Opening in 1993, T&T is a Canadian grocery chain with 26 locations across the country. T&T was founded to address the need for fresh Asian food and groceries under one roof. Chandos began collaborating with T&T in 2004 and since then has helped facilitate a coast-to-coast roll out with locations in Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto. All stores required integration of food services, warehouses, distribution centres, and hospitality services.
To complete these projects, we leveraged the expertise of our national special services group (SSG). Each location and renovation had custom needs, whether a complete demolition and rebuild of interiors, mechanical and electrical upgrades or the renovation of an occupied space. Regardless of what location T&T moved into, we worked to meet the specific needs for their brand. To stay on schedule, communication between all parties was crucial. On each project, our teams collaborated during pre-construction, planning, execution, and closeout. Learnings from each project helped support the execution plan for the next.
All locations required different scopes of work, making sure that each store provides similar customer experiences and meets brand standards. One location in Calgary, AB, was a renovation of an already built grocery store which included existing infrastructure including walk-in coolers, bakery stations, and storage facilities. However, they needed to be updated to meet client needs. Our SSG team in Vancouver worked remotely with the local teams to execute change orders, while also coordinating with the client.
In Toronto, the team worked together with trade partners to retrofit a space that had never been used in grocery retail. It involved added infrastructure like storage, freezer and cooler storage, display cases, kitchen capabilities, and offices. This offered a different challenge from other projects as much of the work was complex and needed deep collaboration between Chandos, the client, and our trade experts.
During construction of the Sage Hill Mall T&T our team faced a new challenge, completing a phased renovation in an occupied space. To meet the timelines for completion and continue to complete the renovation our teams worked overnight while the store was empty of customers. This site needed an expanded walk-in cooler, a saltwater tank and filtration system, and new refrigerated and frozen display cases as well as a bakery expansion into a new section of the mall. We faced unpredictable challenges throughout construction, like performing abatement in collaboration with our local team to ensure the site was safe for occupants. Despite the scope changes, the project was still delivered three days early.
Our ability to blend teams across multiple districts helped to schedule and facilitate the roll out of four new T&T locations from coast to coast. Maintaining a strong relationship with the client and our trade partners lead to problem solving unpredictable challenges and sharing lessons learned. The success of these rollouts can be attributed to the collaborative nature of our teams, all trade partners, and the client.