A Recipe for Success: Selecting the Best Restaurant Renovation Contractors
Ready to revive and redecorate? Choosing the wrong restaurant remodeling services can ruin your renovation dreams. Here’s how to make the right decisions before breaking ground.
Key takeaways:
- The best restaurant renovation contractors blend a comprehensive understanding of restaurant construction with respect for their client’s brand vision.
- Every renovation must prioritize safety, compliance, accounting, customer expectations, and kitchen efficiency.
- Experienced restaurant renovation contractors bring expertise that can streamline the entire project.
- A full-service construction company can help manage every aspect of your project from start to finish.
Restaurant remodeling services are a unique construction service that involves more than just revitalizing and restructuring exteriors and interiors. It’s wide-scope work that requires specialized skills, combined with industry-specific knowledge and foresight.
Managing key concerns, such as code compliance and kitchen layout design, and thinking ahead to ensure the site can pass any future health inspections, are just a few of the essential elements for success.
That’s why we’ve compiled this comprehensive checklist to ensure restaurant owners and hospitality entrepreneurs have all their renovation bases covered, so it’s done the right way, the first time.
We’ll explore the many benefits of working with experienced restaurant renovation contractors, what to prioritize before work begins, and how to choose the right construction partner for your needs.
Your Top 6 Pre-Renovation Considerations
Restaurant renovations must be planned to the same degree of detail as you would a brand-new build.
While some concerns are site-specific, your General Contractor should walk you through six boxes every project must check:
1. Health and Safety First
Whatever you’re changing or updating, all forms of restaurant remodeling services must prioritize the stability of the structure and the safety of its occupants. Ensure all entry and exit points are easy for everyone to use (including disabled customers), and that your front-of-house and backstage spaces are designed to be easily cleaned and navigated.
Renovations may also require rerouting or installing new wiring, plumbing, or fire safety systems. Incorporate such adjustments into your plans to ensure the finished job is safe, efficient, and ready for future inspections.
2. Keep Everything Compliant
Successful renovation planning requires thorough research into local building codes and zoning regulations. Many of these compliance steps are health and safety-based, while others can impact other aspects of your renovation plans, such as parking, outdoor seating, and any increases in your restaurant’s size.
Contact your local zoning authority and health department to discuss your renovation plans and learn about the required permits and standards. (If you live in Jacksonville, Florida, you can find the local zoning authority here, and the health department here.)
3. Keep Accurate Accounting
Reliable accounting is critical to getting your renovation across the finish line. Start with a budget projection that incorporates all projected costs, such as the various types of contracts with all service providers, materials, and a contingency fund.
Be prepared to keep regularly updated records on all day-to-day expenditure on the project.
4. Pay Attention to Customer Expectations and Building Trends
You know your brand better than anyone, but do you know your ideal customer and what they want, both cosmetically and structurally, in their dining experience?
Awareness of these two factors is often at the nexus of successful restaurant renovations, as what consumers want tends to shape the layout and ambiance of where they eat, helping renovations better incorporate the latest restaurant construction trends.
5. Prioritize (or, At Least, Don’t Compromise on) the Kitchen
It could be strongly argued that if you’re going to renovate anything in your restaurant, make it the kitchen first!
It’s the heart of the whole operation, and any changes you can make to maximize its productivity and efficiency would be money well spent. If your renovation plans lie elsewhere, plan well so they don’t compromise your kitchen.
The sixth box on our checklist is selecting experienced restaurant renovation contractors over less specialized ones. Their background sets them far apart from other crews, who may treat it like just another build.
The Many Benefits of Working with Experienced Restaurant Renovation Contractors
Renovations are smoother, quicker, and safer when you choose a General Contractor with extensive experience in restaurant construction.
For example, the easiest and best way to ensure a compliant renovation is to consult a General Contractor who’s well-versed in planning and permits, and who knows what your local authorities will require from the project, from planning to final approval.
Experienced restaurant contractors are also invaluable allies when it comes to accounting. Even if they don’t provide that service directly, they can help your accounting team plan more confidently for all expenses, anticipated or otherwise.
Additionally, restaurant renovation contractors who stay current can help you stay ahead of the curve, incorporating today’s most popular and innovative developments, such as smarter, greener, and stronger materials.
A great General Contractor can do all this and more by also being a restaurant designer, helping you safely, compliantly, and attractively integrate modern materials into a trendy renovation that brings your site right up to date.
How to Know You’re Hiring High-Quality Restaurant Remodeling Services
There are many General Contractors out there ready to compete for your renovation project. You can save yourself a lot of time, trouble, and expense by going directly to those who deserve your consideration.
You can do this by asking five questions:
- Do they have a working website, a legitimate address, and contact number?
- Do they have verifiable restaurant construction experience?
- Does that experience involve project management (a big plus if it does)?
- Are they and their subcontractors fully licensed with up-to-date insurance?
- Do they communicate clearly, promptly, and professionally?
“Yes” to all five means you’re dealing with a construction team that cares about their work, their reputation, and their customers. Bonus points if you can find a company that’ll share your vision while keeping the project grounded in what’s realistically achievable.
RPC General Contractors Inc. has checked every box for our many restaurant clients over the years. As a full-service construction company, we can help you handle every aspect of your restaurant renovation: planning, designing, permitting, budgeting, and, of course, building.
Check out our restaurant gallery to see some of the diverse interiors and exteriors we’ve helped realize, then get in touch with us to discuss your project and start bringing your renovation to life! We’d love to hear from you.