Landlords can do much to attract a range of tenants looking for their next restaurant location. One is to ready it for operations by creating a plug-and-play restaurant shell.

Hood-Ready Restaurant Construction

To meet a growing demand in South Florida, many landlords are converting their retail spaces so they can operate as restaurants. Preparing a plug-and-play restaurant shell means the space has concrete poured, gas lines in, bathrooms accounted for, grease traps in place, amenities ready to be tapped into by the tenant, and accommodations prepared for the commercial kitchen hood system.

When a restaurant shell is “hood-ready,” it means all the ductwork required for the hood system to function is in place – and this is a big undertaking.

Most units for the hood system sit on the roof of the building. This includes a curb and exhaust fan that attaches to the equipment on the roof. Between where the hood sits in the kitchen and out to the roof penetration runs a seamless, fully welded duct. When a property is advertised as hood-ready, it means this sleeve is already in place for the tenant to tap into with their hood system.

Considerations When Preparing a Hood-Ready Restaurant Shell

Hood-ready restaurants are appealing to tenants because this step saves them time and money on construction. From the landlord’s perspective, a potential downfall is that you don’t know who your tenant will be when you prepare your plug-and-play restaurant shell.

On the one hand, you may lease to a pizza shop that requires less ventilation or hood (in some cases, no hood at all). On the other hand, you may get an Argentinian restaurant that grills meats and has big fryers that produce a lot of smoke and grease. With a hood-ready shell, the tenant will be limited to a certain-sized hood as the duct size must be able to accommodate it.

While there is some risk in going with a hood-ready restaurant shell, many landlords opt to install a system that will attract the most potential tenants. For the most part, this works out, and when it doesn’t, there are modifications one can do to expand it.

If you have questions about preparing a hood-ready restaurant shell or other questions about restaurant design and construction in Miami, give our team of experts a call at Seacoast Consulting Group. You can reach our office at 305-845-7785.