2007-01-15 - Canadian Kitchen and Bath Magazine
By: Allison Modesto

Cactus Club Cafe: Upping The "Wow Factor"

If you are the type to judge a restaurant by its bathrooms, you may want to have a peek inside the washrooms of a Cactus Club Café restaurant. The popular west coast casual fine dining chain has won numerous accolades for the décor of its bathrooms over the years.

“We focus on the details of each guest’s experience and ensure that they leave with a lasting impression,” says Steve Harding, a marketing manager with the chain. “We are the industry leaders in restaurant design and décor, creating an upscale casual atmosphere.”

The first Cactus Club Café opened in North Vancouver, B.C., in 1988 and, over the years, the company has grown to 16 locations – two in Calgary and the remainder in B.C.

The chain will continue its expansion this November with the opening of another location that has recently broken ground in the South Surrey/White Rock area of B.C. With the design and décor of the chain’s bathrooms having garnered a lot of attention, including many awards, the bathroom of the newest location will surely follow the stylish footsteps of its predecessors and become a topic of conversation for many diners.

This year, the company took home a first place Golden Plate Award for Best Restaurant Washroom. Last year they won The Best of Vancouver first place for Best Restaurant Bathroom and second place Coolest Washroom in Calgary from FFWD Magazine. In 2004, both Calgary locations scooped up first and second place in the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating’s (CIPH) CIPHEX West Awards for Best Bathroom in Calgary.

With that kind of pedigree, the Cactus design team must compete with their own past bathroom designs when deciding on the décor for a new location. The team, which originates all design concepts, includes company president Richard Jaffray, interior design/project manager Anna Walentowicz, and several external design consultants.

“The only challenge is improving on the last design,” says Walentowicz. “We have a lot of fun with our bathrooms and will continue to move forward with our design standards.”

At the initial stage of planning, the team will sit down and plan the bathroom’s layout, keeping in mind any new and bold ideas that might be incorporated into the design, as well as the company’s standard design formula of timeless colour schemes and use of the highest quality materials, which may include Italian marble countertops, frosted glass privacy stalls, custom designed leather furniture or glass mosaic tile.

“Each location has an individual flavour and style while maintaining our relentless attention to detail for form and function,” she says.

When done with the planning stage, the team will look at materials, artwork, lighting and furniture for the bathrooms. After that, a final design meeting is held to ensure that the entire team is satisfied with the aesthetics of the bathrooms, as well as its function.

Though the design specifications for the newest location have yet to be finalized, if the company’s mandate is to improve upon the last design, restaurant goers in the Surrey/White Rock area will have a lot to talk about.

“The last washroom we created at our Kelowna store involved textured [charcoal-coloured] granite tile, white marble countertops, mahogany wood panelling, grass cloth wall coverings and glazed black wall blocks,” says Walentowicz. “We also included LCD TV screens. The total square footage for this previous location was a combined total of approximately 1,000 sq. ft.”

LCD screens were also incorporated into each of the stalls and above the urinals within the washrooms of the Macleod Trail location in Calgary that took first place in the CIPH competition.

“It was a big hit and the talk of the town,” says Walentowicz.

Other unique features that Cactus Club Café has included in past washroom designs include: fireplaces, automatic self-cleaning toilet seat covers, infrared faucets, European crystal chandeliers, lounge seating and illuminated or original artwork.

“Our inspiration mandate is always to create a relaxing, modern space that provides a luxurious experience while adding a bit of tongue and cheek humour,” explains Walentowicz.

If space allows for it, a generous arrangement will sometimes be incorporated into the design concept. “We are committed to always providing a unique restroom experience that is worth mentioning upon your return to your table,” says Walentowicz.

With regards to the South Surrey/White Rock location, she says that a TV package will be incorporated, along with original artwork.

“Every one of our bathrooms is unique and we always leave an element of surprise until the opening,” she says.

The company’s standard washroom package not only includes the men’s, women’s and a privacy room, but also individual staff washrooms as well. In some Cactus Club Café locations, the staff washrooms also include private change rooms and lockers.

“Of course we always incorporate universally accessible stalls in all of our restrooms with sinks that are wheelchair accessible,” says Walentowicz.

With regards to any district codes, the design team will ensure that the newest location will strictly adhere to any local bylaws, as well as any Canadian and provincial building code requirements.

“In most instances we even exceed the recommended requirements,” says Walentowicz. Again, the only challenge here is to surpass the previous design.

“We would like to always create a ‘wow factor’ of some sort in our bathrooms,” says Walentowicz. “But in this next design we are definitely focusing on using more interesting materials, artwork and layouts.”

The wow factor is certainly a pleasant surprise for many first-time Cactus Club Café diners and, according to Walentowicz, a common topic of conversation.

“I can’t remember the number of times I have overheard a customer saying to their dining partner, ‘You must go check out those washrooms whether you need to go or not!’”

The layout of each restaurant’s bathrooms differs accordingly for fixture reasons and, in some of the chain’s older locations, the men’s and women’s washrooms have differing colour schemes.

However, with its more recent designs, the team has tried to maintain a consistent look for both rooms that ties into the overall design concept for the restaurant as a whole.

The bathrooms for the chain’s newest location will likely follow that mandate while using some of the same materials that have been included in previous designs.

The flooring materials from past restroom designs have ranged from tile, polished concrete and Terrazzo. The privacy stalls are made of aluminum-framed floor-to-ceiling frosted glass and contain revolving toilet seat covers.

The restrooms’ lights are engineered through a controlled lighting system that are linked to the dining room, which provides a seamless transition through all parts of the restaurant.

Though Cactus Club Café restaurants have used other brands in the past, the company commonly uses Sloan infrared faucets and infrared urinals in their bathrooms. In addition to being infrared, the faucets are also temperature-controlled.

“We always incorporate high-quality products and materials into every part of our design package to ensure esthetic and function are the best for our guests,” explains Walentowicz.

The design team has left no detail unturned. Instead of using hand dryers, the team has opted to use folded paper towels for guests to dry their hands.

“One primary reason behind this decision is that the dryers create an undesirable noise factor,” says Walentowicz.

The bathroom countertops are generally comprised of a natural stone product such as granite or marble, and no functional cabinetry is contained within the bathrooms’ design concept.

Beyond the design, the company is also quite stringent with regular maintenance restroom checks.

“Within our design team we are constantly challenging ourselves to create a great bathroom experience for our guests, not only in design, but in a relentless maintenance and cleaning routine,” says Walentowicz.

Come this November, it will be interesting to see how Walentowicz and the rest of the design team have preserved Cactus Club Café’s design standards while upping the wow factor of the new South Surrey/White Rock location. If past bathrooms are any indication, the latest addition to the chain’s family will surely excite guests as well.

“We take great pride in our designs, but it seems that is only half the battle to ensuring a great customer experience,” says Walentowicz.

“If you can judge a restaurant by its bathrooms, just wait until you see our kitchens!”