3 trendlettes we're watching in February

The beginning of the year is shining light on some nontraditional restaurant-design trends, showcasing new ways operators are taking advantage of their space. Here are three ideas, including one from overseas, that are starting to take shape as trends:

Domestic takeovers

Some chains are turning to home invasions as marketing ploys abroad. Burger King in Madrid turned an apartment kitchen into a BK menu counter to promote its home-delivery service, and Tim Hortons transformed a residential home in Calgary into a pop-up coffee shop to help fill job openings.

Three-in-one concepts

Why settle for just a single restaurant under one roof when you can have three, offering a range of dining experiences in the same spot? That’s the thinking for Labriola Ristorante & Café in Chicago and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s three Latin concepts at The Miami Beach Edition hotel, both of which offer options from full-service to cafe—bringing in dollars from customers with different needs.

Meat meets design

Now that customers are familiar with charcuterie, operators are adding curing stations as part of their restaurant’s design to showcase in-house production, from a centrally located station at Cured in San Antonio, to the ones along the wall at Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans and as part of the open prep kitchen at TETE in Chicago.

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