Restaurant Development & Design

July-August 2015

restaurant development + design is a user-driven resource for restaurant professionals charged with building new locations and remodeling existing units.

Issue link: http://rddmag.epubxp.com/i/537805

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 5 of 75

4 • r e s t a u r a n t d e v e l o p m e n t + d e s i g n • J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 5 Publisher's Letter Preaching to the Choir R ight now, you are either holding the print July/August issue of rd+d in your hands or you are checking us out digitally. In either case, I implore you to take a few minutes and read some practical advice from your peers. Specifcally, if you have anything to do with getting restaurants built on time and on budget, let contrac- tor Patrick Kelly and the three chain construction pros who contributed to this month's How To section (page 58) drop some knowledge on you. They tackle the subject of how to reduce change orders, and it's a topic that strikes a chord with us here at Zoomba Group this summer. That's because we're in the throes of our own building project and, let me tell you, we feel your pain. The advice from Kelly, as well as from Archie Andrews, Chris Domanico and David Fabian, each of whom heads up construction for fast-growing chains (Zoe's Kitchen, Romulus Restaurant Group and Falcon Holdings, respective- ly), is as sound as it is timely for us. Ours is not a huge project. We're converting a 3,100-square-foot existing space into a contemporary, sun-lit offce for our growing company. It's probably about the size of an average full-service restaurant and will include a fully equipped test kitchen. As you all do on every project you undertake, we've learned a lot so far. We've made some mistakes, but we've also done some things right. First off, we fought the temptation to simply take our architect's drawings and our designer's color palette and material selections to a general contractor and have them execute the plan. That would have been simple, right? And it would have saved us the professional fees for having the architect and designer help oversee the project through completion. Wrong. I can only imagine what a pickle we would be in right now without the ongoing support of these professionals, whose original vision created the plan. As our How To contributors cor- rectly point out, there are a multitude of both big and little decisions along the way, to say nothing of the unavoidable surprises that result in costly change orders. Having — and keeping — the right team in place and taking a collab- orative, proactive approach can pay big dividends in the long run. We're novice participants in the construction process but we do know this: The investment in this professional oversight throughout the life of the project will be the best money that we spend on the entire undertaking, hands down. Stay tuned and we will keep you up-to-date on our progress at zoombagroup.com and on social media. Let us know about your experi- ences with your projects. We love seeing them take shape and we love to tell your stories. All the best, MAUREEN SLOCUM President and Publisher maureen@zoombagroup.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Restaurant Development & Design - July-August 2015