How do you strike a balance between sticking to tradition and keeping things fresh when it comes to the café?
N: That’s just the crux of everything we do. J: It’s always on our minds, but at the same time it’s easier for us because the essence of our business is a store that has been in New York for so many years. We constantly go back to the store and think ‘this is what defines us. This is the soul of Russ & Daughters.’ So I think as long as we keep that as a reference point, then the connection to the past will remain. This connection is very prevalent in our minds inside the café but at the same time, it’s about bridging the gap between the present and the future. It’s probably our biggest challenge. N: It’s a very fine line. We’re not a museum, we didn’t want to fall into the kitschy nostalgia of trying to recreate the past or make the café look old. We didn’t feel that we needed to do that, because we are old. It’s in the name, the food, the smells; the history is tied up with the brand through time. Equally, we didn’t want to make the café so new and chic that it alienated people. We wanted the past and the present to co-exist in here.
