Restaurant Design

Restaurant design

Restaurant design firm owner, Jeff Cahill, of Cahill Studio in Tinton Falls, first and foremost, is a “restaurant designer.” What all his clients have in common, he told redbankgreen, is an exacting attention to atmospheric details that he believes make or break the business.

“There’re too many people in the restaurant industry doing paint-and-paper makeovers, instead of committing to rebranding,” he said. “Those are the ones that are opened and closed within a year, and they’re the reason the industry has a 50-percent failure rate. Our firm has an over 90-percent success rate.”

At Char, the details include a glittering waterwall that creates the illusion of pencil-thin jets of water falling without a splash; giant puck-shaped lamps that appear to float in space; ample use of hot orange lighting; and a bar with a pair of floor-to-ceiling windows that dial up the sense of urbanity both inside and out, typical of brilliant restaurant design qualities.

All of it, from the real flickering-flame accents to the buff orange waveform awning out front, came from  Cahill’s head and had to be custom-made.

“We went over budget,” is all Ingrao will say about the cost of the 200-seat eatery. Still, he considers Cahill “a great designer.”

“He kind of feels what my ultimate goal is,” Ingrao said. Cahill and his small team, which includes interior designer Joanie Del Sordi and Cahill’s son, Sean, a graphic designer, “are fantastic as far as being visionaries,” he said.