A multi-year program modernized café environments across a leading fast-casual brand, combining space upgrades, equipment deployment, and technology integration to improve guest flow and protect operational continuity.
Executive Snapshot
Client: The category-defining leader of the fast-casual segment, recognized for its clean-label commitment, bakery-forward menu, and digitally driven guest experience. The brand operates thousands of cafés with diverse footprints, each requiring precision upgrades while keeping daily service intact.
Challenge: Elevate café environments to modern standards without interrupting operations. Each site needed a tailored scope—from flooring and wall systems to prep-line optimization and digital technology—executed in active cafés with heavy guest traffic.
Solution: Footprint Solutions served as the accountable partner for café transformations across the network. Crews executed white-box remodels, optimized guest-flow pathways, and deployed front- and back-of-house technologies with verified brand standards.
Key Result: A ten-year transformation program delivering dozens of café remodels each year, integrating construction, equipment deployment, and technology while protecting daily service.
Modernizing Busy Cafés While Serving Guests
The client set out to elevate the guest experience across its café network—refreshing interiors, improving throughput, and supporting new digital ordering behaviors. But each café presented its own constraints. Existing millwork, legacy equipment, power locations, and service patterns varied widely. Any delays risked disrupting service windows, creating uneven guest experiences, or slowing adoption of new models.
Footprint designed a structured approach built for active cafés. Crews worked in tight windows, coordinated trades with precision, and aligned every scope element to the brand’s operational and aesthetic standards. The program treated each café as a unique environment while maintaining uniform expectations for quality and flow.
The work extended beyond guest-facing areas. Behind-the-line environments were upgraded to absorb higher digital order volumes, create clearer traffic patterns, and support new beverage and prep systems. The result: a consistent, modern café experience that strengthened the brand’s leadership position.
Footprint’s Solution in Action
Footprint translated the brand’s objectives into site-ready scopes and executed them with disciplined field leadership, precise craftsmanship, and verified closeouts.
White-box remodels that set the stage
Crews delivered flooring and tile, fireplace removals and installs, restroom upgrades, carpentry, plumbing/HVAC, painting, and wallcoverings. The coordinated scope refreshed cafés and prepared them for modern service models—reducing rework and protecting service windows.
Flow-first operational upgrades
Teams retrofitted prep lines, constructed pass-through walls to support takeout, repositioned beverage stations for better guest circulation, and built dedicated pickup areas for digital orders. These changes reduced queue friction and improved overall throughput.
Technology and equipment deployments
Field teams deployed digital menu boards, integrated self-service kiosks, and installed essential foodservice equipment including bubblers, tea brewers, and specialty shelving. Precise millwork ensured each component aligned with existing space constraints and brand standards.
Exterior and site readiness
Awnings, concrete work, and façade updates aligned exteriors with the modernized interiors, ensuring a cohesive experience from curb to counter.
At-a-glance controls included:
- Verified brand standards through photo documentation and closeout checklists
- Precise millwork and equipment integration tailored to existing conditions
Results & Impact
- 10+ years delivering café transformations across the client’s network
- 30+ cafés remodeled each year, supported by licensed GC capabilities across 30+ states
- 8+ trades coordinated per site (flooring, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, painting, wallcovering, electrical, masonry)
- 4+ technology categories deployed, including digital boards, kiosks, and beverage systems
- Multiple flow upgrades per café, including takeout pass-through walls and dedicated pickup areas
- Comprehensive interior + exterior modernization, creating a consistent guest experience across diverse store formats
Why It Worked
Total program ownership created a single accountable partner for construction, equipment, and technology
- Standardized playbooks turned varied café layouts into predictable, repeatable scopes
- Millwork precision ensured tight fits for equipment and digital components
- Closeout verification protected standards and accelerated approval cycles
Let’s Talk About Your Next Transformation
If you’re planning a multi-location remodel or upgrade and need a partner equipped to operate in active environments, we can help. Connect with our team.