He enlisted the architecture firm ORMS Architects & Design to design Aroma with a "bright, cheery, contemporary Mexican look". Zur-Szpiro said Aroma's mission was, "We want to offer a 15-minute holiday in the sun so that people will feel good." The cafe, which had a combined indoors and outdoors capacity of 33, had walls painted yellow and white and covered in beeswax. Charlotte Packer commented in "The Independent", "The electric yellow interiors are now a familiar sight across the West End". It had aquamarine outdoor seats whose color matched Aroma's outside walls and employee uniforms. Of the invested funds, 26% were expended on the design of the cafe and the furniture, 17% on furnishing the kitchen, 14% on legal costs, and 9% on creating the logo and branding. In December 1990, the first Aroma Cafe opened in Dean Street in London. Instead of making its own food like many other cafes, it received deliveries from two London bakeries which provided bagels and croissants, and from a tiny business that provided sandwiches and salads. Aroma reached the break-even point four months following its opening. In 1994, the architecture firm ORMS finished its design on Aroma's sixth branch in Broadgate. "Architects' Journal" noted about the design, "The common palette of pigmented and waxed plaster finishes, low-voltage lighting and natural beech create a Mediterranean atmosphere in the cold, hard surroundings of the city." In a "Café Magazine" review of Aroma, Bob Biderman wrote, "From the moment I stepped inside I was mesmerised by its curious combination of outrageous charm and earnestness." Biderman liked Aroma's design, writing, "Instead of the self-indulgent monstrosities modern architecture can create, this was, thankfully, humane. There was a clear attempt to bring together form and function, to provide a sense of communal relaxation and enjoyment – the antithesis of the pervasive practices which treat the masses like cattle and turn harmony into a privilege you have to pay for." Around 1995, Aroma had contracts to cater to ITN and an American music television station. In 1995, Apax Partners (previously known as Alan Patricof Associates) invited Finlay Scott, a management consultant, to review Aroma Cafe as Apax thought the chain was not doing well. Aroma's adversaries had better performances since Aroma had failed to expand beyond London which would help it grow quickly and its pricing strategy was deficient.