News
Face value: Looks matter
March 29, 2006
According to the National Restaurant Association, 44 percent of QSR operators plan to allocate a larger portion of their budgets to remodeling this year. Whether it's a completely new look or just a facelift, the exterior is critical to any project's success.
"An attractive exterior is a must," said Joe Dyer, a Savannah, Ga.-based Bojangles franchise operator, who currently runs the highest-volume store in the nation. "Appearance is everything."
Dyer is intimately aware of the need for an inviting exterior. More than 10,000 customers visited his Bojangles in the first week of business. Dyer lists the "right look" as attributing to his store's high volume. A Wendy's had previously occupied the space for 23 years, during which customers found it difficult to maneuver their cars into the tight entrance.
"All my friends and even my banker asked why I was going in there, that it was too hard to get in and out," Dyer said. One of the first fixes was widening one of the curb cuts. "We also made sure that our building was about twice as high as the Wendy's to give it more presence."
"Any time that you go into a fast-food restaurant or any other establishment, a well-lit, open facility makes people feel safe," said John Hinton, vice president of marketing and sales for Mason Corp, a manufacturer of aluminum building products for the residential and light commercial markets.
Dyer also quadrupled the parking lot lighting.
 This story and all the great free content on QSRWeb is supported by: Mason Corporation offers several options of canopies for the commercial market.  |
Hinton pointed to Sonic Drive-Ins' exteriors, which add to the lighting by using a "flat pan system" on the underside of canopies. They're bright white and reflect light from the concrete below. "It brightens the store's location, and makes it more identifiable to customers."
Mason has supplied numerous applications for the restaurant industry, from entrance canopies and break shapes, to ridge caps and dumpster covers. Sonic's drive-in canopies are also a Mason product, as are the store's rounded, silver bull-nosed front fascias. Mason has provided outside structures to the 3,000-plus-unit chain for about 20 years, along with smaller-scale work for Wendy's, Bojangles and A&W.
Keeping exteriors fresh is crucial to staying competitive. Many chains require franchisees to update stores' appearance on a periodic basis.
"People want change," Hinton said. "If you look at some of the fast-food chains, you've seen the same look over and over. Sonic is approaching their new look to make sure people quickly identify with Sonic's changes. They've changed their menu, they've changed their look. By changing their look every six or seven years as they've done, people look forward to seeing what they're going to do next."
Time and subsequent deterioration of outside structures, particularly those made of wood, has long been operators' nemesis. But with today's building materials, longevity is practically guaranteed.
"Most of the fascias are now aluminum, so you're not going to have any rust problems," Hinton said. "The structure will stay there as long as it's being taken care of."
Maintaining a clean appearance on the outside is the perfect complement to smart exterior design. Dyer notes that even smudge prints on the drive-thru window can cause doubts about the cleanliness of food-prep areas on the inside. Well-designed enclosures for dumpster areas are another way to convey a clean, sanitized concern by adhering to the adage, "Out of sight, out of mind."
"It's not just the paint," said Dyer, "but the cleanliness of the outside."
"All my friends and even my banker asked why I was going in there, that it was too hard to get in and out," Dyer said. One of the first fixes was widening one of the curb cuts. "We also made sure that our building was about twice as high as the Wendy's to give it more presence."Related Media
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