Location: Chicago, IL
Diverzify Brand: DiverzifyPro Itasca
Completed: March 2025
Project Overview
Léa French Café, inspired by the family’s years in Paris, has built its reputation on bringing authentic French street café charm to Chicago. Their first location became a neighborhood favorite, with its black-and-white tile design serving as a key element of the brand’s identity.
For their new Michigan Avenue café, maintaining that same signature aesthetic was essential. Having delivered the original installation in 2021, DiverzifyPro was once again selected to bring the vision to life. Our role was clear: deliver craftsmanship that honored the brand’s identity while meeting the fast-paced demands of a high-traffic commercial buildout.
The Challenge
As with many fast-paced commercial buildouts, tight schedules, limited site access, and multiple trades working in the same space are part of the job. Every task has to happen in the right order to avoid costly delays.
For Lea French Café’s second location, most of the tile materials were ready to go on day one. But several key trim components—including the red base, chair rail, and quarter round—had longer lead times than expected. These pieces weren’t optional; they were a signature design element from the first café and critical to maintaining brand consistency.
Without these pieces, the wall tile couldn’t be completed. Keeping the crew idle would have meant:
- Delaying other trades waiting to work in the same areas
- Risking a missed turnover date in a high-traffic location
- Creating cost inefficiencies by pulling the tile team off-site mid-install
It was a classic sequencing problem: how to keep the job moving, protect the schedule, and still deliver the exact look the client expected.
The Solution
DiverzifyPro Itasca collaborated with the project team to adjust the installation approach without disrupting the schedule. Our crew completed the main tile installation while strategically leaving out sections designated for the delayed trim pieces. This approach demanded precise planning and documentation to ensure seamless integration when the trim materials arrived.
To keep the project on track, our team:
- Installed all available wall tile according to the design plan, leaving precise spaces for future trim
- Documented trim placement areas for easy reference upon return
- Coordinated timing with the GC to minimize overlap with other trades
- Returned to the project site once the trim arrived to complete the work without delaying turnover
Throughout the process, we stayed in close communication with the GC and site leads to keep everything aligned and on track.
The Results
The new café at 20 N. Michigan Ave. delivers exactly what the client envisioned—the elevated black-and-white aesthetic that made their first location a standout. From a construction perspective, the build stayed on schedule, the tilework was completed to spec, and the final product matched both the design intent and the brand standard.
For general contractors and project teams, this project highlights DiverzifyPro’s ability to problem-solve in real time, adapt to supply chain realities, and collaborate effectively on active job sites. Once again, we’ve proven that we’re more than installers—we’re partners who deliver craftsmanship within the real-world constraints of commercial construction.
- Account Executive/Point of Contact: John Scutoski
- Project Manager: Brittany Jensen
- General Contractor: Fox General
- Architect: Spoke Architecture
