Technology improves development process by design

Nation's Restaurant News, April 14, 2003 by Ron Ruggless

DALLAS -- When a restaurant company has designs on a multiunit-expansion strategy, the development team may draw on a number of technological tools to ease the workload and improve consistency, speakers at a recent conference here said.

Template sets, computer-assisted-design programs and centralized information repositories are just some of the tools available to uphold restaurant design standards and save time, according to Theodore Hartman, design manager for Jamba Juice Co. of San Francisco, and David Whisenhunt, senior director of design and construction for Quizno's of Denver.

The two shared their insights during a seminar titled "Restaurant Design for a Rollout Program" offered at this year's Store Planning, Equipment, Construction Services, or SPECS, conference. SPECS is produced by Chain Store Age magazine, a sister publication to Nation's Restaurant News.

"Template sets" of architectural drawings linked with specifications, produced using any number of CAD programs, can save time and simplify cross-checking, according to Jamba Juice's Hartman. In a sense, he indicated, template sets represent a way of organizing and archiving corporate knowledge related to design.

"The objectives that I looked at [in using template sets] were to communicate the operational and brand requirements," he told conference attendees. "You want to make sure everyone who touches the project, be that architects, your staff, vendors and others, knows the standards for your brand. We want that locked in."

Hartman said he has been automating the development process for a number of years, but recent CAD tools are making it even easier. He reported that Jamba Juice uses AutoCAD 2002 and an auxiliary program called Architectural Desktop, both by Autodesk Inc., and added, "I'm sure there are other products out there that do as good a job."

By providing data integration with construction documentation, template sets eliminate tedious drafting tasks and streamline the potentially time-consuming process of making changes, Hartman explained. He added that when dealing with document production, "in some cases, we're able to save up to an entire work week by automating certain parts of it."

The Jamba Juice design team also has learned to save time and reduce mistakes through the use of a centralized information repository, Hartman said.

"Everybody looks for the information to be in exactly the same place every time," Hartman said. For that reason his group takes "every single item that goes into a store, including custom stainless-steel and millwork items and puts them into the master database." He noted that changes made to an item or items in the database immediately are reflected in all drawings and text referencing the modified fixtures, materials or equipment, thereby eliminating the need to seek out such references and make corrections across a potentially large number of documents manually.

That sort of automation can make it much easier to modify standard designs and specifications when flexibility is in order, Hartman said.

"In some cases you can't execute your design in the same way," he said. "We have some unique challenges in executing our brand and presenting our full offering of products, basically in a space that is under 200 square feet."

Whisenhunt of Quizno's suggested that people in the develop segment of the industry create a prototype design accommodating 90 percent of the code requirements that might be encountered as the concept grows. "Quality construction documents, strong construction management and good team work can reduce change orders and expedite projects," he said.

The Quizno's official also advised construction and design teams be proactive in visiting the building and health departments of any new city or county their companies might enter.

"Getting information in advance for your template set will always expedite the project," he contended. "Every time there is a surprise, there is lost trust between you and the building and health departments."