Dessert Café Refresh — Toronto | GTA Commercial Renovation Case Study

Project type

Dessert café refresh in an existing streetfront unit.

Location

Toronto, Ontario.

Approximate scope

Compact front-of-house of roughly 500 square feet — service counter with display refrigeration, espresso bar, and dining area — completed for approximately $80,000 in a six-week construction window.

Snowday dessert cafe service counter with display fridge and neon sign after renovation in Toronto — The finished counter on reopening day — display fridge, espresso bar and the Snowday neon over a wood-slat feature wall.

Buildup's role

General contractor on a fast front-of-house refresh, sequenced so the operator could reopen quickly.

Scope of work

Wood-slat feature walls and a continuous slat wainscot wrapping the dining room
Open ceiling painted out dark, with new track and pot lighting
New plank flooring throughout the front-of-house
Paint throughout, and finishing around the counter, espresso bar and display equipment

Dining room of a 500 sf Toronto dessert cafe after a six-week renovation — The dining room after the refresh — slat wainscot, blacked-out ceiling and new lighting doing the work in a 500 sf room.

Challenge

Making 500 square feet feel finished rather than cramped: a continuous slat wainscot to wrap the room, a blacked-out ceiling to hide services and add height, and surfaces chosen to take daily winter foot traffic — all sequenced so the operator could reopen quickly.

Timeline

Six-week construction window from start of work to reopening.

Outcome

Reopened on schedule as a warm timber-and-charcoal room — display counter, espresso bar and seating ready for service on day one.

Cafe seating along a wood slat wall in a renovated Toronto dessert shop — Seating along the wood-slat wall — surfaces chosen for daily winter foot traffic.

Dessert Café Refresh — Toronto