Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas
Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas
what we do
We're Copper+Oak, a creative + operations studio. We design the brand. Build the room. Run what happens on Saturday night.
Brand. Space. Operations. Growth. We step in wherever you need us. Opening your first room or rebuilding the one that's been running for ten years.
first we figure out who it is. what it sells. what it stands for.
01 · the who
"you don't decorate restaurants. you build brands."
For new operators, every surface of the concept built from the ground up. For existing operators, rebrands, refreshes, repositioning. The studio's creative front door whether you're new or already open. Strategy, identity, and ethos. The thinking, the surfaces, the spine.
"you have a story to tell. that matters. we build your brand to tell it. then we build the room your customers come back to and tell their own."
Who you're for, what you sell, where you compete.
The positioning decisions that shape every decision downstream. Pricing. Menu. Space. Staffing. Marketing. We do the funding plan, the trade area analysis, the competitive landscape, the concept positioning, and the pressure-test against the realities of the neighborhood you're opening in or already operating in.
Every surface that carries the name.
Logo. Color. Typography. Menu. Signage. Every surface that carries the name. We design the visual system, build it across every touchpoint, and document it so the system holds when it leaves our hands.
What the restaurant stands for.
Values. Voice. Story. Stance. What you stand for and how you show up. On the site. In the room. In the way the team answers the phone. The part of the brand most studios skip because it's hard. We don't skip it.
then we shape the room. the floorplan. the kitchen. the bar. every surface the brand touches.
02 · the where
"the floorplan is the first operational decision you'll make."
For new operators, site selection through certificate of occupancy. For existing operators, refresh, expansion, second-location feasibility, relocation, lease renegotiation. Wherever the room is in its life cycle. Lease, floorplan, kitchen, bar, FF&E, lighting, AV. The hundred small decisions baked into concrete and cabinetry that live with you for a decade. We design rooms that feel immersive, elevated, and instantly memorable.
Before you sign, or before you sign again.
Construction budget. Neighborhood and trade-area analysis. Lease vetting through an operator's lens. MEP capacity audits. The work you do before you commit to a building. A bad location costs more than rent. It costs every dollar, every hire, and every year that rides on top of the lease.
Floorplan through finish-out.
Floorplan. Kitchen and bar layout. FF&E. Lighting. Audio. Network. A complete build package, ready for an architect to stamp and a GC to price. We design the space the way it needs to work on a Saturday night. Not the way it photographs for a magazine.
Permit to certificate of occupancy.
GC oversight, owner's rep on site, change order management, sub coordination. We stay in the room from the moment the permit is pulled through the final walk-through.
then we build the business. the systems. the budgets. the menus. the AI running quietly in the background.
03 · the how
"everything that happens the moment the doors open."
For new operators, the math, the menu, and the systems before the doors open. For existing operators, financial restructuring, menu engineering, systems migration, F&B program rebuilds. The Oak side of the brand. Where Cory's chef and operator background lives.
The math behind whether it works (or whether it still does).
Operational budget. 12-month pro forma. Labor model. P&L setup. Vendor sourcing. We build the financial model before the build starts and pressure-test it against every assumption in the plan. Then we rebuild it when the plan changes. Because the plan always changes.
Food, beverage, service. Trained and tested.
Recipes. Menu engineering. Beverage program. Kitchen flow. Service standards. FOH and BOH SOPs. Everything that happens the moment the doors open. Written. Costed. Trained. Tested. Where the brand either lands or doesn't.
POS through on-premise automation.
Tech stack integration. POS. Resy. Inventory. Labor systems. Delivery systems. The hiring roadmap and launch strategy that gets the team in the door before the guests are. Plus the Oak Box, our on-premise compute, installed as part of the build.
now the work changes. now we keep it running.
04 · the after
"we don't sell AI. we install it."
Your fractional COO and creative director. For new operators, the partnership picks up the day the doors open. For existing operators, this is the front door. Most existing-operator clients start here, with selective re-entry through Brand, Space, or Operations as needed. Delivered as a monthly retainer rather than a project.
The reach.
Content marketing. Web and search. Programs. Social management, email lifecycle, photography, copy, community, reels. Local SEO, GEO and AEO, GBP and NAP, reputation, schema. Loyalty, clubs, merch, events, LTOs, PR. Getting found and staying memorable. AI search is the 12-24 month differentiator. We claim it loud.
