When
you first contact Design & Layout Services, we will be anxious
to hear all about the exciting details of your new café or
coffee shop. We can also explain how our services can help you
get off to a great start by saving you time and money. Our
services begin by gathering information on your café design such
as your concept, menu, square footage and proposed opening date.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 1
The next step is to get the interior dimensions of your space.
These can be emailed to us from the building architect. You can
also take the measurements of the walls, doors, and windows
yourself and fax them to Design & Layout Services. We will use
these dimensions to create a document called the existing wall
plan. Once this information is checked and verified, we can
begin the floor plan layout for the café.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 2
The floor plan is designed to specifically match your coffee
shop concept, menu and space. We will match the proper pieces of
equipment that will support your menu items. Essential pieces of
equipment ranging from dry storage, refrigerated storage, food
prep and ware washing are designed into the café first. The
front and back service counters are then incorporated into the
plan so that employees have efficient work space and the proper
equipment to deliver orders quickly to the customers. This
equipment includes coffee brewers, coffee grinders, airpots or
shuttles, espresso machines and espresso grinders. The last
addition to the floor plan is the customer areas in the coffee
shop. These may include various seating arrangements, retail and
condiment counters, restrooms and possibly a roaster or
fireplace. The preliminary café floor plan is emailed for your
review in a PDF format. We will then call you to discuss the
layout, traffic flow, the various employee stations, equipment
selection and answer all your specific questions. From this
discussion, Design & Layout Services will make the necessary
revisions and create café floor plan #2, which will again be
emailed for you to review. We will discuss these changes and
continue to make further revisions until a final floor plan is
reached for your new coffee shop design. The design fees include
all of the revisions needed throughout the floor plan design
process for your café or coffee shop.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 3
Next, the health department is consulted to verify that the
local regulations are met, and to discuss the plan review
process. Design & Layout Services will email or fax your floor
plan to the person who does the plan review at your local health
department. We will discuss your menu, food preparation issues,
NSF equipment standards and grease trap and floor drain
requirements. We will also review the required floor, wall and
ceiling finishes. Design & Layout Services will make the
revisions to the café design based on the input from the health
department. At this time it is important for the client or
general contractor to verify with the building department that
your coffee shop design is compliant with parking, zoning, fire
exits, restrooms and ADA regulations.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 4
Once the health department and building department have given an
initial approval of the floor plan, Design & Layout Services
will proceed with providing many of the plans your contractor,
plumber and electrician need to accurately bid and construct
your new coffee shop. The new wall plan will provide the
contractor with the dimensions required to build the new
kitchen, storeroom and restroom walls correctly. A new café will
also require new floor drains, water lines and electrical
stub-ups under the coffee bars and below certain pieces of
equipment such as the espresso machine. The floor penetration
plan and penetration dimension plan will give the plumber and
electrician the specific dimensions and requirements for any
utility that needs to be located in the floor. There are also
numerous electrical outlets, water lines and drains that will
need to be placed in the new café walls. These plumbing and
electrical requirements are provided individually on 8 ½” x 11”
pages. Each piece of equipment is clearly shown in both plan
view and elevation with the dimension for the required utility.
The electrician will know exactly where to put the outlets, the
required amp loads and even the plug configurations. These
documents will show the plumber where to locate the water lines
and which ones need to be filtered.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 5
We will further help you visualize your new café with elevations
for each wall of the kitchen and also the back service counters
and coffee bars. The elevations of your counters will show the
locations of the drawers, doors and built-in equipment such as
sinks, ice bins and cup dispensers. The kitchen elevations allow
you to see the shelving, faucets, filters, and trash cans much
easier than in the floor plan view. Wall backing dimensions are
also provided on the elevations that describe where additional
support is required for wall shelves. Section views of our
standard café cabinetry components are also included.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 6
The manufacturers’ equipment specification sheets are compiled
and an equipment and cabinetry quotation is generated for your
café. The specification sheets include equipment dimensions and
information on the construction materials, finishes and options
that are available from the manufacturer. The health department
will often require these to be included with the plan review
application to verify that the equipment is NSF certified. The
quotation will give you competitive pricing on your foodservice
equipment, cabinetry, tables and chairs you will need to outfit
your new café. The quote includes an itemized list of all
foodservice equipment and cabinetry, identified by manufacturer
and model number. The item numbers on the café floor plan all
correspond to the same number on the plumbing and electrical
requirement pages, equipment specification sheets and the
quotation. This detailed information is very valuable in the
development of an accurate budget and business plan for your new
coffee shop.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 7
When complete, Design & Layout Services will send you multiple
sets of the finished café design including the floor plan, wall
dimensions, elevations, plumbing & electrical requirements,
equipment specification book and quotation. When you receive the
documents, one set should be sent to the health department along
with the plan review application and fee. Another set should be
given to your general contractor for bidding purposes. We are
available to answer any questions from the contractor or health
department as your café project develops.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 8
When your new café or coffee shop design have been completed and
approved, you will need to decide who will build your cabinetry.
Most customers cannot find a local source that has the
experience to build their custom coffee bar. As a benefit to our
customers, Design & Layout Services can supply the cabinetry for
your new café. We have successfully designed and built cabinetry
for customers throughout the country, from Alaska to Florida and
New York to Hawaii. You can be assured that your finished
product will be built to match your café plans and elevations.
Design & Layout Services utilizes the most current graphic
design and drafting software available. This allows our drawings
to be directly linked to our preferred vendors, who can
immediately begin production. This results in lower costs and
shorter lead times.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 9
The foodservice equipment for your new café or coffee shop can
also be conveniently purchased directly from Design & Layout
Services. Being an approved equipment dealer with many of the
national foodservice equipment manufactures, we can purchase
your café equipment package directly from the manufacturer. This
allows you to get special pricing on all your equipment along
with an experienced project manager to coordinate the ordering,
shipping and installation of your equipment package. With over
20 years of experience in the foodservice business, we can
supply the equipment that will support your menu and meet health
department codes, all at a competitive price. Many of our
customers take advantage of this one-stop service that saves
them valuable time and money.
COFFEE SHOP DESIGN STEP 10
Design & Layout Services will consolidate all the sinks,
refrigeration, cabinetry and furniture in Minneapolis and
deliver it to your café when the contractor is ready. We can
also arrange to have our installation team be on site to unload
the truck, uncrate the equipment, and set-up the cabinetry and
equipment. The final plumbing and electrical connections can
then be completed by the general contractor.
NOTE: The actual plan submittal to the health department along
with the application and plan review fees is the responsibility
of the client. It is also the client or general contractor who
will submit plans to the building department to get the building
permit. The client should also verify if an architectural stamp
or engineered drawings are required to secure a building permit.
Design & Layout Services is not licensed as architects or
mechanical engineers. The plans, elevations and specifications
provided by Design & Layout Services are not intended to replace
architectural or engineered plans that may be required by the
local building department.
