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Reimagining The Restaurant: Week 6

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COVID EDITION

OCTOBER 2020

Idea #7

Food trucks were a hit before Covid.  Not only are they convenient, deployable, and festive but they’ve been elevated from a culinary view point in the past decade.

This concept builds a restaurant around the food truck phenomenon that is all about flexibility.   From a construction point of view, this building is columns, beams, roof and a lot of garage doors.  Spatially, this is a dining space with a block of restrooms, no kitchen, no coolers, no hoods.  The kitchen is in the vehicles and can be supplemented as needed.  On nice days this can be an open air restaurant, almost like a biergarten or farmers market.  As the weather turns, the doors come down and the restaurant transforms into a light filled, cozy conditioned space.

This concept solves the awkward patron-vendor height difference by elevating the dining platform for customers.  Along either side of the truck lane is a rail with a bar-top for fall protection and dining space.   Although there are a number of ways this concept could be implemented aesthetically, this one played around with a garage theme and even teases the idea of a bar-mobile with horseshoe bar seating.  Durable polished concrete floors, exposed structure, supersized graphics, and ample natural light provide style on a budget.  The color comes through vibrant furniture and the trucks themselves.

You could also imagine other functions or revenues that could happen in a structure like this: games, retail pop-ups, local collaborations, events.  Ultimately this concept takes the food truck festival, a popular trend that happens on street curbs and gravel lots, and elevates it, creating a flexible year-round space for dinging, commerce, and gathering.

Well, that wraps up our 6 week exploration of the Food and Beverage facility of the future.  We hope you enjoyed this playful series and maybe came away with some ideas.

Do you have one you’d like to see tested out and illustrated?  We’d love to hear about it!

Inflection Point for Cinema Exhibition

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October 2020

The Cinema Business and specifically exhibition have been a challenging business model since their beginning.  It enjoyed a golden age, and while forever changed by the advent of television, it has remained a significant, stable, and profitable business.  It faced an onslaught of challenges that had many predicting its demise including VCR, Cable, DVD/Blu-Ray, and streaming.  The key reason that exhibition survived these challenges is focused and consistent re-invention and innovation.

All businesses rely upon partners to provide them products and/or services.  Exhibition takes that to another level by relying upon movie content to draw customers to their facilities.  In other words, studios have provided the content and exhibition provided the venue and the experience.  The business has always been cyclical based on popularity of content, but with long-term stable revenue growth as illustrated below:

Cinemas, along with most places of public gathering, have been shuttered since March by Covid-19.   Cinemas have been permitted to open with limited capacity in many locations, but the results have been less than optimal because there is hesitation from customers and little fresh content to draw them back. 

The changes that have happened in 2020 to the exhibition business model are troubling to long-term viability.  The three most impactful changes, from my viewpoint, are: 

  • Reversal of the US – Paramount Consent Decree
  • Studios changing theatrical release patterns – is this a short-term response to pandemic or a longer-term change?
  • Increased variety and availability of content, and broader acceptance of it from a variety of sources

These changes lead many to predict (again) the end of the movie theatre and moviegoing.  That is one possible outcome, though doubtful.  Another is that the resilient and creative exhibition community will once again rise to the challenge.  I believe they will and would like to talk about what that might be. 

First, it is important to consider what we have learned and will continue to learn from this pandemic in the weeks, and months ahead, including:

  • Safer, touchless ways to transact business, including new customers now more comfortable using digital platforms
  • We can survive in isolation with digital interaction and support, but
  • We crave real social interaction

This combination of exhibition business model changes and pandemic lessons learned create an inflection point, or time of significant change, for cinema exhibition. 

The question is growth or decline?  Let us dig a little deeper into the impactful changes.

The reversal of the Paramount Consent Decree, even with the two-year sunset period on block booking and circuit dealing, could be disastrous for independent and smaller market cinemas. Therefore, many in Hollywood pushed back on the removal of the decrees, including the National Association of Theater Owners, the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, arguing that removing such restrictions could hurt independent films, among other things.

