United States. Boon Edam installed the revolving door at the new Laredo Cantina in Virginia Beach, VA. The addition of the door provides comfort and prestige to the newly built restaurant.
An unconventional entry location
Located in the growing Town Center of the city of Virginia Beach, Cantina Laredo is located on the second floor of a mixed-use development. The ground floor features retail stores, including Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn; above the restaurant there are several floors with approximately 300 residential units. The total square area of the restaurant is approximately 8,000 square feet; with 100% occupancy (pre-Covid-19), the restaurant would serve up to 700 customers on a weekend night and 500 on a weeknight.
"Opening a restaurant on the second floor is something new to the Cantina Laredo brand, so it was a bit unconventional about how construction had to be done," said Niraj Patel, business financial analyst, THE LAP GROUP, a franchisee at Cantina Laredo. "From the beginning, we knew we wanted a revolving door instead of a push or pull door. The restaurant got off to a bumpy start, because we opened at the end of January 2020, just before COVID-19. But we're back open now and we're getting a lot of great feedback from customers."
Improve traffic flow and aesthetics
According to Patel, the main reason for a revolving door was to improve traffic flow. "During normal times, we would see over 600 customers a day, so you can only imagine the chaos of what would happen when you have a large portion of 15-20 customers trying to get out while various groups were trying to get in. We wanted to reduce it as much as possible."
Another key reason for this decision was the fact that revolving doors provide a better appearance for the place. "That door is the first and last thing you see, so you want to have a very elegant entrance and exit," Patel continued. "Not only does it look much better than a normal door, but it also changes the whole atmosphere of the entrance. It's definitely more luxurious than a door that you have to push or pull open."
BoonAssist TQM revolving door
Cantina Laredo selected a BoonAssist TQM manual revolving door for its main entrance, which offers a unique low-energy drive that reduces the effort of pushing the door wing by up to 50%. "You just give it a little push and it turns," Patel said. "The BoonAssist gate also stops at the same resting position each time, eliminating the need for a host or hostess to reposition the door after customers come or go," added Glen Tracy, vice president of Architectural Revolving Doors, Boon Edam.
The parent company of Cantina Laredo, CRO Inc. of Dallas, includes the BoonAssist TQM in its standard specification for the main entrance, which is recommended for all locations. The specification also includes a unique night sliding door option, consisting of two sliding exterior panels that seal the door throat opening, securing the entrance and closing it when the restaurant is closed. This security feature deters break-in attempts and can also be used to close the entrance during inclement weather or other types of calamities.
Cantina Laredo has found the Boon Edam revolving door to be an ideal choice for restaurant operations. "With customers coming in and out at the same time, it's much easier with the revolving door than with a traditional door," Patel said. A traditional door would not serve to have this type of simultaneous multifunctionality.
Beyond the comfort and functionality of the revolving door, the appearance of the door itself also adds brand value to the location. "On the circular metal frame on the outside of the door, Boon Edam gave us a space for our sign maker to place a Cantina Laredo logo," Patel said. It further confirms that they never considered using a double-door lobby-style entrance for the restaurant, as this is "an older design approach".
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