Service design for multi-location & franchise brands

Make every location perform like your best one.

Katalyst is a service-design agency built to scale service-retail and QSR brands. Our Balanced Servicescape methodology unites strategy, experience design, in-house manufacturing, and rollout, so every location opens faster, runs consistently, and delivers strong unit economics.

Schedule a Discovery SessionStrategy, design, and manufacturing under one roof in Kansas City.

20+ yrs

of service-design experience

50+

of brands helped scale

2,500+

of locations launched

Most growing service brands are stuck in one of three traps.

Almost no brand sits perfectly balanced: a great servicescape, real business goals, and a model built to scale, all at once. Growth almost always breaks that balance somewhere.

Stalled growth

Successful single locations that can't find a repeatable way to expand. Every new opening feels like starting from scratch.

Operational chaos

Fast growth that outruns the systems: high employee turnover, slipping customer satisfaction, and teams firefighting instead of building.

Fragile economics

Expansion that hits unit count but misses the financial goals: thin margins, hidden costs, and limited long-term stability.

Balance really is possible. Our Service Design Blueprinting and Balanced Servicescape Audits bring these areas back into alignment, so you replicate success, not failure.

The Balanced Servicescape

Three experiences, balanced in every location.

A servicescape is everything people experience in the space where your service happens: from the layout and signage to the décor, workflow, and the way people interact within it. We design all of these elements together so they work as one seamless experience.

Customer Experience

How customers feel and behave: the layout, fixtures, displays, and signage that guide how people browse and buy.

Employee Experience

How efficiently and happily your teams work: workflow and space designed around the people delivering the service.

Owner Experience

How financially and operationally sustainable each location is: strong unit economics, designed in from day one.

Using our proven framework, every design decision is weighed against cost, efficiency, and experience, so each location delivers strong economics and a consistent, compelling brand.

We are not consultants. We are business builders.

“Vision without execution is hallucination.”Thomas EdisonWe pair strategy with a real manufacturing floor, so the plan actually gets built, shipped, and installed.

Strategy

Scalable service excellence

Consulting rooted in decades of work crafting locations that balance the customer, employee, and owner experience.

•Service Excellence Assessments
•Quick Brick Program
•Franchisee Support Systems

Execution

From vision to reality

We don't just advise. We build, design, and implement, supporting locations from planning through opening day and beyond.

•Expert Craftsman
•Program Manufacturing
•Logistics & Install

Our Kansas City facility brings advanced manufacturing technology, experienced engineers and craftsmen, and dedicated project management under one roof, with precision multi-material production that lets us build fixtures, furniture, and custom displays across wood, metal, acrylic, and more.

From discovery to grand opening, one clear path.

We sit at the intersection of design, construction, and franchise operations. Our job is to make the path to opening clear, repeatable, and financially responsible.

Discovery & Fit Check

We learn your brand, goals, and gaps, and align on exactly where we can move the needle.

Servicescape Audit & Research

Site visits plus qualitative and quantitative research baseline how each location really performs.

Service Design

We blueprint the customer, employee, and support experience into “just-right” drawing sets, not over-designed architecture.

Validation & Execution

Prototyping, beta tests, and in-house program manufacturing turn the design into built reality.

Rollout

Consistent lead times and dedicated install teams open new locations sooner, with controlled costs.

Proof, in the numbers.

Real, measurable outcomes from brands we've helped scale across QSR, service-retail, and franchise.

60+ days off opening timelines

Developed a modular movable wall system to shorten builds.

30%+ higher AUV

Lifted average unit volume through intentional servicescape design.

3%+ lower paper COGS

Reduced cost of goods through custom kitchen hardware design.

Install: 1 week to 2 days

Reduced on-site installation through prefabrication and installation planning.

Lease-to-open cut 50%

Accelerated a QSR rollout from 12+ months to just 6 months.

10x annual store growth

Redesigned the development and delivery process to scale openings.

Lower labor burden

Reimagined restaurant lobby and delivery operations.

65% more apparel revenue

Drove the lift following a strategic store remodel.

Full ROI in under 6 months

Recovered buildout cost after opening a flagship location.

40% faster transactions

Optimized the customer journey for a national retailer.

9 months to 12 weeks

Accelerated new store openings with process redesign and standardized execution.

Fixture install: 3 days to an afternoon

Redesigned fixtures for faster on-site deployment.

1+ mile less travel per shift

Cut employee travel through a redesigned order pickup process.

2x accessory attach rate

Improved attachment through optimized merchandising and signage.

84% more items per transaction

Grew average basket size from 1.07 to 1.97 through merchandising design.