2018 has been a great year for Southern California restaurant construction. A variety of projects, ranging from new ground-up construction to restaurant interior renovations, have either commenced or have already been completed in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties. H.W. Holmes Inc, one of top restaurant construction companies in Ventura, have observed some notable trends in recent restaurant construction projects. We anticipate some of these design trends will carry over into 2019 as well.
Back-of-the-House Cold Beer Storage
Craft beers are all the rage now. Not surprisingly, many national restaurant chains are now tapping into this trend by expanding their beer offerings and introducing brewery-based concepts into their design.
This has resulted in many restaurants revamping their floorplans to allocate space for cold-storage rooms to store kegs and cases of craft beers. In new restaurant construction projects, clients are asking for more square footage to accommodate an expansive beer selection and storage.
Separate Kitchens for Catering
Recent research by Technomic revealed that some restaurants are generating four times more catering revenue than retailer club stores. Fast-casual restaurant chains, in particular, are killing it!
Because of this, many national restaurant chains have added event catering to their menus. Some restaurants thriving on the catering front are now adding separate catering kitchens to their establishment. In this space, they can concentrate solely on bulk food prep, cooking, and packaging without disrupting their day-to-day restaurant business.
The best catering kitchen design typically has a large prep area for staging as well as a backdoor for loading the delivery van with food and supplies.
Basics like a convection oven, a 10-burner stove, a tilt skillet, and a steamer – as well as holding cabinets, refrigeration and hot boxes to hold and transport food at the right temperature – will be necessities in most catering kitchens.
Food Halls are the WeWork of Restaurants
Since H.W. Holmes, Inc. is in the commercial construction game, we’ve seen how the co-working trend – spaces where freelancers, entrepreneurs, and startups can work together under one roof in a traditional office setting – have impacted the commercial real estate market.
Similarly, food halls are becoming the restaurant industry’s version of co-work spaces. These spaces are outfitted with food stalls that allow small local purveyors to be part of a freestanding food court/cafeteria-style establishment – often with a house bar at the center of it all. By offering a number of shared amenities in a space addressing the specific needs of a food-service startup, food halls are invoking the same kind of culinary entrepreneurial spirit food trucks and the street food industry did previously.
As you can see, restaurant construction continues to be a thriving sector for both commercial developers and local and national restaurant chains. With emerging new trends and concepts like these, we’re looking forward to helping you with your next restaurant construction, retrofit, remodel, or renovation in the Los Angeles, Ventura, or Santa Barbara areas.