No. 1 Malatang KingsfordRestaurant fit-out design · Kingsford

Bring No. 1 Malatang's established franchise identity to a constrained, street-facing tenancy in Kingsford. The brand had to stay consistent, and the restaurant had to run efficiently in a small footprint.

Space was tight, and the way in was the hardest part. The existing entrance and the accessibility requirements needed careful planning, and room for customers and staff, the service area and a strong shopfront all had to fit into a small footprint.

We treated the frontage and the entry sequence as the heart of the design. The familiar red franchise palette, bold graphics and illuminated signage run through the shopfront and into the interior, framed by contrasting textured finishes and red metal detailing. From the street, an illuminated fascia and blade sign sit above red-framed glazing, with the neon logo in the window.

Inside, a marble servery sits under neon and menu screens, beside the ingredient fridge and the brand's graphic mural, with a suspended red metal mesh ceiling overhead.

The restaurant is clearly part of the No. 1 Malatang brand, and its layout is planned around this tenancy. From the street, the lit shopfront and entry are what people see first.

In a small shopfront restaurant, the entrance carries more weight than its size suggests. Access rules, queueing, signage and the first impression all meet there.

Start with access. New building work has to meet the building code's access rules, which generally expect customers to be able to reach the areas they normally use. Where a fit-out needs building approval, the upgrade can extend to the building's main entrance and the path from it to the new work, with some concessions where there are several tenants, so check what applies to your tenancy. An existing step at the door is the most common problem: a ramp takes floor area, so it has to be designed in from the first sketch, before the kitchen is laid out.

Then flow. Customers ordering, waiting and leaving shouldn't cross the path staff use to bring out food. In a narrow tenancy, that usually decides where the counter goes before anything else does.

The food rules apply as in any restaurant: councils usually make AS 4674 a condition of consent, which brings hands-free hand basins within 5 metres of food handling, and the food business has to notify council before it trades.

Signs are a separate question. Some shopfront signs can go up without approval and some can't, depending on their size, position and the council's controls. Check before the brand's sign package is ordered.