Finagle’s maroon logo inspired the color palette, more expensive-looking than its previous white-bright interior.

Yet the prototype, opened last September, cost about the same to build as the older incarnation, discounting one-time costs such as design services.

Wallpaper emblazoned with brand-enhancing messages was too expensive to use everywhere, so the designers limited it to high-visibility areas.

The addition of “Bakery Cafe” to the awning helps reposition Finagle from quick service to fast casual.

Lichtman says that Finagle, formerly known as Finagle A Bagel, needed to update its utilitarian look to keep pace with other fast-casual concepts, whose comfortable decor encourages lingering with laptops and lattes. “We have always focused on food, food,” Trust says. “We realized we had to change the environment to meet the expectations of our guest.”

The couple hired King-Casey, a Westport, Conn.-based design firm, to work on the prototype. One mandate: Reposition the brand beyond its quick-service bagel reputation, says King-Casey principal Tom Cook. The other: Keep to a budget of $600,000, only slightly more than the total building costs for an older Finagle restaurant.

Throughout the design process, King-Casey presented Trust and Lichtman with what Lichtman calls “good, better, best” choices. In many cases, opting for “good” saved 50 percent or more on costs. One example: booths. King-Casey originally presented booths made in three parts: a bench, a back with a double cushion (one for the lower back and one at neck level), and a fencepost-type end cap. Working with a booth manufacturer, Cook devised a two-piece booth with a single back cushion that cost half as much as the original design.

Another example was lighting. The design team's original idea, a network of $900-apiece glass pendants and a track-lighting system, was priced at $30,000, according to Lichtman. The alternative was glass-looking, durable plastic pendants that cost about $200 each and recessed wall-washing lights, which saved the installation costs of track lighting.

Two separate lines, one for breakfast and one for lunch, speed service.	Better merchandised product is helping Finagle sell more of its signature bagels.

In several instances, Lichtman chose a more-expensive alternative on Cook's advice. “He said, 'Stop skimping, you have to trust me,'” Lichtman recalls.

The best example is wallpaper emblazoned with branding slogans such as “fresh baked” and “made from scratch.” King-Casey designed the paper and originally meant it to cover the entire wall surface. The cost to produce the wallpaper and install it over window casements and around pipes proved too high; the alternative was to put the wallpaper in high-visibility areas, such as the dining room, from the chair rail to the top of the windows. Limiting use of the wallpaper saved about 50 percent on production and installation.

Plastic pendants cost around $200 each; the design team originally specified $900 glass pendants.

Lichtman and Cook compromised with doors: The unit has high-quality doors on the restrooms, but budget-friendly doors, painted the same color as the walls, on utility closets.

Cost savings will continue as Finagle opens more units and retrofits existing restaurants. The wainscoting below the chair rail will be downgraded from wood to laminate. The laminate costs less and requires less wall preparation, Chrzanowski says. That and other adjustments, such as factoring out the initial design fee, will move the cost of future restaurants to $400,000 to $500,000, in line with the cost of the older restaurants.

Lichtman and Trust are pleased with the results. The unit seats 48, the same as older locations, “but it's a more comfortable 48,” due to booths, which are new to the concept, Lichtman says. Because product is merchandised more effectively, the store is selling more baked goods, in addition to its signature bagels. Plus, the restaurant is getting more lunch and light dinner traffic.

“Guests now believe we sell more than bagels,” Trust says. “The store is doing exactly what we wanted it to do.”