Madico U
Company
The Challenge
Amalie Arena is a sports venue located in Tampa, Florida, home to the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team and a popular venue for concerts and events. Within the arena is the Firestick Grill, an upscale restaurant popular for dining before an event. A striking feature of the restaurant is the glass wall of windows showcasing Florida sunshine and city views. While the 4,603 square foot glazing system is beautiful, it created an unpleasant dining experience for many of the restaurant’s patrons. The restaurant often had to re-seat customers due to complaints about the sun’s rays shining down on them at their tables, making it difficult to see and heating up the space. Re-seating guests was an especially difficult request for the Firestick Grill due to the fact that the restaurant is often at maximum capacity in the hours prior to an event at the arena.
The Solution
Management at the Firestick Grill knew that something had to be done to minimize the powerful sun shining through the windows and making diners uncomfortable. However, due to the large size of the glazing system their options were limited.
In researching how best to achieve their primary goal of glare reduction, management reached out to The Enpro Group for consultation. “We conducted a thorough on-site evaluation of the restaurant, taking into account the existing glazing systems already in place in other parts of the arena, said Chris Weinhardt of The Enpro Group. We ultimately suggested Sunscape’s Starlite 18 for the Firestick Grill as it would best match the existing exterior glazing as well as provide the best glare and heat reduction for the interior space. The Starlite 18 film also offers a less reflective appearance on the inside, while still providing outstanding benefits in solar energy and light control.”
The Results
The Enpro Group completed the installation over the course of a few days while the restaurant was closed, minimizing any interruption to business. The Firestick Grill staff and patrons noted a difference in the comfort of the space right away. The temperature of the restaurant became easier to control and the annoying glare was gone.
Amalie Arena General Manager, Darryl Benge, said, “One of the biggest benefits of the application of the Starlite 18 film is that we can now offer our customers a truly pleasurable dining experience. Since the film was installed, we are no longer receiving requests from guests to be reseated; saving us time and increasing the overall efficiency of the restaurant.”
The Enpro Group helped secure an added benefit of the film installation by assisting the Amalie Arena with receiving a rebate from TECO Energy to support the energy efficient improvements made to the restaurant.