Parallel Design Group had the pleasure to work in parallel, alongside Tarek Mercho, a part owner of local hot spot, Sangrita Cantina.
Sangrita in Broad Ripple, established in 2015 was a "test kitchen"; built out at 1,200 sq. ft with a 600 sq. ft deck. Mercho (a Broad Ripple native) and his two restaurant partners Chris Chabenne and Chris Szymanczyk, opened this restaurant and bar after being together in business for 6+ years. All of course bring differing strengths to the partnership, which was helpful in this new build out and business venture as well.
After a successful run at the Broad Ripple location, Mercho put his feelers out about opening an additional space and received word about The Yard in Fishers District. Taking a leap of faith, he and his business partners signed the lease with agent Ryan Smith at Thompson Thrift, in Fall of 2019 with best intentions of opening doors in May of 2020. Due to complications with Covid (raise your hand if you can relate) and many delays associated with that, possession of the space did not take place until June of 2020. However, we worked dilligently to achieve a Grand Opening in December of 2020.
PDG PROJECT TEAM
Our team worked with Jim Hannigan, recommended as the General Contractor who had recently went out on his own and started Hannigan Construction. Kaitlyn, our Studio Director and Senior Project Interior Designer was assigned to lead this project and established a great relationship with the client right away.
PROJECT INSPO
Restaurant partners TK, Chris and Chris are all well-traveled individuals and they have looked to bigger cities for conceptual ideas. The team at large wanted cozy - charming - eclectic and cool. Inspiration was derived from various places; elements and ideation was derived from everything from a boutique hotel in Denver, La Esquina in New York, BIG Star in Chicago, to Mercadito/Double A in Chicago.
The PDG team wanted to keep key concepts from the Broad Ripple location, but intended to elevate the vibe with a new flair and design to attract the Fishers District clientele. As all of the moving parts came together to brainstorm and dream up this new space, the design intention was to create an atmosphere to be in harmony with a southwestern vibe, focused on crafting the best tequila cocktails and tacos. Different from the Broad Ripple location, the Fishers location was to be more of a restaurant than a bar.
"We have to get an A every single day in the restaurant business," said Mercho. "This of course also applies to the design and build out of the space."
PDG PROCESS
Our PDG team hit the ground running and produced renderings that were true to the real life representation of what you see today, as pictured below.
Our project team had no problem specifying products that were unique in nature. We had a lot custom furniture builds produced in California, therefore taking quite some time for production, shipping and delivery.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
TK and team would love to open more hot spots, but are diligently watching the restaurant business. As a restaurant owner in the current climate, it is still extremely difficult to manage and execute staffing. Also - keeping up with the volume of business with staff is difficult.
We ended our time with TK's kind comment that "we never would have been able to create this space without Parallel."
To view more photos of the space, click here.
Until next time.
"We never would have been able to create this space without Parallel."