Operations
Cracked Eggery has breakfast for days — and nights
After serving artisan egg sandwiches and other egg-inspired cuisines from a food truck for the past two years in Washington D.C., Cracked Eggery is hatching its first brick-and-mortar concept.
June 22, 2021 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
After serving artisan egg sandwiches and other egg-inspired cuisines from a food truck for the past two years in Washington D.C., Cracked Eggery is hatching its first brick-and-mortar concept.
The 1,609-square-foot restaurant — designed by architecture and design firm //3877 and opening this summer at 1921 8th St. N.W. — will mark the flagship location for Cracked Eggery. The concept will serve breakfast — literally — night and day.
"We wanted a space that was clean and welcoming with bright colors and a retro-modern vibe. The 24-hour window addition was a must-have, both pre- and post-covid," Mike Tabb, Cracked Eggery managing partner, told FastCasual. "//3877 brought our vision to reality, making it simple for customers to understand the flow and let the space guide them from start to finish when they visit."
Since the restaurant is operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the design had to maximize efficiency, Tabb said. During Cracked Eggery's initial space-planning process, the //3877 team, led by co-founder David Shove-Brown, developed a layout that prioritized both back-of-house and front-of-house operations. With the post-pandemic world in mind, space planning for the eatery centered on the kitchen, ordering and pick-up to ensure each was a flawless process.
The design flow
When entering Cracked Eggery, eyes go to the kitchen's colorful yellow backdrop — a nod to the key ingredient underscoring the menu, Shove-Brown said. As guests decide what to order, they approach the curved ordering counter, which is offset by other key architectural elements like the floating, partial-height wall and bar stool area and the banquette seating. Expansive high ceilings are scaled by a retail canopy that mimics the shape of the order counter.
"A green wall at the retail canopy guides the eye upwards from the low-hanging menu toward the retro, marquee-style lit signage," Shove-Brown said.
Once guests place an order, they move to a" function counter," which provides an area for coffee finishing and grabbing sandwich condiments.
To add what Shove-Brown described as "#bigeggenergy" into the space, the design team playfully interpreted an egg theme, mixing the motif with modern elements and local touchpoints throughout the entire interior. Whimsical cracked egg graphics and a custom graphic wall, for example, capture the contextuality of the locale. The egg-inspired light fixtures as well as the brand's color palette — deep navy, bright yellow and soft blue — reflect the brand's true vision of celebrating the egg-centric eats.
"The interior architecture achieves balance through lines and shapes, where thick linear lines are paired with thin organic forms," Shove-Brown said. "Contrast is achieved through reflection of matte and glossy surfaces and pops of neon pink creating intentional moments of glimmer. Thoughtful and purposeful, the design scheme prioritizes sustainable materials that align with the sustainable ingredients found on the menu. For example, wood countertops and millwork are reclaimed from Brick and Board in Baltimore, and tiles are sourced from Maryland and New Jersey."
Tabb and his operating partners — Ross Brickelmaier and AJ Zarinsky — will add a second brick-and-mortar location by year's end in Cleveland Park, which will have similar design elements.
Safety is a top priority
As the pandemic continues to be a concern, the team added several measures to keep the space clean and prevent the spread of the virus, Tabb said.
Touchless menus are prioritized, as are scannable QR codes alongside large-scale menus, " he said. "Polished concrete flooring, porcelain tile, metal, glass and vinyl wallcoverings all have inherent anti-bacterial properties and can endure frequent sanitization."
About Cherryh Cansler
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