DickieJo's Self-Serve Wall near Valley River Center, Eugene

Location: Near Valley River Center, Eugene, Oregon
Client/Owner: SmartCraft Artisan Builders, contractor for DickieJo’s
Partners: City of Eugene (permitting)
Year: 2025–2026
Size/scale: New non-load-bearing wall, about 17 feet long, under an existing mezzanine, with openings for self-serve frozen yogurt dispensers; seismic restraint of the machines behind it
JBE services: Site visit, records search and meeting with the City, as-built drawings, occupancy and egress study, structural design and calculations, permit through eBuild, anchorage design and review of the installed anchors
Sector: Restaurants

Restaurant dining room with a new cream wall holding a row of self-serve frozen yogurt dispensers

The challenge

The DickieJo’s burger restaurant near Valley River Center wanted to let diners serve their own frozen yogurt. The plan was a new wall in the back dining area, under the existing mezzanine, set about seven feet in front of the back wall. The machines would sit behind it, with their dispensers coming through openings in the wall on the dining-room side.

Work on the wall had started before a permit was in place, and in October 2025 the City of Eugene paused construction until one was issued. The restaurant needed a complete permit package, and quickly.

Project photos

What we did

We visited the site to document the work as it stood, searched the City’s records for the building’s past plans, and met with the City to confirm what the permit would require. We then drew the space as built and as proposed, and studied occupancy and exiting for the dining area so the new wall would not compromise the way out.

We designed the wall to support itself under site-specific seismic forces, and specified restraints to keep the ice cream and frozen yogurt machines from moving in an earthquake. We submitted the package through the City’s eBuild system in November 2025. During construction, when the inspector asked for confirmation of the sleeve anchors the contractor had installed for the machine restraints, we reviewed the installation and recommended approval.

The result

The City approved the plans in December 2025 and work resumed. The self-serve wall is now in place, with the dispensers set neatly into the dining-room side and the machines anchored behind it.