P.F. Chang’s CMO Tana Davila Discusses the Chain’s Honolulu Flagship

P.F. Chang’s has reopened its Honolulu location, at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki, after extensive renovation, and redubbed it its second flagship (the other one is at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas).

Previously a franchised location, the restaurant is now company-owned and occupies 10,000 square feet of the shopping center, about twice the size of a normal P.F. Chang’s.

“Really we’ve tried to take experiential dining to the next level,” the restaurant company’s chief marketing officer Tana Davila said, noting that with good food now available at the tap of a smart-phone app, getting people to actually sit down and spend time at a dining-room table requires more of a show.

That includes a puka lava stone exterior, and murals inside painted by artist Nyla Lee.

The open layout has giant windows and doors letting in natural light and connecting the dining room with the outdoors.

The food and drink are different from normal P.F. Chang’s locations, too, with expanded sushi selections and showy cocktails such as the Rising Dragon, which arrives at tables with smoke billowing from it.

Davila recently discussed other aspects of the restaurant and discussed the role that the two flagships play with P.F. Chang’s as a whole.