The pulse.
Operational, F&B, and culture audits. Plus stabilization. Where the wheels are wobbling, where the margin is leaking, where the people are struggling. Before the operator can feel it on the bottom line. The first 30-90 days post-open get extra scrutiny. After that, audits run on a schedule.
The signal.
AI agentic marketing. Analytics. Monitoring. Brand authority in AI search. The tools we build for the restaurant, not just the ones we use to run our own work. The Oak Box's ongoing workflow development lives here.
ai + automation
We understand AI deeply enough to build it for you. That's different from using it on you. Two of the tools we name:
in pilot
An AI viability assessment. Square footage, NNN, service style, check-average in. Strategic outlook out. Built on Cloudflare Workers AI, streamed in real time. The artifact is the proof of the AI claim.
on premise
A compute device installed at the restaurant. Local LLMs, n8n workflows, image and video ingestion, automation. Data sovereignty by default. Always-on local automation. See it on /growth.
the questions we get
Ten questions we answer on every discovery call. Short answers. Honest ones.
It depends on scope, and we mean that. A Brand-only project is a different number than a full launch. A Growth retainer is a different number again. We'll give you an honest range on the first call and a specific number in the proposal. No surprise line items.
Brand-only sits in the 6–10 week window. Brand plus Space runs 3–6 months. Concept-to-doors-open is typically 6–18 months depending on build-out complexity and permitting. Growth retainers run month-to-month with a multi-month minimum. Restaurants rarely move in straight lines, so we build breathing room into every timeline.
Both. New operators are the studio's center of gravity — we work through Brand, Space, Operations, and Growth in sequence. Existing operators come in through Growth most often, with selective re-entry: Brand for a rebrand, Space for a refresh or second site, Operations for financial restructuring or a menu rebuild. The work doesn't care which side of opening night you're on.
Yes. You can engage Brand, Space, Operations, or Growth on its own. Most engagements blend two or three. We scope it together. If the work doesn't justify a full project, we'll say so and right-size it.
Good. We'll skip Site Strategy and start where you actually need us. If the lease is unsigned but the building is identified, we'll still pressure-test the deal before you sign. If construction is already underway, we step in mid-stream. The plan adjusts to where you are.
Common, and fine. We'll audit what you have. If it works, we extend it through the rest of the system. If it doesn't, we say so directly and rebuild the parts that need rebuilding. We don't insist on starting from a blank page just to charge for one.
Yes, with caveats. Brand and Growth work travels well. We run remote engagements anywhere in the US. Space and Operations work needs us on the ground at key milestones. Site visits, build-out walkthroughs, opening week. Most of our active work runs from DFW down to Longboat Key, Florida.
No. We work alongside them. Our job in Space is the design package and the owner's-rep role. We vet the architect, compare GC bids, manage construction on your behalf, and coordinate the AV, network, and security work that falls outside the GC scope. The architect stamps. The GC builds. We make sure the result matches the brand.
A design studio that takes the AI and operations side seriously. Brand and Space are 100% creative work. Operations is where our operator experience and the AI and automation layer first show up. Growth is where the AI claim gets loudest. Most studios don't do this part. Most consultancies don't design. We do both because independent restaurants need both.
Tell us what you're building, or what you're running. Email or the contact form. We respond within 24 hours, then we schedule a 30-minute discovery call to walk through scope, timeline, and a rough investment range together. No pitch deck, no pressure. If we're not the right studio for the project, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.
how we engage
Brand, Space, and Operations price as projects. Growth runs as a monthly retainer. Any one stands alone. Most blend two or three. We scope it together.
project
Strategy. Identity. Ethos.
Scoped as a project. New brand or rebrand.
start the conversationproject
Site Strategy. Interior Design. Build-Out.
Scoped as a project. New build, refresh, or second site.
start the conversationproject
Financial Architecture. F&B Program. Systems.
Scoped as a project. New launch or systems rebuild.
start the conversationmonthly retainer
Presence. Health. Intelligence.
Scope-flexible. Most blend two or three disciplines.
start the conversationyour move
Tell us what you're building, or what you're running. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right studio for it.
start the conversationwe answer every email.