A brand refresh across one site is a fit out. Across thirty sites it is a logistics programme, and the difference is where most rollouts go wrong. Every restaurant or store has to land on the same brand standard, while each building has its own quirks, and most have to reopen within days of the work starting.
We have been delivering reimaging programmes for national fast serve and retail brands for more than twenty years. This is how we run them.
1. Start with a pilot site
The first site proves the design in the real world. It shows where the drawings meet the building, how long each stage really takes, and which details need changing before they are repeated fifty times. Everything we learn on the pilot goes back into the standard for the rest of the programme.
2. Survey every site before it is scheduled
No two buildings are the same, even inside one brand. Detailed site visits before work starts identify the constraints early: services in awkward places, structural surprises, access for deliveries. Finding them on a survey costs nothing. Finding them on day two of a five-day closure costs a lot.
3. Make the joinery centrally
Counters, seating, wall panelling and feature joinery are the parts customers notice most. We make all of it in our own Lancashire workshop, which is the only reliable way to guarantee the detail matches from one site to the next. It also means the joinery arrives ready to fit, which shortens the time each site is closed.
4. Run sites in parallel
A national programme cannot run one site at a time. We run teams across several locations at once, each to the same method statement, with a single programme that the operator can plan around. Weekly updates mean the estates team always knows what happens next.
5. Snag before handover, not after
Each site is snagged, tested and commissioned before the keys go back. Restaurants and stores reopen to trade, not to a list of outstanding jobs.
What to ask any reimaging contractor
- How many sites have you delivered at the same time?
- Where is the joinery made, and who makes it?
- How do you keep the finish consistent across different buildings?
- What happens if a site cannot reopen on the planned day?
The same team also delivers a complete commercial interior fit out for single sites, from Cat A shell to Cat B finish.
See how this works in practice in our fast serve restaurant reimaging case study, or read more about our corporate reimaging service.