construction and design

San Francisco — Award-winning architecture, design and strategy firm MBH Architects recently completed an upscale steakhouse in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood called Miller & Lux. Named after two butchers, Henry Miller and Charles Lux, the 7,000-square-foot waterfront restaurant provides guests with the ceremonial experience of visiting a steakhouse: selecting the cut from a tray brought out by servers, watching food carts move about on the dining floor  and selecting a dessert off a cart to round out the meal. MBH Architects served as executive architect with the task of …

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Nashville, Tenn. — Southwest Value Partners and AEG, joint venture partners and co-developers of the Nashville Yards’ creative office, music venue and entertainment offerings, have reached an agreement with EVO Entertainment Group®, a leading operator of cinema-entertainment centers, to open a more than 48,000-square-foot experiential cinema and entertainment destination at Nashville Yards. Plans for EVO Entertainment Nashville Yards, slated to open in late 2024, include a 12-screen luxury dine-in cinema, eight lanes of bowling, a scratch kitchen and bar, private event spaces, and state-of-the-art gaming and attractions, gravity ropes and …

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Vero Beach, Fla. — Boston Retail Solutions (formerly known as Boston Barricade) has hired Randy Ahlm as its new chief operating officer (COO). He will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations to help the company navigate what it expects to be a significant growth phase. “I’m thrilled to join the incredible team at Boston Retail Solutions. I am passionate about helping companies achieve their strategic vision by building great teams and effective processes that can scale. BRS is a leader in the retail construction and graphics space, and I …

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Los Angeles — FAT (Fresh. Authentic. Tasty.) Brands Inc., parent company of Great American Cookies and 16 other restaurant concepts, has opened the first converted Great American Cookies from Nestlé® Toll House® Café by Chip® in Las Vegas. The opening follows the May 2022 announcement of FAT Brands’ acquisition of the franchised chain of stores. Two additional converted stores are also set to open in Las Vegas by the end of 2022, furthering Great American Cookies’ presence in the city. “Over the last several months, we have been working with …

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Tampa, Fla. — api(+) is providing branding, design and architecture services for a new Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar flagship, a freestanding, 300-seat fine dining concept to be located near Bloomin’ Brands’ headquarters in Tampa, Fla. api(+) was selected for its creative expertise in creating flagship and prototype concepts in the foodservice and food retail industries, and for its understanding of the Tampa Bay marketplace. The flagship is slated to open in summer 2023. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. is one of the largest casual dining restaurant companies whose four founder-inspired …

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Dallas — Au Bon Pain, the bakery-cafe brand known for its gourmet convenience, has revealed a bold new store design. Planned to roll out companywide in 2023, the new design continues Au Bon Pain’s forward momentum started in July 2021, when franchisee Ampex Brands acquired the brand and its CEO Tabbassum Mumtaz pledged “to lead the bakery-cafe segment into the future.” The new design builds on customers’ new reality, where convenience and off-premise reign, without straying from Au Bon Pain’s roots as a French bakery serving freshly made, high-quality and …

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Grand Rapids, Mich. — On Sept. 1, 2022, Meijer introduced a new brick-and-mortar store concept — Meijer Grocery — that will provide convenience for customers who are looking for a simplified shopping experience, while providing communities easier access to fresher foods. The first two Meijer Grocery stores will open in early 2023. The new stores will open in neighborhoods within southeast Michigan’s Orion and Macomb townships. The new concept is the retailer’s latest since first introducing the neighborhood market small format concept in August 2018 with the opening of Bridge …

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St. Louis — On Aug. 29, 2022, Panera Bread began testing AI technology in drive-thru lanes with an aim to improve and enhance the guest experience. With support from OpenCity, select Panera bakery-cafes in the greater Rochester, N.Y., area have implemented OpenCity’s proprietary voice AI ordering technology, called “Tori,” for drive-thru orders, with the goal of maximizing efficiency and increasing speed of orders. Guests at Panera Bread cafes in Greece, N.Y., and Webster, N.Y., are the first Panera locations to experience this drive-thru innovation. Tori is installed at these select …

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Denver — As part of its brands’ continued transformations, REGO Restaurant Group — parent company of fast-casual sandwich chain Quiznos and regional Mexican chain Taco Del Mar, among other brands — has inked a strategic partnership and development deal with BCubed Manufacturing LLC, a Michigan-based manufacturing company that makes high-quality, fully outfitted freestanding drive-thru restaurants. With approximately 650-square-foot layouts designed for flexibility and efficiency, BCubed restaurants include both drive-thru and walk-up windows. Designed to fit on parcels of land that are too small for traditional restaurant development, BCubed restaurants contribute …

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Suwanee, Ga. — On August 19, Macy’s will open its third “off-mall” store format, Market by Macy’s, in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The new store will open at Johns Creek Town Center in Suwanee, Ga., a northern suburb of Atlanta. Market by Macy’s is a smaller format store, approximately 30,000 square feet, offering customers an immersive shopping experience that celebrates discovery and convenience. Customers will be able to shop at the “Trend Pavilion,” which highlights a constant flow of fashionable trends, must-haves and new merchandise throughout the season that will …

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