Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
No I didn’t have a conscious desire to be a designer growing up or even while attending school though looking back it seems as if it was a preordained outcome. There were so many forks in the road where if I had taken a different direction I wouldn’t be where I am today but time and time again I was somehow directed down this path. Whether it was while registering for college and not having any idea of what I wanted to major in and just by chance choosing architecture or coming across an index card posted among many in the campus job placement center by a small firm who specialized in restaurant design looking for a draftsman or meeting a gentleman that had five restaurants named the Cheesecake Factory, looking to build a few more – any deviation from these along the way would have guided me to a life very different than this one.
What are some of your first memories of design?
My first memories of design are actually of cars. Growing up in Southern California with its car culture it was hard not to take notice of them. As a kid I would buy plastic model kits of cars and then modify their shapes with modeling clay and paint until I had the ultimate ride. They are the ultimate expression of function vs. form.
Did where you grew up influence your career path?
Nothing about my childhood introduced me to the world of design. I had a lower-middle class existence living in an average Orange County tract house. However I draw daily from the experiences and influences of growing up in an area that rapidly transformed from fields of orange trees to a world renowned destination. Watching freeways, malls and new cities seemingly appear overnight to the ever present beach culture and its powerful influence has all influenced me.
Give us a bit of your background: college, first jobs, early lessons learned?
My journey to becoming a restaurant designer was a bit unconventional and not one I’d recommend to most people. But it worked out very well for me. It began while registering at the local community college with no idea what classes to enroll in. I scanned the course catalog looking for anything that caught my interest when I came across Architectural Drafting. I had always loved to draw when I was growing up and enjoyed the mechanical drafting classes I had in high school so this sounded like as good a choice as any. Two years later I faced the next major milestone in my life – needing a job to support myself. During a visit to the campus job placement center I scanned the many index cards on a large bulletin board with offers of employment. One card from a company looking for a draftsman caught my eye.
The one thing I could do well was draw so I scheduled an interview with them. During this interview I learned the company specialized in kitchen and interior design for restaurants. Until then I had no idea there were companies that specialized in restaurant design. For some reason they decided to hire me and started me off drawing exciting stainless steel kitchen equipment. Over the course of a few years and many kitchens I was given the chance to slowly cross over the distinct line between the kitchen and the front-of-the–house. I now found myself in the mysterious world of interior design – fabrics, colors, furniture, carpeting, tile, dining rooms, bars, restrooms, front desks. For some reason this all felt strangely familiar and I seemed to have an innate aptitude for it. Fifteen years after walking in their door with no experience I found myself a partner in the firm.
Soon thereafter a new client with a small restaurant company totaling five restaurants came to us. This gentleman was looking to grow his brand and wanted a design firm that could help him do so. His company had the unusual name of the Cheesecake Factory. Over the next couple of years as we designed several restaurants for him he was positioning the company to go public. Which he did. Once on the Wall Street treadmill he had to show growth and decided the best way to control that growth was by having his design in-house. After almost 17 years at my firm I was ready for new challenges and agreed to join him as Director of Design and start up his design department. Fast-forward almost 14 years and 150 restaurants later and I once again was ready for a change. I decided to leave the mothership and start my own design firm. Another amazing natural skill I possess is timing and I decided that September 2008 was the best time to quit a secure, high paying job to be self-employed. Fortunately we weathered the Great Recession and due to some wonderful clients actually grew every year during that difficult time. So my story is the classic example of working your way from the bottom up.
Why and how did you start your own firm?
After almost 14 years as head of design for the Cheesecake Factory and having just designed RockSugar, their third concept I realized there probably wouldn’t be a fourth and the focus had slowly changed from great design to how many restaurants can be built in a year. I always knew the third and final phase of my career would be having my own design firm and decided that September 2008 would be the perfect time to do so. Who knew??
Can you discuss some of your recent projects?
In 2015 we produced our best designs yet. It was the perfect combination of great clients, inspired designers and amazing concepts. A few of these are:
Wood Ranch in Springfield, VA
Wood Ranch is a casual full-service American BBQ restaurant chain that has been quite successful in southern California. For their first out-of-state location the owners came to STUDIO M c C O R M A C K to create a design that defined the essence of their brand for introduction to a new market. Warm and authentic were the inspirational words used to carry through the design of this casual restaurant. Aged metal, heavy wood beams, custom upholstery and fine woodworking contribute to the handcrafted, stylish feel of the space. Custom metalwork and wood furnishings add to the atmosphere while vintage inspired decorative lights help provide an upscale casual level of ambiance.
