The restaurant industry is a very competitive one. Besides having great food, a serious and focused wait staff and an awesome location, restaurant furniture and interior design is a major factor in the overall success. Here are five key tips that interior designers use when designing restaurants. These tips will help to maximize your interior design budget and create a beautiful environment for your diners that will keep them coming back for years to come.
Focus on your kitchen – First and foremost, you want to ensure that the flow of your kitchen is at its best. Remember, your wait staff will be going in and out to pick up orders. There has to be space to allow the chefs, bus team and wait staff to coordinate with one another without constant bumping and frustration. Cooking utensils, plates and supplies should be easily accessible at all times. Consult with your chefs as well as your interior design team to get the best recommendations on placement of kitchen appliances and serving items. This will ensure that you're attaining maximum efficiency; orders are going out and being picked up quickly and happier diners are ahead.
Maximize your space – Maximizing the space within your restaurant is essential to maintaining a great flow for your staff as well as being able to seat as many diners as possible during your peak times. You can do this by picking the right style and shape of restaurant furniture. Pick square and rectangular tables that will seat your guests in increments of two. Avoid round and oval tables at all costs so that you can group the tables together with no gaps. Square and rectangular tables are also easy to place into corners. This is important if your restaurant is hosting events and will need additional floor space, or just to increase the space in general.
Minimize blind spots – Yes, you want to provide a certain level of intimacy and privacy to your guests, but if your wait staff can't see them, then you're going to run into issues. Take a panoramic view of your seating arrangements and chair placement. Make sure that your guests are always within eyesight of a staff member so that their needs can be attended to swiftly and with ease.
Leave open space for service stations – Particularly if you're a family friendly restaurant, you're going to need some space for booster and high chairs. This is something that has to be decided early on in the design phase of the restaurant. Don't be one of those restaurants that has their high chairs stacked in the bathroom because they ran out of space at the last minute. It's unsanitary and a huge turn-off for your guests. Make sure you have ample room and that the high chairs and boosters are easy to get to and return as needed.
Avoid fines by having the right window treatments – You may not know this, although any interior designer worth their weight should, but it is against the law to have window treatments that are not flame-resistant. A certificate will be provided noting that the fabric has been treated to be flame-resistant. This is something you will need to have on hand in case it is ever requested, so make sure it's in a safe place.
Utilizing these tips will set you on your way in assuring that the interior design of your restaurant is both beautiful and functional. Remember to pick your restaurant furniture and fabrics based on your restaurant's style, theme and the type of guests that you're trying to attract.