Restaurant Construction in Utah.
Frans Construction delivers restaurant construction across Utah — from Salt Lake City, Lehi / Silicon Slopes, Provo / Orem to statewide. One accountable team, GMP cost certainty, and schedules that hit opening dates.
Restaurant construction is the most MEP-driven category of commercial work. Hoods, make-up air, gas service, grease management, refrigeration, and health-department-prescribed finishes can double a number that looked reasonable on a napkin. A GC who delivers great office TI does not automatically deliver great restaurants.
We deliver restaurants for national brands, franchise operators, and chef-driven concepts across the Western U.S. — with restaurant-specific kitchen MEP fluency, AHJ relationships in target markets, and GMP cost certainty before mobilization.
In Utah, that discipline meets local reality: Utah's commercial construction market — concentrated along the Wasatch Front — is one of the fastest-growing in the country.
- Salt Lake City
- Lehi / Silicon Slopes
- Provo / Orem
- Ogden / Layton
- St. George & Southern Utah
- Park City
Restaurant Construction delivered the way Utah projects need it.
Concept review
Walk the prototype, validate brand variations, identify long-lead equipment and AHJ risk.
Preconstruction
Kitchen equipment list locked at DD. Utility service capacity verified. GMP committed before mobilization.
Permitting
Health-department pre-submittal coordination. Parallel permitting across program sites for rollouts.
Construction
Kitchen rough-in, hood and fire suppression coordination, FOH finishes. Brand fixtures delivered against the calendar.
Commissioning
Equipment commissioning, health inspections, fire marshal sign-off, owner training.
Opening
Soft-open support, punch, warranty package, and brand-launch coordination.
Local fluency, enterprise execution.
- Wasatch Front multi-site rollout capacity
- Silicon Slopes corridor tenant improvement experience
- Salt Lake County and Utah County permitting fluency
- Concurrent retail program execution for expanding brands
Questions Utah owners ask about restaurant construction.
How much does restaurant construction cost?[ + ]
2026 restaurant construction typically runs $325–$525/SF for QSR, $375–$625/SF for fast-casual, $425–$725/SF for full-service casual, and $550–$900+/SF for upscale and chef-driven. Kitchen MEP is the single largest line item and the largest cost driver.
How long does it take to build a restaurant?[ + ]
A typical restaurant project runs 6–11 months from preconstruction through opening — 8–14 weeks of preconstruction and design, 4–10 weeks of permitting, 12–22 weeks of construction, and 2–3 weeks of inspections and commissioning.
What should I look for in a restaurant general contractor?[ + ]
Recent restaurant experience in your category, named kitchen MEP expertise on the project team, documented hood / make-up air / grease coordination process, health-department fluency in your AHJ, long-lead equipment procurement at DD, GMP delivery, and a documented opening-date track record.
Do you handle multi-unit restaurant rollouts?[ + ]
Yes. We deliver restaurant rollout programs for national brands and franchise operators with standardized prototype delivery, concurrent multi-state execution, and program-level reporting.
Can you build ghost kitchens and commissaries?[ + ]
Yes. Ghost kitchen and commissary construction typically runs $275–$450/SF in 2026 — lower than dine-in restaurants because front-of-house finish density is reduced, but kitchen MEP scope is similar.
What is the difference between a restaurant general contractor and a commercial GC?[ + ]
A restaurant general contractor lives inside the kitchen MEP scope — Type I hoods, make-up air, gas service sizing, grease management, refrigeration, and health-department finish requirements — and delivers to a committed opening date. A commercial GC without restaurant experience typically under-scopes the hood/MUA package and misreads health-department review, which pushes openings and inflates change orders.
Price restaurant construction for your Utah project.
Send the scope — site, program, target opening date. A senior member of our Utah team replies within one business day.
Your commercial construction partner —
from concept to completion.
Partner with a multi-state design-build firm trusted by enterprise brands for predictable execution, strategic guidance, and long-term reliability across every market we serve.