Design That’s Comfortable Without Being Fussy

For some, breakfast is a simple, grab-and-go convenience, while others prefer to savor a dine-in brunch. 

“‘Experience’ means different things to different groups,” Valerie McCartney, VP of Franchise Development at Broken Yolk Cafe, told Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine. “Online ordering, whether through our own app or third party providers, continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We know the younger generations are perfectly happy to enjoy their breakfast in their own home or some place other than inside the restaurant. On the other hand, for those that are looking to socialize, breakfast has become a very popular daypart for getting together. Going out for brunch is almost as popular as going out to dinner, because people have energy early in the day, rarely have to fight for parking and can still enjoy a cocktail with friends – all for considerably less than they’d spend having dinner out.”

McCartney said while the restaurants have always been comfortable and welcoming, the brand has responded to the evolving needs of guests and franchisees in a number of ways. For example, since they are seeing more-frequent larger parties they opted to have fewer booths that tend to seat only four. Fanchisees also told them what they wanted in terms of booths versus customizable tables.  

"Our tables can easily be moved to seat larger parties, without making them feel like the whole place needs to be rearranged to accommodate them. To further promote the social aspect, we’re also building bars towards the front of our new builds, rather than “old-school” counters placed in the back. The bars can seat up to 18 people. We knew from guest feedback that the former “old-school” counters weren’t ideal, so we started building a more modern, comfortable and attractive bar area that makessocializing easier. The bar area may have once been the seat of last resort, but now, it’s often the most popular seat in the house.  As a franchisor, we want stores that are attractive to guests, while remaining affordable for franchisees; featuring a “timeless” quality that only requires modest re-imaging every five or so years, rather than full-scale remodeling."

While the audience is broad, they’re especially popular with young families, so the design is, first and foremost, comfortable without being fussy, McCartney pointed out. To complete the atomosphere, the music is upbeat, but appropriate for young ears and the color palette speaks to the brand's  “live on the sunnyside” tag line with sunrise-oriented colors and themes. and never dull or brown.    

The brand also commits to sustainable practices by relying on vendor partners to use sustainable builidng product, but, more importantly, uses second generation sites rather than requiring franchisees to build brand new locations from the ground up.

"In doing so, we're typically able to keep freezers, coolers, HVAC units, flooring and other high ticket items that would otherwise end up in the landfill," McCartney said. "We’ve successfully converted locations formerly operating as Panera, IHOP, Ruby’s Diner, Bennigans, Bob Evans and Tony Roma’s, as well as other local second generation restaurants."

While all of these elements come together to create a welcming environment, McCartney knows its the human element that keeps guests 

"We want them to feel as though they’ve connected with friends – whether that’s the friends that came with them or their favorite member of the BYC staff. So many of our guests visit two to three times a month, so the staff gets to know them personally. An attractive and comfortably designed restaurant will get them in, but it’s the staff that gets them to come back."