Form Follows Function
A systems approach to updating a breakfast-and-lunch concept finds success.
When The Buttered Biscuit, a four-unit Northwest Arkansas chain, decided to expand beyond its home market to the Little Rock metro area, owners Anna and Sam Russell knew they needed more than a spruced-up design for the new units. So they turned to Charlotte, N.C.-based StarrDesign for a deep-dive analysis of the concept’s customers, menu and operations, and this led to a fundamental rethinking of both front and back of house. Now, a Little Rock unit at The Promenade at Chenal serves as the design prototype for future locations.
“The primary goals for the new prototype were to refine the brand to its essence, clearly express that brand in the new restaurant and develop a more efficient kitchen and back-of-house operation to improve the overall return on investment,” explains Steve Starr, AIA, FCSI, president and CEO of StarrDesign. “Instead of creating a fixed prototype, we designed a set of parts and some rules for how those parts should go together, including building in flexible zones.”
StarrDesign began the project with a customer segmentation study in early 2023 (the project was completed in May 2024). “We looked at the brand’s four existing restaurants and used its guest profiles and financial performance to create profiles of ideal guests and revenue targets,” Starr explains. “We knew going in that the Promenade location provided the people we wanted.” The Promenade at Chenal is an upscale, open-air lifestyle center drawing traffic from some 40,000 households within a 5-mile radius, as well as from workers in nearby offices.