Canadian-based fast-food chain Mary Brown’s Chicken recently opened a new prototype location in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.
The innovative concept is characterized by a spacious 2,500-square-foot interior.
The company said the interiors are outfitted with a cutting-edge design featuring an open dining room with high ceilings and focuses on ample glazing to maximize natural lighting.
Other features of the prototype store include a drive-thru and it adopts the innovative T-line back-of-house kitchen concept which aims to optimize operational efficiencies.
Exterior elements and a spacious patio, an extension of the interior dining room, have been enhanced to align with Mary Brown’s branding to ensure a cohesive visual identity.
“It’s stunning. It’s gorgeous. It’s a standalone building. It’s 2,800 square feet with an interior of about 2,500 (square feet) useable space,” said Liza Dournayan, Senior Director, Design and Construction.
“It’s everything we dreamed of building for our one of a kind, sort of our prototype store, our anchor store. It’s got unique features. It’s a standalone building. It has a designated patio with a drive-thru. It has a nice wide sort of free open dining area.
“Our main concern is our guests and that quality of experience above the food, the amazing food we serve. The design of the building is unique to Mary Brown’s.”
The company, which is based in Markham, Ontario, has 265 locations across the country. It began in 1969 in Newfoundland.
“By the end of the year, I hope to reach 280,” said Dournayan. “We’re targeting about 40 to 50 a year.”
Dournayan said the Wetaskiwin location was a brand new build which opened in June.
“We had the opportunity to build there and the way the cards fell that became our first prototype store. We had a landlord that was willing to work with us. And they built the site up for us based on our drawings. It was a great union. We worked well together. That’s where our first prototype was born,” she said, adding that the plan going forward is to have more stores like this one.
“We have provisions for more of these stores. It’s finding the right location and the right partners and we have prospects to build as many prototypes as we possibly can.”
Dournayan said the location is designed to flow the way the company feels an ideal store should replicate.
“When you walk in, you have a large dining room and then we have focal point of purchase or cash desk area with our digital screens and that’s where our guests walk up and place their order. We also have a full drive-thru system and a patio on the exterior,” she said.
In the back are two lines supplying and producing food – one to accommodate the drive-thru area and one for the interior for guests.
“It follows all of our colour schemes, our brand. It’s a replica of our brand ideal and our colours. We basically have a complimentary colour scheme of the blue and the orange. It’s a play with colours and our design and it just represents that Canadian Mary Brown’s culture that we’re spreading across Canada.”
Earlier this year in a Retail Insider story, the company said it was looking to expand to have 500 locations in Canada and 150 international locations within five years.
The expansion includes the goal of entering the Quebec market within the next two years with the potential of having between 80 to 100 overall. The first locations will most likely be in and around Montreal.
