The Souplantation buffet chain has gone back to the vegetable patch in engineering the first new store design in its 28-year history.
The prototype – unveiled with the opening of a Chula Vista, Calif., Souplantation – will feature a contemporary “farmers market” look with a barn-like facade and open rafters and an industrial design inside.
“We wanted to more effectively impart a cleaner, fresh-from-the-field image,” said Michael Mack, chief executive of San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., which owns the Souplantation chain. (more…)
You don’t just open a door and wander into a Parade of Homes house.
You travel through custom-designed iron gates and into an expansive courtyard. Or into a room with a wall of windows and a view of the pool.
Then comes the Italian Travertine floors, European cabinets, massive stone fireplaces, coffee bars in the master suite and outdoor kitchens nicer than your actual kitchen.
At the 2006 Parade of Homes in New Braunfels, it’s all about the details.
“Everything is hand-done and custom-ordered,” said Bart Goldblum of the Laredo-based Artison Homes, whose parade home entryway features a cross vault ceiling covered with Travertine in a herringbone pattern.
The Parade of Homes continues through Sunday in the RockWall Ranch neighborhood, a rural, gated community in New Braunfels. (more…)
