Kitchen design & build-out · St. Petersburg, Florida
We design back-of-house around your menu, your volume and the way service actually runs — then stay through the build so what gets installed is what works.
Why kitchens fight their own menu
A kitchen gets one chance to be laid out. Every compromise in the drawing becomes a daily tax on labor, ticket times and food cost for as long as the lease runs.
Space gets allocated before anyone asks what is actually being cooked in it.
Specced off a cut sheet and a sales rep, not against your covers and your ticket times.
Expo, plating and dish share a lane nobody can walk cleanly at seven on a Saturday.
Receiving, dry, walk-in and prep end up far from where the product actually gets used.
The people drawing the line have never run a full service standing in it.
Flow and code issues surface at the point where fixing them costs the most.
What we design
We start with what you are cooking and how much of it, then work outward to stations, equipment and space. Every decision traces back to a dish on your menu and a number on your covers.
To be clear about what we are: we are foodservice operators, not architects or engineers. We design the kitchen that works and specify the equipment that runs it, then work alongside your architect, MEP engineer and general contractor — who carry the drawings, the permits and code compliance.
How it runs
Six stages. You get a drawing and an equipment list you can hand to a contractor, and someone who stays through the build to make sure it gets installed that way.
What you are cooking, how much, and at what speed.
Stations, equipment list and the space each one needs.
The drawing, worked against a real service in your head.
Equipment specified, vendors quoted, pricing compared.
Site walks, coordination, installed work checked against spec.
Commissioning, line setup and opening support.
Plenty of people will hand you a layout. The value is in what happens between the drawing and the first service — and that is where most projects lose it.
Timing
Earlier is cheaper, and the difference is not small. Here is honestly what can still be fixed at each stage.
We can tell you whether the space can hold the kitchen your menu needs — before you are committed to it. The cheapest problem is the one you walk away from.
The kitchen program drives plumbing, gas, electrical and hood placement. Set it first and everything downstream gets drawn once instead of twice.
We review against your menu and volume and flag what will cost you daily. Changes here are redlines, not demolition.
Rough-in is largely locked. We focus on equipment selection, station setup and anything still movable — and we tell you plainly what is now permanent.
Layout is fixed, but throughput rarely is. Station redesign, equipment changes and workflow usually recover more than owners expect.
Engagements
Scope depends on square footage, station count, menu complexity, and whether it is new construction or a conversion. Every project starts with a call and a scoped proposal.
Kitchen Design
Design & specification
What's included:
A kitchen drawing and equipment package your architect and contractor can build from.
Design + Build Oversight
Design through opening
Everything in Kitchen Design, plus:
Someone who has opened kitchens before, standing in yours while it gets built.
Kitchen design, equipment selection and construction oversight are included in Enterprise. This page is for operators who need the build-out work on its own — a first restaurant, a new unit, or a conversion — without the full operating system.
Who draws it
Ryan Mitchell has spent 25+ years in kitchens — opening multiple P.F. Chang's China Bistro locations during the brand's peak, serving as Regional Partner for Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, and leading Fresh Kitchen's culinary expansion from 1 unit to 17 as Founding Partner & VP of Culinary.
That means seventeen build-outs worth of knowing what works, what gets value-engineered out and regretted, and what a line cook will actually do at nine o'clock on a Friday when the drawing says otherwise.
We take your concept from an idea to an open restaurant.
Send us the space, the menu and where you are in the process. We will tell you honestly what is still fixable and what it would take.
Prefer to talk now?