Building Future-Ready Restaurant Brands via Pragmatic, Evergreen Facility Design

Facility design is a long game for restaurants. For most, the challenge is to create a brand identity that can evolve without a costly architectural overhaul every few years. When companies hardwire their look into rigid structural elements, they often find themselves stuck with an outdated image they can’t shake. Instead, a pragmatic philosophy offers a more sustainable path, balancing heritage with modernization in a way that is both operationally and financially sound.

That’s the problem Joseph Ortiz, President and Chief Operating Officer of farm-to-table fast casual chain Farmer Boys, is determined to solve. With a background that includes senior finance and operations roles at industry giants like CKE Restaurants, Taco Bell, and Panda Restaurant Group, Ortiz brings a solid understanding of how design decisions can shape a brand’s future. Now, he’s applying those lessons to Farmer Boys, steering the chain toward a philosophy that separates brand identity from brick-and-mortar.

"When I see brands tie their identity to structural features, it makes me pause. That could be a roofline, a monument-style façade, or any core construction element that can’t be changed without major expense. The question is, what happens ten years from now when that look is no longer relevant? Construction costs could easily triple, but sales probably won’t. If your brand is anchored to a structural piece you no longer want, evolving becomes a financial burden."

• Ghosts of restaurants past: The negative consequences of unchangeable architectural branding are already visible in the fast-food landscape, Ortiz points out. "You can drive around Southern California and see 'zombie Taco Bells,' the original adobe-style buildings that now sell other things, like Vietnamese coffee or pizza. You have all these old locations out there because the trade area moved, and they're no longer able to keep those restaurants. Everyone over the age of 30 knows that was an old Taco Bell, and it just looks odd."

• The logo lesson: The fix is to separate the brand from the building, Ortiz advises. "Brands like McDonald's and Starbucks have drilled their icons into the guests' minds. They can put that logo on any building, and it works because the guest connects with the logo, not the structure. Changing a sign and paint is much less expensive than changing a roof."

Farmer Boys recently put that philosophy to the test with its new Ontario location. Rather than pour money into an aging store in a declining area, the team chose to build fresh. For Ortiz, the blank slate presented an opportunity to rethink the facility from the ground up, to align design with modern consumer habits, rising construction costs, and the financial realities for franchisees who ultimately invest.

• Evolution made easy: Such a forward-thinking approach demands a defensible strategy, Ortiz continues. "We had a legacy unit that was one of our original restaurants. But after 35 years, the trade area had moved on. We made the choice to close it and rebuild in a stronger location. That decision has to be pragmatic. When you ask a franchisee who has owned a store for nearly two decades to reinvest, anything more than zero feels like a lot. Our job is to manage that cost carefully and make the brand’s evolution as easy as possible for them."

• More feast, less footprint: Facility design and re-design should be purposeful to align the building with brand values and guest priorities, Ortiz explains. While many chains expand their back-of-house space, his focus is different. "My philosophy is to maximize what the guest values; they don’t care about storage or prep areas. They care about elbow room and space for their family. Our goal is to shift the layout from a 55/45 front-to-back split to 65/35, giving more of the restaurant back to the guest."

The most challenging part of facility design often isn’t the blueprint itself, but the decision-making behind it, Ortiz clarifies. Otherwise, too many voices and unchecked preferences can derail a project before the first brick is even laid. Instead, his solution is a framework that prioritizes tested results over personal opinion and keeps teams focused on what actually works.

• Too many cooks: For a cohesive design, brands must fix a broken approval process first, Ortix explains. "In the past, our design process leaned toward collecting every idea, which made it difficult to create a cohesive result. The key is being disciplined enough to base decisions on logic and tested results, not on personal preference, so the final design works as a whole."

• Ditching the debate: The same logic applies to operational design, Ortiz says. "We have three kitchen designs in our system, and everyone has a favorite. The truth is, they all work and are 85% the same. Debating which is better doesn’t matter. Let’s pick one and keep making it better, refining and optimizing with each iteration."

The final lesson is to learn from the giants without trying to spend like them, Ortiz concludes. "I’m not McDonald’s, and I don’t have a fifty-million-dollar budget to test everything. Thankfully, they do, and we get to see what works. As a 100-restaurant brand, we have to be thoughtful and invest only in not only what makes sense for who we are today, but who we might be someday."