April 28, 2016
41 Ocean Debuts Renovated Interior and New Menu
Santa Monica’s popular beachside restaurant 41 Ocean unveiled a new, modern design and updated menu by Executive Chef Patrick Florendo. Both the design and the menu focus on sharable and social dining experiences. The changes were led by Sean Sette, the newly appointed senior vice president of Ozumo Concepts International, along with his team of industry veterans hand-selected from some of Los Angeles’ leading hospitality groups.
When to Value Engineer? From the Start.
Value engineering is not a dirty word. In the world of responsible project management, it’s a necessary part of the equation. One key aspect to keeping the value in value engineering is taking a proactive approach instead of a reactive one. In this article two seasoned designers and a restaurant operator share their value engineering experiences.
Chicago Mainstay The Boundary Undergoes Complete Renovation
The Boundary, a local bar and grill in Chicago’s bustling Wicker Park neighborhood, underwent a complete renovation in just two weeks. The remodel included replacing all booths with rolling high-top tables for customizable seating, and removing the woodwork along the west wall and exposing the original brick.
Baja Fresh Opens in Oregon
Fast-casual chain Baja Fresh opened its latest restaurant in Sherwood, Ore., an expanding suburb of Portland.
Steve Gruber Becomes Sole Owner of Guy Fieri’s Johnny Garlic’s, Inc.
The 20-year business partnership of Steve Gruber and Guy Fieri in Johnny Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi’s ended amicably with the signing of an agreement for Gruber to purchase all Fieri’s stock in the company. This comes on the heels of a surprising closure last year by Fieri of a Johnny Garlic’s in Sacramento and an ensuing suit by Gruber to keep the business running.
California Pizza Kitchen Opens New Flagship in Las Vegas
CPK opened a new flagship Las Vegas restaurant at The Park, MGM’s outdoor dining and entertainment district on the Strip. Located between the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts, CPK at The Park showcases a breezy, natural space with exclusive new food and beverage items.
Carl’s Jr. Opens First Restaurant in Japan
CKE Restaurants continues its growth overseas with the opening of the first Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Japan. Franchisee Mitsuuroko Group Holdings Co., Ltd plans to develop 150 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Japan over the next 10 years.
Value Engineering Lessons Learned
Doug Jacob is co-owner of TORO restaurant in New York (above), as well as JWALK, a New York-based creative and branding agency. The team’s first full-service restaurant and the first of several units in development under the TORO brand, the New York project taught some hard-learned lessons in value engineering. Jacob recently shared a few of the biggest learnings that his team is now applying to subsequent build outs, which, he says, are being accomplished for a fraction of the cost. |
