. Unlearn human “rules”, and socialise without pretence.
Share, get messy, have fun.
VISION
We firmly believe in giving your brain a break from social norms & helping you feel good “haciendo el mono”. The concept of our animal brand provides a fun end to end experience that prioritises connecting to your primal side.
