Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Design

THE PROJECT
Bloomin’ Brands, one of the world’s largest casual dining companies with more than 1,450 restaurants, including Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Outback Steakhouse, and Bonefish Grill, continues to expand its reach throughout the Northeast. Select sites can accommodate its 5,000- to 6,000-square-foot restaurant footprint. The projects were new-build pad-style formats, locations that were renovations of former restaurants, or renovations of existing in-line retail space.  The widespread locations of these projects required expertise in understanding and designing for varying municipal energy codes.

Erdman Anthony was selected to provide mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design for more than 116 projects, and continues to provide these services as Bloomin’ Brands continues to expand its restaurant portfolio.

FEATURES/SOLUTIONS
The client has been guided in MEP best practices, including providing a better understanding of energy ratings, how they differ among municipalities, and how the differences impact the company’s restaurant build-outs.

The challenge posed by renovating existing in-line retail for restaurant use is due to those spaces not having been originally designed for high-demand water requirements. Our solutions included designs that adequately provided water service without upsizing the utilities of the entire building. We achieved this by designing with more efficient fixtures in the kitchen, bar area, and restaurants.

IMPACTS
Converting the models to full LED lighting has realized energy-efficiency goals and related costs savings; utilizing LED lighting has also provided the brand with more creative ways to impact customer experience.

In the case of renovating a ground-floor space in a multistory building, creatively routing grease hood exhaust to an acceptable location, finding ways to meet ventilation requirements, and/or dealing with humidity concerns in a crowded dining area have proven to be challenging but achievable.