Bear Rock Café announced the opening of its 3,392 square-foot new Bear Rock Cafe prototype restaurant design in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Designed by Dayton, Ohio-based retail design firm Design Forum, the mountain cafe concept evolves the current Bear Rock Cafe mountain lodge concept into something more sophisticated with broader appeal. With a new softer color palate, dropped ceiling, branded wall coverings and menuboards, and more direct lines, the light, bright, quick-casual Bear Rock Cafe is designed with a flexible size in mind for broader ability and growth.

“The new design could be described as tailored nature,” Bill Chidley, Chief Creative Officer with Design Forum explains. “The prototype design is less rustic than the previous look. The materials are natural–stone and wood, for example, but they are more contemporary. The design materials and finishes include a lot of patterns stylized with nature-inspired colors and elements like leaves and rocks,” Chidley added.