Case Study
Multi-Location Rollout · Restaurant
Multi-Location Restaurant Signage:
Three Dos Bros Locations, One Brand Standard
When a restaurant grows past one location, signage stops being a design job and becomes a consistency problem. Here is how we handled the rollout across three Dos Bros sites — and the process we use so location four looks exactly like location one.
Finished dining room wall graphic, Dos Bros Mexican Grill. Designed, printed and installed by Smiles and Signs, Murfreesboro TN.
3
Locations rolled out
1
Master artwork file
0
Mismatched storefronts
100%
Printed in-house
Before and After, Same Wall
Two walls at the Shelbyville store, photographed as the crew worked. This is what a restaurant fit-out actually looks like when the graphics go up — flat paint on Monday, finished brand wall by the time the doors open.
Before
After
Before
After
The Problem With Growing Past One Location
A single restaurant can get its signage from whoever is cheapest that month. The moment there are two, and then three, that stops working — and the failure is always the same. Someone emails a logo file to a new vendor. The new vendor's printer runs a different color profile. The window decal on the newest store is a slightly different red than the one on the original, the letterforms are a touch heavier, and the vinyl is a grade that will not survive the same number of summers.
Nobody notices on day one. Customers notice by year two, when one location looks fresh and another looks tired. And the brand quietly stops feeling like one business.
That is the actual job on a multi-location rollout: not designing something nice once, but building a standard and then holding it across every site, every reorder, and every new store.
What We Produced
Storefront & Window Graphics
Cut and printed window graphics sized to each storefront's actual glass — because no two buildings have the same mullion spacing, even in the same chain. The artwork is identical; the layout adapts to the building.
Every panel came off the same printer with the same profile and the same laminate, so the red on the newest location matches the red on the first one.
A Stored, Version-Controlled Master
We hold the production-ready master file. When a location needs a replacement panel, a new promo window, or a fourth store opens, nobody goes hunting through old email for a logo that may or may not be the current one.
This is the part that actually prevents drift — and it is the part most sign shops do not do, because it costs them a re-design fee on every reorder.
Interior Wall Vinyl
Cut vinyl brand messaging applied directly to the dining room wall — no substrate, no frame, no hardware. Weeded and installed on site so the lettering sits flat against the paint and reads as part of the building rather than something hung on it.
Same brand palette and typography as the storefront graphics, which is the whole point: a customer who parked outside and walked in should not be able to tell the two were produced separately.
Above: the same wall, same file, at the Springfield store — photographed during fit-out. Compare it to the finished room at the top of this page. That is what “one standard” looks like in practice.
Menu Boards & Order-Point Signage
Printed and mounted menu panels, combo boards and the “start here” arrow that keeps a line moving. In a fast-casual restaurant the menu board is not decoration — it is throughput. If a first-time customer has to hunt for where to begin, the queue backs up at lunch.
Prices and items change, so the panels are built to be reprinted from the stored file without redrawing the layout.
The Multi-Location Process
This is what we do on every multi-site rollout, whether it is three restaurants or thirty franchise units.
1. Survey every site
Measure the actual glass, the actual fascia, the actual wall. Chains are never as identical as the floor plan claims.
2. Build one master, adapt the layout
One set of brand assets, colors and type. The layout flexes to each building; the brand does not.
3. Print it all in one house
Same 54″ press, same color profile, same laminate, every location and every reorder. This is where brokered work falls apart.
4. Store the file, hold the standard
We keep the master. Reorders and new locations pull from it, so nothing drifts and nobody pays to re-design what already exists.
Restaurant Signage Questions We Get Asked
What restaurant owners ask before a first or fourth location.
How much does restaurant signage cost for a new location?
It depends on how much glass and wall you are covering, but a typical fast-casual build-out runs a window graphics package, interior wall vinyl and menu boards. We quote each element separately so you can stage the spend across the fit-out. Call (615) 241-6683 with your square footage and we will price it the same day.
Can you match the signage at my other restaurant locations?
Yes, and that is the main reason multi-location operators call us. We work from one production-ready master file and print every panel on the same press with the same colour profile and laminate, so the red on your fourth store matches the red on your first. If your existing artwork came from another shop, we can rebuild it to a production standard once and hold it from then on.
How long does a restaurant signage install take?
Production is usually the longer half. Once artwork is approved, printing and laminating a full package takes a few days, and the on-site install for window graphics plus interior wall vinyl is typically one day per location. We schedule installs around your build-out so the graphics are the last thing in, not the thing waiting on drywall.
Do you install restaurant wall graphics on painted drywall?
Yes. Cut vinyl is applied directly to the paint with no substrate, frame or hardware, so the lettering sits flat and reads as part of the building. The wall needs to be fully cured and clean. Freshly painted drywall should cure before we apply anything, or the vinyl can lift.
Do you work with restaurants outside Murfreesboro?
Yes. The Dos Bros rollout covered Murfreesboro, Springfield and Shelbyville, and we install across Middle Tennessee. Everything is printed in our own Murfreesboro shop, so travel does not change what comes off the press.
What do you need from me to get started?
Your logo in vector form if you have it, photos of the storefront and the walls, and rough measurements. If you do not have vector artwork we can rebuild it. For a multi-location rollout we prefer to survey each site, because chains are never as identical as the floor plan claims.
This Is Not Just a Restaurant Problem
Same discipline, different assets. If you run more than one of anything, the consistency problem is identical.
Franchise networks
Brand standards enforced across independently owned units, with a stored master every franchisee orders from.
Multi-site retail & medical
Storefront, wayfinding and interior graphics that match across every clinic, office or shop.
Vehicle fleets
Exactly the same idea on wheels — see fleet graphics for locked pricing and stored artwork.
Opening a Second Location?
Talk to us before you order signage for it. Getting the standard right on location two is far cheaper than fixing four locations later. Woman-owned and family-operated in Murfreesboro since 2018.
Call (615) 241-6683 Start a Rollout