No. 1 MalatangRestaurant fit-out design · Kensington

No. 1 Malatang is a franchise with an established identity. The brief was to translate that identity into a new site in Kensington, keep the restaurant efficient to run and welcoming to eat in, and make the new location feel consistent with the rest of the brand.

We built the franchise's visual language into the interior itself instead of hanging it on the walls. Suspended red mesh ceiling elements, warm timber furniture and textured brick finishes give the room a casual, energetic feel. Illuminated neon branding and the restaurant's large signature graphic artwork are part of the architecture.

At the servery, a build-your-own counter sits under the red mesh ceiling, with menu boards and neon on textured concrete walls. The dining area carries the same materials, with the mural and a timber-batten wall beside the tables.

The result is a cohesive interior that customers recognise straight away as No. 1 Malatang.

A franchise fit-out has to meet two sets of rules: the brand's design manual and the law. Where the two conflict, the legal requirements come first and the brand standard is adapted to suit.

The brand side usually comes as a design manual: colours, signage, graphics, and sometimes set furniture and equipment. The franchisor normally reviews the design before work starts, and that review can take more than one round, so plan it into the program.

The legal side starts with the use. If the tenancy isn't already approved as a restaurant, food and drink premises aren't on NSW's exempt change-of-use list, so it generally needs a development application or a complying development certificate. An existing restaurant's consent can carry conditions on hours and seating that a new operator inherits, so read it before signing.

Then the food premises rules. The Food Standards Code's premises standard applies to every food business, and councils usually make AS 4674 a condition of consent. Sydney Water says most retail food businesses need in-sink and in-floor bucket traps and a correctly sized grease trap, approved by Sydney Water before it's installed. The business has to notify council before it starts trading.

A brand manual is written for an ideal floor plan, and real tenancies rarely match it. Most of the design work happens in that gap: keeping what makes the brand recognisable and adapting the rest to the site's entry, services and size.