Finney ’ s currently operates in Westlake Village – where it was founded in 2016 – as well as in Santa Barbara , Ventura , San Luis Obispo , Porter Ranch , and Burbank – with locations in Orange , Camarillo , and Laguna Beach coming soon . Gausman & Moore , a division of Ayres , has designed the mechanicalelectrical-plumbing engineering on four current and three future locations throughout Southern California and the Central Coast . The firm started with Ventura in the fall of 2018 and is currently in the final stages of design on the upcoming Laguna Beach location .
because it ’ s actually in the basement underground , and it discharges through louvers that are hidden in false column cases between the windows and returns under the tables ,” Wilkinson said . “ So that was a unique element about it as well .”
In It Together
While project scopes have been relatively straightforward from location to location , Finefrock conceded that Ventura threw the team a few more curveballs .
“ Of all our properties , Ventura is the most beautiful building we have , but it ’ s also the oldest and most challenging – so trying to go down into this deep basement where there ’ s bank vaults and massively thick walls and old construction added a few more layers of complexity ,” he said , going on to relate a story about a plumbing problem stemming from their grease interceptor that required immediate attention . “ Andy was there almost immediately to save the day ,” Finefrock said . “ He was on-site , down in the basement . There was flooding , there was water , there was sewage – it was a big mess , and he helped point us and the landlord into a direction to get it resolved as expeditiously and cost-effectively as possible . That ’ s a big deal for us because , in the restaurant business , your operations are everything , and if we ’ re down for a lunch or dinner or for a couple days it could have a big impact on us for the weekly performance of the restaurant , which ties into the month and to the whole year potentially .”
Such responsiveness , coupled with the strong partnership the team has established together , keeps Finefrock coming back to the Ayres team .
“ Having a dependable team enables us and the operational team to be able to perform at a high level when we need it most , and once you ’ ve established who that team is , and they can continue working together on a go-forward basis , it just makes the whole development side of my business easy ,” he said . “ I don ’ t have to keep being introduced to new people , new parties , new engineers , new consultants . We have a good team in place , and they know how we like things and can just go to work .”
From Design to Execution
Often , restaurant chains have a prototype indicating what the MEP design should look like , with the engineer tasked to take that design and apply it to the soon-to-open new store while accounting for variables such as the building being a different shape than the prototype , the power being a different voltage , or the restaurant being on the first floor of a multi-story building instead of adjacent to a roof . With Finney ’ s , there was no prototype ; Wilkinson and team generated all MEP design concepts , working closely with their architect .
28 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .