Restaurant HVAC and Electrical Construction

The kitchen is where a restaurant's mechanical system succeeds or fails. Hood exhaust fans pull a large volume of air out of the building, and the make-up air unit and rooftop units have to replace it without letting smoke spill from under the hood or dragging hot, humid air in through the front doors.

We build to the engineer's air balance schedule, interlock the make-up air unit with the hood fans so they start and stop together, and set the outside-air dampers with care, because humid air brought in untreated fogs windows and sweats ductwork. The target at start-up is a dining room that sits slightly positive and a kitchen that sits slightly negative, which the test-and-balance report then confirms.

A typical casual-dining prototype puts several rooftop units, the hood exhaust fans and a make-up air unit on the roof. We coordinate curb locations and roof openings with the steel and roofing trades, plan the crane pick with the superintendent, and set each unit ready for power, controls and condensate.

Walk-in coolers and freezers need refrigerant piping, condensing units, evaporators and drains roughed in before the box is closed up. On the electrical side, every oven, dish machine, ice machine and condensing unit needs a dedicated circuit matched to its nameplate, and the hood controls have to tie into the exhaust fans and make-up air. With both trades under one roof, those connections are coordinated by one company instead of argued over by two.

Prototype experience pays off on submittals and in the field, because the details that cause trouble on a first build are already worked out. These are the brands that appear most on our project list, with the general contractors we built them with most often:

• Texas Roadhouse: 208 restaurants in 41 states since 2011, most with Buffalo Construction (91), Kelley Construction (60), Wasserman Construction Company (28), Frontline Construction (17) and VMC Facilities (7).
• Longhorn Steakhouse: 33 in 17 states, most often with Belisle Construction (10), Elfrink Custom Construction (5) and Buffalo Construction (5).
• Chick-fil-A: 31 in 15 states since 2018, 14 of them with Buffalo Construction and 3 with W. H. Bass.
• Bubba's 33: 27 in 14 states, 19 of them with Buffalo Construction, plus Kelley Construction (4) and Frontline Construction (3).
• Buffalo Wild Wings: 21 in 10 states, 13 of them with Buffalo Construction.
• Olive Garden: 18 in 10 states, with Buffalo Construction (5), Belisle Construction (4), Venture Construction (2) and Elfrink Custom Construction (2).
• Cheddar's: 12, most often with Buffalo Construction (4).
• Outback Steakhouse, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse and Chipotle: 8, 8 and 6, with Stansell Properties & Development, Buffalo Construction, Rescon Group and Horizon Construction Company among the general contractors.
• Newer additions: 4 Miller's Ale House restaurants with Buffalo Construction, ME Construction and Venture Construction, 3 Panda Express with Candito Construction and Morgan Construction, and 2 First Watch with Stansell Properties & Development, all in 2024 and 2025.

A restaurant's opening date is set long before the building is dry. Hiring, training and marketing are scheduled around it, so the mechanical and electrical work cannot be the reason it slips. We order long-lead rooftop and make-up air units the moment submittals come back approved, sequence rough-in around the kitchen equipment set, and plan start-up early enough to leave room for test and balance and the health inspection.

About two of every three restaurants on our list are outside Florida, spread across 47 states. We hold commercial construction licenses in over 30 states; the licenses page shows where. To have us price your next location, email the drawings to bids@aceac.com.

Restaurants we finished from 2024 to 2026, each with its general contractor:

• Texas Roadhouse in Mount Dora, Florida, built with VMC Facilities (2026)
• Texas Roadhouse in Antioch, Tennessee, built with Wasserman Construction Company (2026)
• Crooked Can in Minneola, Florida, built with Balfour Beatty Construction (2026)
• Raising Cane's in Orlando, Florida, built with Stansell Properties & Development (2025)
• Olive Garden in Jacksonville, Florida, built with Venture Construction (2025)
• Chick-fil-A in Tulsa, Oklahoma, built with Mapp Construction (2025)
• Bubba's 33 in Yuma, Arizona, built with Frontline Construction (2025)
• Outback Steakhouse in Cullman, Alabama, built with Belisle Construction (2025)
• Chipotle in Monroe, Georgia, built with Horizon Construction Company (2025)
• Panda Express in East Ridge, Tennessee, built with Morgan Construction (2025)
• Longhorn Steakhouse in Bradenton, Florida, built with Elfrink Custom Construction (2025)
• Miller's Ale House in Palm Coast, Florida, built with Buffalo Construction (2024)

For hospitals, hotels, offices and other building types, see commercial HVAC and electrical construction. Our projects page lists the rest, with the general contractor on each.