CCR- Commercial Kitchen Cover story

WINTER 2018www.ccr-mag.com

Kitchens

Brady Titus, Director of Design & Construction, Lemonade Restaurant Group

Squeezed to perfection

How the Lemonade Restaurant Group is making its play in the fast-casual arena

A special supplement to:

Also Inside:

How to renovate your restaurant

Cover story photography by Stephen Hekman

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How the Lemonade Restaurant Group is making its play in the fastcasual arena

By Michael J. Pallerino

Squeezed to perfection

Alan Jackson needed a change. As an accomplished Los Angeles chef, he had enough of the upscale dining scene in La La Land. In 2008, he set his sights on creating a chef-driven, contemporary approach to fine food. The twist: It had to be done fast.

The name he gave his new enterprise was Lemonade, which he opened in West Hollywood. Admittedly, Jackson liked the comforting feeling you get when you say the word. And yes, along with salads, hearty braised meats, satisfying sandwiches and decadent desserts, customers can order a lemonade.

A year later, Jackson joined forces with Ian Olsen, who helped redefine the fast-casual dining experience by eventually delivering 28 locations (and counting) throughout the Los Angeles and surrounding areas, including Orange County, San Diego and the Bay area.

To get a feel for how the Lemonade brand is evolving, Commercial Kitchens sat down with Brady Titus, director of design and construction.

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Give us a snapshot of Lemonade brand?

We are a modern fast casual brand with 28 locations that serve a wide variety of housemade marketplace salads, sandwiches and hearty braised dishes in a cafeteria-style presentation. These days, it’s all about choice and customization. Everyone wants to have some say in how their food is prepared. They want a variety of options. Lemonade offers a broad variety of choices and you can have it the way you want.

We’ve been around for a decade now, but we’re still small enough to be flexible. As such, we are taking a step back to examine the nature of our brand at all levels—not all brands can do that.

What type of consumer are you targeting?

Our consumers span a wide range of demographics, from millennials to families, and active, health-focused individuals. From a real estate perspective, we look for locations in walkable urban environments where we can capture both passersby and locals who become our regulars.

How does the design of Lemonade units cater to what today's consumers are looking for?

We walk the line between mid-century modern and an industrial aesthetic. The trick has been to keep our look and feel timeless, which is difficult in any retail environment. We aim to do this by using primary colors, broad uniform materials, and we avoid too much elaborate decor that might become cliché in a few years. Following trends is risky because trends end. We’ve sought to find a unique brand look that will hold up over time and, most importantly, that customers can identify specifically to Lemonade. You will never find reclaimed barn wood in our restaurants.

Walk us through how and why it’s designed the way it is?

In every Lemonade store, the front counter is the beating heart of the entire restaurant. Everything starts there and the rest is built around that piece. The counter is a completely custom build for each restaurant, designed to display our food in the best possible way. We also look closely at the color temperature on the lights above the counter so that the food renders the proper color and really pops. Besides actually eating, the front counter is the primary sensory experience for

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our customers—it’s a highly visual brand trademark. The rest of the store is meant to complement that experience, with a clean, simple environment that doesn’t distract from the food.

Take us through your construction and design strategy.

Though we are only in California now, my strategy is to position the company for a national rollout, whenever that may happen in the future. That strategy informs everything we do, from choosing our architects and general contractors to partnering with new owner/vendors that have national capabilities. My background is in prototype design, so I like to develop details that are universally applicable to multiple locations. Having very detailed documents in advance is critical to anticipating problems so that we aren’t solving major issues in the field.

Give us a rundown of the market's layout.

The fast casual market right now is incredibly dynamic and inventive. There’s lots of competition and a lot of rapidly growing concepts both in and outside of California that

are making a big impression in this market. Our biggest challenge is to stay relevant in a diverse and growing marketplace with lots of exciting newcomers.

What's the biggest issue today related to the construction side of the business?

The economy is booming, which is great, but it also means that everyone is very busy and prices are steadily increasing. Vendors aren’t as desperate for work as they were a few years ago, making it is more difficult to find contractors that will really focus on your project, maintain quality and keep costs down.

