Savoy Bar and Grill
Two brothers, already well known in the area for their other profitable restaurants, want to open a third location that is “notably more upscale” than its sister establishments, a “blend among a steakhouse along with a seafood restaurant,” with a regular check of $30 to $40 per person. They chose to remodel an current restaurant. Their priorities: intelligent product flow, impeccable sanitation, along with a sophisticated but unpretentious dining experience with a focus on wine.
CHALLENGES:
An very tight room for that display hot line. The owners wish to bake all their own bread and eventually supply bread to other restaurants. The ventilation hood was not where the original plans stated it was located! The current configuration took up precious aisle room, requiring that an area where customers pick up food be redesigned. The decision to make use of heavy-duty equipment, which is bigger (deeper) than comparable, caf?�-style equipment, to meet the restaurant’s possible volume needs.
Placement of an ice cream freezer so it would not be affected by proximity to high-heat gear. (The restaurant makes its own ice creams and sorbets.) Placement of remote cooling gear (the refrigeration compressor) on the roof of the creating. Owners wanted to use the existing walk-in cooler and keep restrooms in existing locations from the creating. A separate kitchen for that bar and lounge region.
COMMENTS FROM THE DESIGN TEAM:
“It is compact and we can create items quickly; and it’s easy to clean, simply because the gear is sitting on curbs and the fryers are on casters. This may be the first kitchen area I worked in exactly where everything is seamless. Gear is placed so you can find no gaps among equipment, and no food particles can accumulate on the floor or between pieces of equipment.”-Bob Peterson, executive chef “This region is about 18 feet lengthy by 12 feet wide. Simply because we had to use the existing
hood room, this area is very tight.
There may be as many as four people functioning in this area, so the cooking program must be precise in every way. No 1 can cross over an additional individual.”-Jim Lawrentz, kitchen designer, National Restaurant Supply, El Paso, Texas “We had some difficulty obtaining the refrigeration lines in for remote refrigeration. They had to be brought in through a back corner and run via the wall, and come out in areas that we designed into the counter exactly where electrical, refrigeration, and plumbing lines came in. As soon as the counter is set, you cannot pull it up to make adjustments. This may be the kind of main challenge I enjoy.”-Jim Lawrentz.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STYLE:
A 45-seat lounge, 60-seat covered patio, two meeting rooms (36- and 50-seat, 1 with audio visual equipment), a 25-seat wine tasting area, along with a 140-seat main dining room all were incorporated into the 10,000-square-foot room. The kitchen is 1,800 square feet. A wood-fired oven for bread baking and vegetable roasting has wood storage beneath the door. It is situated in the prep kitchen and is visible in the dining area. Glass-encased, refrigerated wine storage cabinets double as the walls of the wine tasting room.
RESULTS:
The gear investment was $325,000. Savoy Bar & Grill opened on January 5, 2007, and hosts about 2,000 clients per week. Three-month sales: $900,000.
