Chambers CafeFranchise café fit-out design · Sydney

A contemporary version of a retro coffee house, with the focus on atmosphere, materials and detail. It had to feel warm, distinctive and full of character, and still work within the operational requirements of a franchise café.

We treated the interior as one material language. Deep green tiles, aged leather, warm timber, fluted glass, dark metalwork and feature lighting appear consistently throughout. Even the coffee machine was chosen to suit the palette, so the working parts of the café became part of the design.

The concept draws on traditional coffee houses and mid-century hospitality interiors, reworked in a more refined retro style. Rich green glazed tiles are the base, with brown leather, warm timber, bronze-toned finishes and textured concrete adding depth and a slightly nostalgic warmth. Fluted glass, fine black metal framing, decorative wall grids and pendant and globe lighting add further layers.

Each wall has its own shelving, planting, lighting or graphics, so the room has something to look at from every angle and still reads as one design.

A franchise café is designed for two clients at once: the franchisee who pays for it and the franchisor who approves it. Most of the work is fitting both sets of requirements into one tenancy.

Start with the documents. The franchise agreement and the brand's fit-out manual usually set the look, and sometimes the equipment and suppliers. In a shopping centre, the centre has its own standard too. The NSW Small Business Commissioner explains that for a retail lease, the fit-out standard must be set out in a fit-out statement or guide, and the tenant doesn't have to carry out fit-out work that isn't in it.

Then the approvals, which don't care about the brand. Turning a tenancy that wasn't a café into one generally needs a development application or a complying development certificate. The fit-out must meet the Food Standards Code's premises standard, with AS 4674 usually a condition of consent: hands-free hand basins within 5 metres of food handling, solid walls, concealed pipes. Sydney Water must approve the grease trap before it's installed, and the business must notify council before it trades.

Equipment is where design and operations meet. Choosing the coffee machine, grinders and display fridges during design, not after, lets them sit properly in the joinery, with power, water and drainage where they need to be.