It revolved around Claudia the caribou, who owned the titular cafe and dealt with problems from her staff and customers. Other characters inluded Tom the Tortoise and Lisa the Lemur, waiters of different speeds, chef Abe the Anteater, carpenter Kevin the Chameleon and customers like Taffy the Tiger.
A few of the show's characters
It was produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions, World Productions (a rare excursion by the company into children's programmes, they are usually better known for gritty drama series) and Scottish Television.
Notably, all the voices were done by Kate Robbins. And that includes the theme song and the narration.
Caribou Kitchen contains examples of:
- Aside Glance: The characters would sometimes do these as the narrator said the final words of the episode
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Each and every episode of the series finishes with a question asked to the viewers by narrator Kate Robbins, usually related to the theme or moral of the episode, or about an action from a character during the episode.
- Fictional Province: The show is set (as is the namesake setting of the series) in a small fictional town called Barkabout, which is where the show's characters all live.
- Limited Animation: At times the animation is comparable to The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican. Some episodes aren't even "animated" at all, mostly consisting of slideshow-like movement. This was particularly noticeable in the first series, although the animation was slightly upgraded in series two, with a more noticeable improvement in the third series and subsequently the fourth.
- Trademark Favorite Food: All the animals have one, the most noticeable probably being Abe and his ants. Mrs. Panda is known for her refusal to eat any food other than bamboo.
- Visible Invisibility: When Kevin Chameleon becomes invisible, the audience still see his outline.
