JUNE 2024
CONTRIBUTING EXPERTS: KENDRA GIBSON | DESIGN MANAGER (EIS NORTH AMERICA)
ANNIE STRINGER | SENIOR BRAND MANAGER, NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (EIS NORTH AMERICA)

In today's competitive restaurant market, how do you stay ahead? This question is at the forefront of business owners' minds, and for good reason. How does an emerging restaurant brand become and stay relevant in such a saturated market? One effective strategy is to hire design services with the expertise to tailor solutions to your specific needs. 

At its core, design is a social science that extends beyond aesthetics, functionality, or material finishes. It's about understanding human behavior and the nuances of our minds and attitudes. This understanding is what sets professional design services apart from handling the design on your own. It's about creating an atmosphere that influences how customers feel when they walk into a restaurant.

Without the expertise of a Design Studio, restaurant owners risk missing out on developing a memorable brand identity, creating a positive social impact, and crafting unique environments - all of which can significantly affect their bottom line. 

Below are the benefits of hiring design services.  

Brand identity 

If your design services team understands how to connect with people physically, emotionally, and psychologically, your brand can really make a name for itself. After all, your brand is the heartbeat of your business. It remains constant through every customer interaction and is the magic that forges strong bonds with your audience. Your brand not only creates a distinct edge over competitors but also unites your team with a shared vision. 

Our Design Studio specializes in building relationships with restaurant owners, who are an integral part of their brand. At the heart of our approach is the belief that design is driven by the relationships we build with each other. When designers talk about the customer experience, we want to ensure the brand is building a relationship with the customer. Creating accurate and effective designs for a brand requires a collaborative relationship. This collaboration ensures designers have direct knowledge and a clear channel of communication, allowing us to thoroughly understand the brand's needs and goals to effectively impact customers.  

Making sure your brand has its own unique identity is crucial to a new restaurant because it separates the brand from everyone else. With such a saturated and competitive market, having a distinguishable brand that customers easily identify will help them remember their experience at your restaurant. Whether it’s the cuisine, atmosphere, or overall concept, your brand should be memorable. 

Tailored solutions 

Once our design team has an in-depth relationship with a brand, the owner, and its customers, they begin to understand how to tailor the solutions and services we offer. These solutions revolve around understanding who the brand truly is, what it wants to reflect, and what the customer experience looks like. In other words, every solution we offer is tailored to the customer.  

A large part of the design process is also about the end result. That’s part of becoming educated and informed about the brand and its target audience. Most Design Studios should offer comprehensive services so they can meet a customer wherever they are. From concept to completion, Elkay Interior Systems offers complete creative design services. Whether you need just one specialized service or a full suite of solutions, we bring your vision to life with precision and innovation.  

Knowledge and expertise 

Knowing the best materials for your commercial space is crucial, in addition to understanding human behaviors and design. Our designers know which ones work in different environments and can even suggest materials and products that will withstand the environment they’re being specified for. 

In addition to being knowledgeable about materials, your designer should know how to carry projects through scale and have the production and manufacturing knowledge to build a concept that is truly buildable as it’s designed.  

Communication 

Hiring design services also offers the invaluable benefit of a single point of contact throughout the project. With one point of contact, the restaurant owner doesn’t have to juggle multiple conversations with contractors or consultants, which minimizes the risk of miscommunication at any point. The project manager handles all communication, whether that’s with certain vendors or even our manufacturing facilities. This ensures consistent updates, efficient coordination, and seamless project execution. 

In addition to open communication, restaurant owners who hire design services will have consistent access to in-house interior designers for restaurants. They’ll offer suggestions you haven’t considered, and they often have a bigger vision about how to positively impact customers. Our designers also have relationships with people in related fields, like architects, contractors, and engineers, which means you’ll have access to them as well.  

Design services at Elkay Interior Systems 

When you think it’s time to reach out to a Design Studio for your commercial space design, you can turn to Elkay Interior Systems for creative or scalable design. We’ve earned the trust of our decades-long partners like McDonald’s, so we know what it takes to carry a project from concept to completion. EIS offers consistency between concept and implementation because we know how to scale due to having access to our own manufacturing facilities. We keep a realistic approach that bridges the gap between design and manufacturing. We’re able to turn visions into reality without modifications to the overall feel and intent of a commercial space.  

Our experience and knowledge allow us to understand global markets and unique design demands while approaching each project with localized, tailored solutions. From creative services to labor and manufacturing, we have you covered.

About Elkay Interior Systems   

Elkay Interior Systems (EIS) is a tight-knit team of industry-leading designers, commercial-grade manufacturers, innovative engineers, resourceful project managers, and sourcing experts committed to every stage of your project by guaranteeing quality and reliability. We stand out from the crowd with our 40+ years of global experience in the restaurant, hospitality, retail, and education markets. We believe in simplifying the complicated.