Standing up a new restaurant format, store by store, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
Commun-ET serves as Wonder's permitting backbone for the DMV area and growing for the brand's rapid multi-market rollout, turning a novel restaurant format into a repeatable jurisdictional playbook.
A new restaurant format meets old plan reviewers.
Wonder's hybrid kitchen-and-dining concept didn't fit cleanly into legacy occupancy classifications, drive-thru ordinances, or health-department checklists. Each DMV jurisdiction, from Baltimore to Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, meant a fresh round of code interpretation.
- Novel format triggered case-by-case reviews on use, ventilation, and health classification
- Parallel build pipeline across multiple DMV jurisdictions with single-quarter opening targets
- In-house real estate team needed leverage, not another vendor
One playbook per jurisdiction, one workspace for the portfolio.
Commun-ET's senior team owns Wonder's DMV permitting end-to-end inside PermitPilot, building a reusable jurisdictional playbook for each market and reusing it on every subsequent site in that AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction).
Jurisdictional pre-reads
Before site selection closes, we pre-read code, occupancy, and health requirements so legal/RE knows what's buildable.
Single PermitPilot workspace
Every site, every submittal, every inspection lives in one record, Wonder's RE team and our PMs work from the same source of truth.
Reusable site templates
Each new opening in a known jurisdiction reuses the prior site's submittal package, first opening in a market is the slowest, every subsequent one is faster.
Inspector relationships
Named relationships with health, building, and fire reviewers across the DMV, fewer surprises at final inspection.
A repeatable opening engine for the DMV.
What started as bespoke permitting work has become a regional operating system. The first DMV opening is complete, with three more underway across Baltimore, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County, each compressing on the playbook built before it.
"Commun-ET didn't just manage our permits; they built the DMV playbook that lets us add the next jurisdiction without restarting from scratch."
More case studies
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Commun-ET acts as the permitting team for ARS Brands' Wingstop portfolio, running new builds, conversions, and remodels across multiple markets with a single workspace and a single accountable PM.
Wonder · Compressing a DMV rollout across
How Wonder moved a novel restaurant format through Baltimore, Aspen Hill, and Largo simultaneously — recovering 14+ weeks against the original schedule.
McDonald's USA · Five firms, three review authorities, two utilities,
A ground-up McDonald's on Buffaloe Road in Raleigh, with a delivery team spread across four states. Commun-ET carried City of Raleigh site plan and building review, Wake County and state health, the city's grease program, Duke Energy electric, and the AT&T telecom pathway on one coordination cadence.
Open the next market on schedule.
If you're scaling a multi-unit format across new jurisdictions, our team can stand up your permitting playbook in weeks, not quarters.
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