our approach
We love design. We can’t get enough of it. But, designing another restaurant building is not our task. Rather, every ounce of our creativity is directed toward designing an activity, and that activity is dining. The dining experience.
Approaching, greeting, waiting, laughing, eating and drinking until it’s time to say goodbye.
Dining is unique activity that spans an enormous spectrum from date night to a corporate deal. From a sweet birthday to a reunion of long lost friends. In every situation there is a special need for people to relax, get comfortable and really connect. Creating an environment that can nurture and foster this is our challenge.
There seems to rarely be a memorable event that is not connected to good story and we believe that a dining setting must evoke a compelling and authentic story. It is most often about food or the owner or even the owner’s mother, but the experience is rooted in a real story.
We begin each story with many sketches. Loose sketching unlocks the imagination. We never turn on the computers until everyone loves the sketches. At that point CAD or Revit become merely a feverish documentation of what is already completed on paper. We believe that drawing and sketching are the key to finding the spirit and the story of magical dining experience.
After the sketching, documents and construction are done, the jury enters the building. It is our hope that they will be captivated for years, even decades. Thankfully, this is most often the case.
our work
Schuster, Inc has been laser focused on restaurants and hospitality for well over a decade and its founder for over thirty years. Too varied and numerous to count, the completed projects range in the hundreds.
The spectrum indeed ranges from barbeque tents at the rodeo to the most expensive fine dining check in the marketplace. And while much of the work has occurred in Houston and Texas, many projects have spanned from Florida, to Boston and to Phoenix – eleven states in all.
Perhaps the most remote endeavor was creating a new concept for the largest petroleum company in Nigeria. Schuster Inc. was engaged to develop a classic American burger restaurant to accompany their fuel stations across the country. Schuster worked with the founder and leader of Ascon for almost two years to establish and construct the concept.
Road Chef was created, has now expanded to multiple units and is heralded as one of the most popular restaurants in the country.
Also abroad, Schuster worked with the Fuddruckers organization to design the first European locations. Designs were developed, locations secured in Italy, as well as Poland, and the restaurants have enjoyed great success.