Among the rationales for the reversal was that the decree does not apply to all studios, to streamers or international competitors https://deadline.com/2020/08/paramount-consent-decrees-justice-department-2-1203007221/ 

Some speculated that large tech companies could be in the market to purchase exhibition companies as an outlet for their own content.  However, Reed Hastings co-CEO of Netflix told The Hollywood Reporter during a September 10th interview “I can’t see us doing a chain or expanding in theatrical,” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/reed-hastings-says-netflix-wont-buy-a-theater-chain-but-thinks-moviegoing-will-return .   There are dozens more content providers that could have different views or objectives. I expect there to be further consolidation resulting from this ruling and the pandemic shutdown.  Someone will see this as an opportunity, whether currently in cinema exhibition or not. 

The change in studio theatrical release, is to me the biggest and most impactful change in the exhibition business model.  The theatrical release business model has been the glue of studio-exhibition partnership.  Even a short-term adjustment, during the pandemic, is controversial.  How this issue resolves long-term is the biggest driver of the direction of the inflection point. 

I also believe that the increased variety and availability of content can be considered a significant part of a new business model.   Content creators are engaged in different vehicles beyond the major Hollywood studios.   Outstanding content is being created in the international/global marketplace.  There is an opportunity for content that does not fit into the two-hour, formulaic standard. 

These combine to create a real threat to the cinema exhibition business model.  Unless you redefine the business model.  What do I mean?

Be a communal place for social interaction.  Diversify the offerings.  Focus on developing other sources of content including events, independent and (dare I say it) streaming. 

Cinema Entertainment Centers, featured in Box Office Pro in August https://www.boxofficepro.com/the-next-big-thing-the-risks-and-rewards-of-cinema-entertainment-centers-one-of-the-fastest-growing-trends-in-exhibition-today/ is one proven model.  Several exhibitors have redefined their business model to include other entertainment components, and some entertainment center businesses have added cinema to their business model. 

Challenge everything about your business.  Strive to be the place for people to socialize, eat, drink, play and have fun.  Cinema is a shared social experience and should remain a focus.  The studio/tentpole movie model works, will remain, and requires and deserves large premium auditoriums.  Other forms of content might be better served with non-traditional spaces.  Consider boutique/social bowling.  Games and gaming are a growing business.  Consider eSports, virtual/alternative reality components, including other active participation activities such as zipline, climbing and use of outdoor spaces.  Concentrate on food and beverage, the mixture and quality of offerings to optimize revenue and profitability. 

Find the right, new combination – the next big thing.  Be the place for people to socialize, eat, drink, play and have fun in the communities you serve, and it will lead to a better, more robust business model, and long-term stable revenue growth.

Founded in 1981, TK Architects is a full-service architectural firm that offers all professional design services in-house to simplify and streamline coordination, including: Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Structural Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering. The firm’s focus is entertainment architecture and engineering, including cinema, bowling, bars/lounges, food service, and entertainment centers worldwide. TK Architects provides the right services at the right time to meet client’s specific needs, including: New Buildings, Tenant Interiors, Renovations, Facility Upgrades, and Maintenance.

For more information about TK Architects please visit www.tkarch.com or contact Jack C. Muffoletto, at jcmuffoletto@tkarch.com

Mike Cummings

Reimagining the Restaurant: Week 5

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COVID EDITION

OCTOBER 2020

Idea #6

While increasing table spacing can be simple, it leads to less capacity, a problem if you’re running a business.  Many restaurant owners have made creative use of their parking lots with temporary dining setups.  This concept imagines a purpose-built version of this.

Full disclosure, this concept borrows an idea from glamping. –whats Glamping? Glamping is “glamorous camping”, check it out!  There has been an explosion in services that will provide campers with an Instagram-able campsite, pre-prepared for people who like the idea of camping but also like brunch at the Ritz and sleeping well.

This concept uses repurposing the parking lot to create a network of private dining pavilions.  Customers make a reservation and pull up to their own dining environment, with patio seating, dining table, and wait-staff.

Fitting out the parking lot with this idea could be a way of increasing capacity while taking what may have seemed like a downgrade and turning it into an upgraded experience. An activated version of this might feel like a festival or block party.  At its core, this idea does not try to “return to the way things were” Instead it tries to create a new type of dining experience with the available real-estate.

Depending on parking availability and climate considerations, these deployable pods could be utilized in a multitude of ways. From an intimate dinner to a family gathering. From a warm summer day to a cool winter night.

At TK Architects we are always thinking of new and innovational designs.   Hopefully, this gets you thinking.  Is there a more practical way to reimagine this idea?  Let us know!

