A full restaurant refresh with the drive-thru still open.
The problem we were solving
Compass Restaurant Group needed a dated Wendy's on Lake Street brought up to the new brand standard without losing weeks of sales at a high-traffic location.
The décor and façade had aged out of the brand program. The work covered the dining room floor, walls, ceiling and furniture, a new exterior façade, most of the kitchen equipment, and the systems behind it, all inside a five-week window.
Rather than close the site, we kept the drive-thru serving customers for three of those five weeks and timed material supply and trade sequencing around it.
Key Project Components
What the project involved.
Dining room floor, walls, ceiling and furniture replaced to the new Wendy's décor package.
Porcelain tile throughout the dining area, vestibules and public washrooms.
New AODA compliant entrance doors with automatic operators.
All existing lighting replaced with low energy LED.
Exterior façade removed and rebuilt to the new design, including the tall “Wendy's Red” blade wall with road-facing logo.
Majority of the kitchen equipment replaced.
New exhaust hoods and ANSUL fire suppression system for the new equipment.
Kitchen floor replaced with slip resistant coating and integrated 6 inch cove base.
Challenges & Solutions
Five weeks, one open drive-thru.
Tight construction timelines required precise scheduling of every trade and careful timing of material supply to keep delays out of the critical path.
Restaurant equipment had to be commissioned and every inspection completed before the owner's opening day, which meant working directly with the owner's vendors throughout.
The drive-thru stayed open to serve customers for three weeks of the five-week project, protecting revenue while the dining room was rebuilt.
Key Takeaways
What this project proved.
Sequencing trades around a live drive-thru keeps a high-traffic location earning during construction.
Coordinating the owner's equipment vendors early means commissioning and inspections do not hold up opening day.
Brand rollout work rewards precise scheduling more than added crew.
Brand standards delivered on a retail clock.
This project shows Stolk delivering a full interior and exterior refresh to a national brand standard inside a five-week window, with the store partly operating throughout.
It reinforces our experience with multi-site restaurant and retail programs where downtime is the real cost.
