-
Permits, Penalties & Pop-Ups: Restaurant Buildouts Uncorked 🍷🛠️
- 2025/04/17
- 再生時間： 54 分
- ポッドキャスト
-
サマリー
あらすじ・解説
On my Best of Laguna Beach radio show at KXFM 104.7, my renowned, very wry regular guest - Bruce Russo - joins me as we pull back the curtain on what it really takes to go from “cool retail space” or “that great 2nd-gen restaurant space that’s going to be so easy to move into” to “fully operational, legally permitted, health-inspected, liquor-serving dining experience.”Bruce Russo’s seen it all – and built it all. And in this episode, he’s spilling hard-won lessons from his legendary 222 Ocean Avenue project (plus the innumerable times he’s built an entire nightclub in 5 days—but we’ll get to that 🪩).
Show Notes/Summary:
✅ 📞 The Power of a ‘Hey, Just Wanted to Loop You In’ Meeting
We use the example of Bruce’s work on his retail-to-restaurant buildout at 222 Ocean Avenue here in Laguna Beach. Initially, here are the first 4-5 steps that take place even before formally meeting with the City’s Building Department.
✅ What NOT to Do When Your Plans Are ‘Sealed’ (Trust Us, Don’t 🙅♂️)
What it means when “plans are sealed” after being submitted to the City. And what it REALLY means when the client changes his/her mind about the plans in the process (bad idea).
✅ Building Permit Applications require the first set of comments from the City, and then you’re dealing with Zoning and Planning Commission - all part of a multi-month process. If you pass the questions process from the Planning Commissioners, you’re in the clear! If you don’t … it’s back to the drawing board with rework, possible variances you have to get in play, and more.
✅ The trials and tribulations of acquiring an expensive liquor license and what is still up to the City as to what you’re then allowed to serve.
✅ The demolition THEN begins … and now all the multiple building inspections begin as you walk through every stage of construction from engineering trades (first!) and framing aspects before your flooring and sheetrock goes in.
✅ You Can’t Serve Dinner If Your Kitchen’s Still on Backorder, Babe. 🍽️
💡 (Bruce’s lessons learned) Why it’s smarter to get the kitchen package install done first before tackling the front-of-house completion.
✅ When front-of-house finish and chairs, tables, marble slabs, custom fabrics, etc., actually begins.
✅ 🏛️ Building in a Historical District? Buckle Up.
The interesting complications with building to “historical” demands in a city and the only time a “historical district” is vetoed.
✅ Bruce’s estimate on the TOTAL number of inspections that occur between start and the final Head Building Inspector’s inspection.
✅ The Health Inspector Walked In While They Were Serving Tacos. Oops. 🌮🚫
Where the Health Inspection comes in and how it becomes an issue when cities are relying on county health inspectors to do final approvals. This is where restaurant operators will get the most frustrated and make the mistake of bringing food into the space. And here’s what happens WHEN the health inspector shows up in your food-laden restaurant! 👀
✅ 💡 (Bruce’s lessons learned) What to do and - more importantly - what to say when you feel you’re eternally waiting for that LAST inspection.
✅ 🪩 From Permit Purgatory to Nightclub in 5 Days:
Bruce tells his hilarious story of how he and his team have become renowned for their ability to build out entire nightclubs in a week (and while facing a giant penalty fee if they don’t meet the Friday re-open deadline). He talks through the stressed schedule that begins at 2:30 AM on a Sunday night and reopens five days later on Friday afternoons at 4:00 p.m.
Show Notes/Summary:
✅ 📞 The Power of a ‘Hey, Just Wanted to Loop You In’ Meeting
We use the example of Bruce’s work on his retail-to-restaurant buildout at 222 Ocean Avenue here in Laguna Beach. Initially, here are the first 4-5 steps that take place even before formally meeting with the City’s Building Department.
✅ What NOT to Do When Your Plans Are ‘Sealed’ (Trust Us, Don’t 🙅♂️)
What it means when “plans are sealed” after being submitted to the City. And what it REALLY means when the client changes his/her mind about the plans in the process (bad idea).
✅ Building Permit Applications require the first set of comments from the City, and then you’re dealing with Zoning and Planning Commission - all part of a multi-month process. If you pass the questions process from the Planning Commissioners, you’re in the clear! If you don’t … it’s back to the drawing board with rework, possible variances you have to get in play, and more.
✅ The trials and tribulations of acquiring an expensive liquor license and what is still up to the City as to what you’re then allowed to serve.
✅ The demolition THEN begins … and now all the multiple building inspections begin as you walk through every stage of construction from engineering trades (first!) and framing aspects before your flooring and sheetrock goes in.
✅ You Can’t Serve Dinner If Your Kitchen’s Still on Backorder, Babe. 🍽️
💡 (Bruce’s lessons learned) Why it’s smarter to get the kitchen package install done first before tackling the front-of-house completion.
✅ When front-of-house finish and chairs, tables, marble slabs, custom fabrics, etc., actually begins.
✅ 🏛️ Building in a Historical District? Buckle Up.
The interesting complications with building to “historical” demands in a city and the only time a “historical district” is vetoed.
✅ Bruce’s estimate on the TOTAL number of inspections that occur between start and the final Head Building Inspector’s inspection.
✅ The Health Inspector Walked In While They Were Serving Tacos. Oops. 🌮🚫
Where the Health Inspection comes in and how it becomes an issue when cities are relying on county health inspectors to do final approvals. This is where restaurant operators will get the most frustrated and make the mistake of bringing food into the space. And here’s what happens WHEN the health inspector shows up in your food-laden restaurant! 👀
✅ 💡 (Bruce’s lessons learned) What to do and - more importantly - what to say when you feel you’re eternally waiting for that LAST inspection.
✅ 🪩 From Permit Purgatory to Nightclub in 5 Days:
Bruce tells his hilarious story of how he and his team have become renowned for their ability to build out entire nightclubs in a week (and while facing a giant penalty fee if they don’t meet the Friday re-open deadline). He talks through the stressed schedule that begins at 2:30 AM on a Sunday night and reopens five days later on Friday afternoons at 4:00 p.m.