Founded in 1981, TK Architects is a full-service architectural firm that offers all professional design services in-house to simplify and streamline coordination, including: Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Structural Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering. The firm’s focus is entertainment architecture and engineering, including cinema, bowling, bars/lounges, food service, and entertainment centers worldwide. TK Architects provides the right services at the right time to meet client’s specific needs, including: New Buildings, Tenant Interiors, Renovations, Facility Upgrades, and Maintenance.

For more information about TK Architects please visit www.tkarch.com or contact Jack C. Muffoletto, at jcmuffoletto@tkarch.com

Steven Dragan

Reimagining the Restaurant: Week 4

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COVID EDITION

SEPTEMBER 2020

Hello again! We’re in week 4 of our blog series, “Re-imagining the restaurant.” This series starts with the premise that changes in customer attitudes and habits have been accelerated by the pandemic. Then we ask our designers to imagine a facility around those future trends.

WHAT WILL THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

As we said last week, These are not necessarily ready-to-ship solutions but what-if scenarios meant to build a bridge between where we are now and what the future may hold.

Not only do people enjoy eating together, but the rise of cook-it-yourself subscriptions like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh also show there is a big market for those who want to cook together. That being said – hosting, picking up groceries, prepping the ingredients, and the cleanup – can make it a chore. Why not cut all the downsides out of the equation and focus on the fun?

This restaurant concept revolves around the idea of a cook-it-yourself dining experience. Consider the possibility of cooking with friends while adding in the social atmosphere and convenience of being in a restaurant setting. A classy full-service bar is surrounded by multiple “cooking islands” that are equipped with the tools and appliances to turn fresh, proportioned ingredients into the meal you order. After dinner, go to the bar or lounge to continue the evening while someone else takes care of the dishes and clean up.

It is hard to imagine a time where businesses and consumers have been so willing to experiment. Could this be a new trend to emerge in the post-COVID world? Click the link and let us know your thoughts.

Founded in 1981, TK Architects is a full-service architectural firm that offers all professional design services in-house to simplify and streamline coordination, including: Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Structural Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering. The firm’s focus is entertainment architecture and engineering, including cinema, bowling, bars/lounges, food service, and entertainment centers worldwide. TK Architects provides the right services at the right time to meet client’s specific needs, including: New Buildings, Tenant Interiors, Renovations, Facility Upgrades, and Maintenance.

For more information about TK Architects please visit www.tkarch.com or contact Jack C. Muffoletto, at jcmuffoletto@tkarch.com

Steven Dragan

Reimagining the Restaurant Week: 3

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COVID Edition

September 2020

Hello Again! We’re in week three of our blog series “Re-imagining the Restaurant”. This series starts with the premise that changes in customer attitudes and habits have been accelerated by the pandemic. Then we ask our designers to imagine a facility around those future trends. This week imagines one way a facility could become more flexible.

What will the future look like?

As we said last week, These are not necessarily ready-to-ship solutions but what-if scenarios meant to build a bridge between where we are now and what the future may hold.

Idea #4

One Covid trend we’ve seen is people like going out, but prefer to have their own space.  Consider the dining tents in parking lots or recently the NFL games with separated groups of fans (Go Chiefs!) Combine that with the VIPification of entertainment spaces and the culinary rise of the open-show-kitchen…voila, you have a new idea.

This restaurant concept starts with the kitchen and plugs in different size dining suites.  The goal here is to flip the script on social distancing.  Instead of awkwardly spaced tables, this concept creates an upgrade: the VIP dining suite and gourmet open kitchen.

Each dining suite has it’s own entrance and dining pod.  Spaces are cozy and private but still within view of other diners and the kitchen. Server’s connect with customers directly from the kitchen.

This concept restaurant is a bit of an all-in scenario, but one thing is certain.  If you can find ways to frame the upcoming changes brought about by the pandemic as upgrades, you’re more likely to build loyalty and thrive.

Steven Dragan


Founded in 1981, TK Architects is a full-service architectural firm that offers all professional design services in-house to simplify and streamline coordination, including: Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Structural Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering. The firm’s focus is entertainment architecture and engineering, including cinema, bowling, bars/lounges, food service, and entertainment centers worldwide. TK Architects provides the right services at the right time to meet client’s specific needs, including: New Buildings, Tenant Interiors, Renovations, Facility Upgrades, and Maintenance.


For more information about TK Architects please visit www.tkarch.com or contact Jack C. Muffoletto, at jcmuffoletto@tkarch.com