More Than Just a Luxury Café

 By Awliya

Last year in November, I went to Ralph’s Coffee at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur with my family. We left the house around 11 a.m. and arrived at around 1 p.m. After parking the car, we immediately headed to Level 3, where Ralph’s Coffee is located beside the Ralph Lauren boutique and next to the Chanel boutique.

From far away, I could already spot the café because of its iconic dark green color theme and the famous Ralph Lauren bear statue standing outside. The bear was holding a coffee paper bag while wearing a striped shirt, a suit, and a white apron with “Ralph Lauren” written on it. Before entering the café, the floor itself had the words “Ralph’s Coffee Ralph Lauren” written on it, which made the entrance feel very aesthetic and branded.

 

After entering, I realized that the café was actually not very big. It was more like a mini café space with a limited dining area. Even though the café was small, the atmosphere still felt cute, luxurious, and aesthetic. Inside, they also sold many gift items such as caps, bottles, coffee cups, tote bags, plates, bowls, T-shirts, coffee containers, and pouches. Most of the items had “Ralph’s Coffee” or “Ralph Lauren” written on them, which made everything feel very exclusive and collectible.

The dessert and drink prices ranged from around RM9 to RM25. During my visit, I ordered iced chocolate, flat white, latte, a slice of white chocolate cake, and the original chocolate cookies. Personally, my honest review for the iced chocolate was that it tasted a little similar to drinks from Tealive, except with a much higher price. So for me, people should choose wisely before buying it. The latte also tasted like a normal latte with nothing particularly special, and the flat white was quite average too compared to my expectations.

As for the desserts, the cake was soft, but the cream tasted similar to cakes from regular cafés. Honestly, I personally think cakes from Secret Recipe taste better. The original cookies also tasted like regular cookies that can easily be found at many other cafés.

One thing I noticed was that the seating area was not very comfortable because the café space was quite small. The tables and chairs were limited, and I think the café could probably only fit around three families at one time, while most of the seating areas were more suitable for two or three people only. Since I came with my family, we had to wait around five minutes just to get a table that was comfortable enough for family dining.

However, one thing I really liked was the large mirror placed beside the cake display section. Many people were taking mirror selfies and OOTD pictures there because the lighting and aesthetic looked very nice for photos.

Overall, I think the café did not fully meet my expectations in terms of food and drinks. However, I can still understand why many people, especially Gen Z, love visiting the café because the concept is simple, cute, luxurious, and very aesthetic for café hunting with friends or partners.

What I found most interesting was actually the marketing strategy behind the café itself. I really liked how Ralph Lauren placed the mini café directly beside the boutique because customers can walk straight from the café into the clothing store. While sitting there, I noticed many people entering the boutique after buying drinks or desserts, mostly for window shopping. At the same time, I also think the café atmosphere can slowly influence people to become interested in the fashion items and eventually feel tempted to buy something from the boutique. Honestly, I think it is a very smart luxury branding strategy because the café helps people experience the Ralph Lauren lifestyle beyond just fashion.