Making sure the design is fully articulated in the construction documents helps with this, but we have to diligently follow the design and construction progress and ensure all parties involved are putting their best foot forward. It’s a constant battle.

Talk about sustainability. What are you doing?

Almost everything in our build outs can be recycled, which we’re proud of. We use sustainable materials and renewable resources whenever possible.

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What do you see as some of your biggest opportunities moving ahead?

We’ve been around for a decade now, but we’re still small enough to be flexible. As such, we are taking a step back to examine the nature of our brand at all levels—not all brands can do that. We are established enough to leverage the best parts of our brand, but nimble enough to let go of the things that don’t work, all with the primary goal of improving the customer journey through the store. We are all excited about this opportunity to improve.

Are you optimistic about what you see today in the marketplace?

Yes. There are exciting things happening in this market in general and for us at Lemonade specifically. It is challenging to maintain a product that will compete in the present market, but I think we have something that’s wholly unique that will take us to higher levels in a competitive market.

What is your growth plan? What areas are you targeting?

Right now, we’re doing a lot of design development specifically oriented toward improving the customer journey and streamlining the entire development process to be more efficient. This has slowed our new store rollout, but the goal is to perfect the operational model so that we can go anywhere in the world. We are building some test locations in 2019 and plan a big push for new stores in 2020.

Right now, we’re doing a lot of design development specifically oriented toward improving the customer journey and streamlining the entire development process to be more efficient.

What trends are you seeing?

There is a massive push toward online ordering ahead, beverage variety, customization of menu items, and a much greater appreciation for environmental design and quality overall. Our guests are becoming much more sophisticated in that regard.

What is the secret to creating a "must visit" environment in today's competitive landscape?

If you're making design decisions that don’t directly improve the quality of the customer experience, you're missing the point. I believe our customer needs to feel like they

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have some ownership of the brand; that it’s a partnership. If you keep that in mind as you design, you will naturally develop environments that draw people in.

What is today's consumer looking for?

Customization—and speed of service are extremely important. With the internet and online ordering, there are so many ways to get food and get it quickly. No one has patience for waiting in line when they can stay at home and get what they want at the touch of a button. Technology is rapidly changing people’s expectations, ignore that at your own peril.

What's the biggest item on your to-do list right now?

I spend most of my time on improving the presentation and efficiency of the front counter to find the right combination of design and

In every Lemonade store, the front counter is the beating heart of the entire restaurant. Everything starts there and the rest is built around that piece.

functionality so that critical component lends itself to speed of service, quality of design and quality of presentation.

Describe a typical day.

There is no typical day, but the first part of my day is usually focused on scheduling vendors and installs, and contacting landlords and city officials to ensure that our ongoing projects are proceeding smoothly. Then I’ll spend the rest of my time dedicated to design development and prototype design.

Tell us what makes Lemonade so unique?

The variety and quality of our food at Lemonade is wholly unique to anything else in the industry. I think we’ve also done a great job at creating an approachable, relatable brand that resonates with our customers. CK

One-on-One with...

» Brady Titus

Director of Design & Construction, Lemonade Restaurant Group

What’s the most rewarding part of your job? Even after all these years, there is still nothing quite like standing in the middle of a newly completed project and watching people come in for the first time. It’s truly exhilarating.

What was the best advice you ever received? A wise and very successful architect once told me that if you create designs that only please your own needs or ego, you’re doing your clients a disservice. Always design to improve your clients’ business based on their own understanding of who they are, not your own perceptions.

Name the three strongest traits any leader should have and why. Always hire people who are smarter than you, regardless of their experience, because smart people will learn to do the job. Give credit for your achievements to people who are working for you because they need to understand that

their contribution was key to the team’s success, and they probably did most of the work anyway. Finally, let them teach and manage up, because a know-it-all manager is bound for obsolescence.

What’s the best thing a client ever said to you? The best thing was probably, “I’m really glad you thought of that.”

What’s your favorite vacation spot and why? Spain. The combination of the best food in the world and the breadth of culture, history and architecture make it absolutely irresistible for me.

How do you like to spend your down time? My wife and I have a 17-month-old baby girl, and most of the time all I want to do is be with them. I’ve recently taken up gardening, and once and a while I try to write music because I’m convinced I will be a rock star—someday.

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