The Ritz Prime Seafood in Newport Beach, CA
Inspired by its coastal setting the Ritz Prime Seafood is a reinterpretation of the iconic Southern California restaurant founded by Hans Prager. Created for the next generation the Ritz had to evolve to give diners what they want today but still honor its fine-dining heritage. Every detail of the new design is in stark contrast to the stuffy dark woods, antique chandeliers and tufted black leather booths that made the landmark Ritz a “place to be seen” for more than 30 years.
Diners stepping inside the 185-seat restaurant are met with an instant showstopper: a waterfront view. The open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding guests were designed to direct your gaze to the harbor and its many vessels docked outside. A feathered coral motif runs throughout the visually stunning dining room, outfitted with cream and tan leather upholstered booths. The flooring is a mix of porcelain tile and mesquite wood. Gray Zebrano marble, tops a chic bar in the lounge and at its core, a glass wall wraps around the immaculate kitchen where diners are treated to a glimpse inside the intense atmosphere.
Matchbox in Ashburn, VA
This 14,000 square foot casual restaurant evokes a warehouse-chic vibe and as the first completely new, ground up concept from this brand sets the stage for future growth and establishes the design vocabulary new locations will follow as the business looks at putting down roots in the southern and western parts of the U.S. Through the unique use of common materials and elements – salvaged wood timbers are used for stair treads, wide flange steel beams become bar foot rests, reclaimed barnwood is transformed into a featured lighting element, walk-in kitchen coolers are found in the dining room – a distinct design brand emerges setting this eatery apart from others. All these elements along with massive two story steel windows and an open floor plan add to the industrial-styled atmosphere.
Two brick-clad wood-fired pizza ovens are prominently located in the heart of the restaurant and an open kitchen allows patrons unobstructed views of the chefs crafting the restaurant’s New American fare. A chefs table with a window looking into the kitchen prep area is bordered by two walk-in coolers. Floating ‘box’ booths cantilevered from the second floor above the entry lobby allow guests to peer down on the happenings below. These and other creative dining spaces such as a bar that opens up to an exterior patio and a private dining room with a barrel vault ceiling supported on curved glulam beams give diners the opportunity to experience the restaurant from a different vantage point each time they visit.
Is there a challenging project that you are especially proud of?
The original Grand Lux Café at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas was incredibly challenging and difficult. Not only were we creating a new concept for the most successful multi-unit restaurant company in the country (the Cheesecake Factory) and dealing with all the high expectations that came with it but we were given a space that never should have housed a restaurant. It was located on the casino floor with 35 stories of hotel above with no thought given to how the cookline exhaust was to be run. We had 4’ square concrete columns that appeared not to have been placed on any kind of grid throughout the space. The space itself was the shape of New York with no two walls being parallel. By far the most unusual element I’ve ever had to deal with in a restaurant space was the Venetian Canals in the shopping mall above that ran over a portion of our space. But as always happens, the most difficult, oddly shaped spaces result in the most interesting designs. The end result was a beautiful, dynamic restaurant that became the top grossing one in the Cheesecake Factory chain.
What are you looking forward to at your office?
I’m very excited about our rebranding including our new name and website along with our renewed focus on the company culture. This is extending to redesigning our office space to create a communal environment void of offices as a way to increase interaction and collaboration amongst us all. In addition we are composing an employee handbook that will establish our vision for the company and expectations of our staff.
What do you find are the most challenging and exciting aspects of your job?
By far my greatest challenge is how to continue to do what I do best – design – while overseeing a small business. It is very easy to fall into the trap of getting too busy with running the business and forgetting to focus on what clients came to us for in the first place.
What is the most important thing to remember when designing a restaurant—both in terms of branding and interiors?
Function over form. It doesn’t matter how great a restaurant looks if it does not operate well. A poorly laid out space can create inefficiencies that are multiplied many times over when looked at over the life of a restaurant. So many times we see little thought given to paths of travel for servers and bussers or how deliveries come into the restaurant and are distributed or the routes guests are forced to take from the entrance to the dining room.
Is there an architect or designer you most admire? Why?
I’ll always remember the first time seeing photos of the newly designed Royalton Hotel in New York by Phillipe Starck. It opened my eyes to how powerful and emotional a well-designed space could be and how the only limit to creativity is you. His work had a big influence on my sense of design in the early years of my career.
What would be your dream project and why?
We’re currently working on it!! A former client emailed me one day asking if we did residential design. My quick answer is always no but his next line said to check out the house he just bought. I went to the website and up popped Case Study House 25!! I quickly replied “of course we do residential design”. We are now in the middle of the design of this incredible home located in Long Beach, CA. It has remained remarkably intact since its construction in the early 60’s. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have the opportunity to work on one of these homes. Though not wanting it to be a museum piece we are very cognizant of its history and architectural significance. It’s both exciting and intimidating.
