Avanti Restaurant Solutions has designed and equipped more than 5,000 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada since its founding in 2003, including Southern California chains Dave’s Hot Chicken and Del Taco.
Since expanding its contracting services into hospitality and office spaces a few years ago, Avanti also works with the Newport Beach-based real estate developer Irvine Company on office revamps and is currently doing kitchen infrastructure at the OCVibe project in Anaheim.
“Today, our business is probably 60% multi-unit chain business, and the other 40% is between design, build and in contract,” founder and Chief Executive Mark Rossi told the Business Journal.
Avanti is a contractor and project manager that designs the layout of a company’s desired kitchen and communicates with vendors and manufacturers for the proper equipment. It also has install rews to equip the different spaces.
“We produce the kitchen drawings that get you past the health department,” Rossi said.
After moving to Orange County over a decade ago, Avanti found many opportunities for growth. The company has reached 30,000 square feet of local office space and diversified its offerings beyond chain restaurants by reaching hospitality, office and education industries.
Now Avanti is close to surpassing the $100 million mark in annual revenue, according to Rossi.
“We’re finishing up a five-year plan right now that started in 2020, which we will achieve. But we were about $30 to $35 million in revenue in 2021, and I think we’ll crest near $115 million this year,” he said.
Avanti Restaurant Solutions ranked No. 10 among midsize employers on the Business Journal’s list of Best Places to Work in Orange County this year.
The contractor currently has 53 employees in Orange County and 90 companywide. It was previously ranked in the small employer category on last year’s list with 45 employees total at the time.
“I don’t know if there’s a certain thing that happens when you get to be 20 years old in business, but I feel like the name, the branding — people are starting to become more aware of it,” Rossi said. “We’re just starting to scratch the surface.”
Growth Spurt in Orange County
Rossi got his start in contracting with family-owned East Bay Restaurant Supply in Oakland. After eight years as a chain division manager, he decided to start his own company in Sacramento.
Juice It Up was the first client he landed, and it remains one of Avanti’s customers today.
The contracting company first opened an office in Costa Mesa near John Wayne Airport in 2011 because Rossi said he was already flying down to Orange County regularly.
“There was more chain stuff going on here,” he said. “It became clear that there was a lot of opportunity in Orange County.”
In 2015, Rossi made Orange County its headquarters.
Then a growth spurt began when there was an opportunity to take over more space at the building on Airport Loop Drive as other tenants started moving out.
Avanti started with a satellite office and later ended up buying the 5,000-square-foot building in 2020.
It was during this time that Rossi decided to streamline the recruiting and interview processes to “lock in on the talent” the company wants. He referred to the book “Recruit Rockstars” by Jeff Hyman.
“The big story behind that book is identify your DNA and who you are, and then all of our interviewing and everything is based on that,” he said. “So, we have three DNA traits: genuine, determined and bright.”
An interview at Avanti can take one full day of multiple meetings and a test tailored to the open position to determine if an applicant is the right fit starting with the three traits, according to Rossi.
“It’s expedited our time to hire, but it’s also improved quality of hires,” he added.
A perk that Rossi introduced several years ago – the option to take a sabbatical every five years – has also turned into an unexpected benefit for both the workforce and the company.
Rossi said the idea came from a five-week trip abroad he took with his family back in 2015.
He said he came back and realized he was in the position to take a long trip, a privilege others on the team might not have. Rossi decided he wanted to give people the opportunity “to unplug, recharge, rethink about everything.”
He said the absence can allow the team to find and solve unknown issues while the employee is away, and it also gives them a chance to reevaluate their role at the company.
For Rossi, there’s still more room to grow – both in headcount and footprint.
“If we’re going to attain our goal in 2030, we’re going to have to hire 150 to 270 people,” Rossi said.
Rossi said Avanti is also renting 25,000 square feet of office space over in Irvine. He hopes to eventually have everyone under one roof and is even considering expanding its current Costa Mesa building.
“The ramp is launching, and it’s got us all very vigilant about hiring and making sure we’re doing things right and trying to take care of our people the best we can,” Rossi said.