Because casual dining outlets have such ubiquity and such uniformity, it’s easy to believe that they spring from the ground fully formed, complete with booths and bars and servers in matching T-shirts. But when you spend time with those who franchise and build chain restaurants, you learn that’s not the case.

A casual chain restaurant location can take as much hard work and can cause as many headaches to open as a 50-seat locavore vegetarian joint. And opening a successful place engenders just as much passion and pride.

Two partners hired to build four Quaker Steak & Lube restaurants in the Cincinnati provide a rough timeline of their process, from finding a location and a developer to working with corporate and hiring staff. Opening a restaurant the size of a Lube requires a couple of hundred servers, cooks, managers, and support staff.