Franchise expansion: the role of commercial space

At ExpoFranchise Lisbon 2026, we asked the same questions to representatives of growing brands. We didn't ask if architecture is important. We asked what the challenges of opening a new location are, what needs to stay the same, what can change, and which decisions about the space carry the most weight day to day.

Here we bring together what three brands shared: Brooklyn Fitboxing, Companhia da Saúde e Bem Estar, and Detroit Steakhouse. An honest snapshot of how those who are expanding think about space. 

After each topic comes Vento's take, always identified as such.

1. What growing means for different brands

Growing did not mean the same thing across the three conversations.

The kickboxing chain, Brooklyn Fitboxing, operates street-level locations, usually in small spaces. For Gabriele Aluigi, Chief Expansion Officer of the brand, expanding is, above all, finding a location that accommodates the workout, the locker rooms, and harmony with the neighborhood.

At Companhia da Saúde e Bem Estar, a retail store chain, the starting point is location. The brand looks for stores between 50 and 100 m². The goal stated by José Santos, CEO, is to open more stores in Portugal and larger stores. The concept has already been sold to Angola, and there have been expressions of interest in neighboring markets.

Detroit Steakhouse, with a focus on families, currently works with spaces of at least 300 m². Lisa Costa Alves Marques, a partner, explains that, as the brand becomes better known, she envisions smaller formats, such as counter service or a youth food court.

Vento's Take: growing can mean more units, larger units, smaller units, or a new country, and each path calls for a different design. Before any drawing, it is necessary to study the market and decide which store format the brand wants to replicate. This is a business decision, and the design builds on it.

2. The challenges of maintaining identity during expansion

None of the three brands described identity as "everything the same in every store." Each pointed to a specific set of elements.

José Santos was straightforward: in every store, the public needs to recognize that it is one of the brand's stores. He acknowledges some flexibility due to the typology of each location, but states that the layout is the same across all of them. Lisa, from Detroit Steakhouse, followed another logic: the essentials are preserved, and the rest adapts according to the branding.

Vento's Take: there is a tension that the conversation with Brooklyn Fitboxing brings to light. The brand's identity relies on the workout being seen from the street. At the same time, locker rooms and technical areas often end up placed against the storefront windows, and the interviewee described this as a waste, since the window ends up blocked. The brand identity element and the functional program compete for the very same facade.

Invita Medical shows the same choice from the other side. The design language created during the headquarters expansion in São José dos Campos, made up of materials, finishes, and lighting, was taken to São Paulo and then to Mexico City. The design question is the same one Brooklyn Fitboxing faces: which element carries the brand's identity, and where does it fit in each property.

Executive floor of Invita Medical's headquarters in São José dos Campos, featuring a spatial identity that was later replicated in other headquarters.

Are you planning to replicate a brand across new locations? Tell Vento what stage you are in and where you plan to open.

3. The need to adapt to new markets

Here the sample is smaller, and that is worth noting. The question about entering new markets was asked only to Detroit Steakhouse, which is arriving in Portugal.

Lisa sees an underexplored opportunity in Portugal: the family demographic. According to her, it is hard to find a restaurant with a play area where you can leave a child playing. At the same time, the brand needs to adapt to local tastes: the menu cannot arrive entirely without cod, for example. Ingredients are sourced in Portugal, with an effort to keep importing beef from Brazil.

In the conversation, the adaptation mentioned was mainly related to the concept and the menu. Specific spatial adjustments were not part of the account.

Vento's Take: in the international projects we develop, adaptation also appears in less visible layers. In the case of Oakberry, which expanded across Italy, Malta, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland, each property comes with its own conditions, and health codes, licensing requirements, and facade restrictions in historic districts vary from city to city. In Italy, we worked with local partners to align the project with these regulations. Replicating the identity is the most obvious part; what usually takes time is reading the context.

4. The relationship between commercial spaces, operations, and experience

When we asked for examples of spatial decisions that influence how a location runs, the answers were concrete and almost entirely operational.

Brooklyn Fitboxing cited two. The first is acoustic insulation for the floors above: hitting the punching bag creates noise and vibration, and almost all of their locations are beneath residential apartments. Because of this, the brand conducts preventative analyses with an acoustic engineer before committing to a location and sometimes walks away from a lease when the required investment is too high. The second is the entryway space—that is, the reception area right by the door. When there is a reasonable amount of space there, the turnover between those leaving a class and those arriving for the next one works better. When there isn't, in smaller units, the brand has even changed class schedules and spaced them out slightly so that everyone could enter and exit without congestion.

At Companhia da Saúde e Bem Estar, accessibility for people with reduced mobility has been a concern from the start, and reconciling the layout with each store's typology is an ongoing process.

At Detroit Steakhouse, Lisa highlighted kitchen ergonomics and table positioning, designed to accommodate groups of two while also being easily rearranged for larger parties. The play area, part of the brand experience, also requires square footage.

Vento's Take: across all three responses, the spatial decisions that matter most are those that determine whether operations can actually run: noise, flow, ergonomics, accessibility, minimum area. This is a rationale we know well. In the project for the Natuh restaurant in Taubaté, we started with the menu, the prep processes, and the team's needs, and only then defined the kitchen. At Hamburgueria K&K, the operational flow study and equipment selection were part of the very same design as the dining room.

Rendered image of the Natuh restaurant kitchen designed by Vento.

5. Key takeaways from the interviews and Vento's interpretation

What the conversations support:

• Spatial criteria stem from the business model. Fifty to one hundred square meters for a retail store, three hundred for a steakhouse with a play area.

• Identity is maintained through a few clearly chosen elements, while the rest adjusts.

• Multiple constraints appear before any drawing is made: what the building allows, how much noise it can handle, how much facade is left over.

• Entering a new market involves adapting the offering, and the space plays an active role in that adaptation.

Our take as architects is more modest and more practical. The problems these brands cite are, for the most part, predictable—and they become far more expensive when discovered after the lease has been signed. The question worth asking for any expansion isn't what the space will look like. It's what the space needs to allow to happen, and whether the location allows it.

Are you opening a new location in Portugal, another European country, or Brazil? Send Vento the type of operation, estimated square footage, and the stage your site is in: location under review, secured, or under negotiation. We will reply with the key points worth checking before you sign the contract.