How to improve your restaurant interior

A well-designed restau­rant inte­ri­or can make all the dif­fer­ence in the appear­ance of your busi­ness. Cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture is a great option to get the look and feel you want.  

If you’re look­ing to max­i­mize the look and feel of your restau­rant inte­ri­ors, con­sid­er these tips.

1) Choose the Right Materials for Your Restaurant Interior

When it comes to select­ing the mate­ri­als for a restau­rant or bar, it is a del­i­cate bal­ance between dura­bil­i­ty and aes­thet­ics. 

Often­times, mass-mar­ket com­mer­cial fur­ni­ture sole­ly pri­or­i­tizes prac­ti­cal­i­ty, leav­ing much to be desired in terms of an attrac­tive design. On the oth­er hand, mate­ri­als that can’t stand up to reg­u­lar clean­ing and main­te­nance aren’t suit­able either.

But with the right approach, you can incor­po­rate ide­al mate­ri­als that look great and per­form well under pres­sure.

A few things to keep in mind:

• When you’re weigh­ing your options, con­sid­er how easy var­i­ous mate­ri­als will be to clean. For exam­ple, can a table­top endure reg­u­lar clean­ing and san­i­tiz­ing with­out wear­ing down too quick­ly?

• What effect will spillage have on the types of mate­ri­als you’re look­ing at? Bev­er­ages, sauces, and grease can wreak hav­oc on restau­rant fur­ni­ture, par­tic­u­lar­ly uphol­stery. Although a cer­tain amount of wear and tear is to be expect­ed, opt­ing for suit­able mate­ri­als can make a big dif­fer­ence.

• Think about longevi­ty and how it fac­tors into the “big pic­ture,” then con­sid­er how dif­fer­ent types of mate­ri­als will mea­sure up to your needs. There are many fac­tors that can affect how long mate­ri­als last in your restau­rant, includ­ing sun­light expo­sure, use, indoor vs. out­door place­ment, and more.

• What kind of brand iden­ti­ty are you aim­ing to cre­ate? Is your brand con­cept defined by lux­u­ry and opu­lence, or is casu­al com­fort more your style? Pin­point­ing these key char­ac­ter­is­tics will make it eas­i­er to find mate­ri­als to match.

• How do you expect the fur­ni­ture mate­ri­als to fit in with oth­er design ele­ments? As any design­er knows, cre­at­ing a sense of cohe­sive­ness is essen­tial.

2) Choose the Right Furniture

Fur­ni­ture is per­haps one of the most impor­tant aspects of your restau­rant, and it can either con­tribute to or detract from the atmos­phere and cus­tomer expe­ri­ence. Think of fur­ni­ture as a way to set the “tone” for your busi­ness — and a cru­cial part of mak­ing an excel­lent first impres­sion on your guests.

The best restau­rant fur­ni­ture for any inte­ri­or large­ly depends on the con­cept of the restau­rant itself, which is expressed through the menu and food, design, and decor. Even the name of a restau­rant is a part of its over­ar­ch­ing con­cept. Long before you can begin search­ing for cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture, you need to have a firm grasp on your restaurant’s con­cept. This encom­pass­es how you want the space to look and how you want guests to feel when they are in your restau­rant. From aspects as obvi­ous as col­or scheme to cus­tomer stay­ing time, there are many ele­ments to con­sid­er.

From there, you can begin to think about the dif­fer­ent styles of restau­rant fur­ni­ture. Fur­ni­ture styles should reflect the style and ambiance of a restau­rant, as well as serve the basic needs and expec­ta­tions of guests. Usu­al­ly, the type of restau­rant dic­tates the ide­al style. For exam­ple:

• A fast-food restau­rant needs to accom­mo­date a sig­nif­i­cant flow of guest traf­fic, mak­ing dura­bil­i­ty imper­a­tive. And because most fast food estab­lish­ments aim to serve a high num­ber of cus­tomers at a time, com­fort isn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly of the utmost impor­tance — because guests won’t typ­i­cal­ly be stay­ing very long.

• Casu­al din­ing fur­ni­ture is typ­i­cal­ly suit­able for fam­i­ly-friend­ly, rel­a­tive­ly afford­able restau­rants. Again, dura­bil­i­ty is a must, but so is com­fort. Addi­tion­al­ly, spe­cif­ic pieces such as high chairs and boost­er seats are often key to these restau­rants’ tar­get mar­ket.

• Cafe fur­ni­ture often accom­mo­dates guests that are seek­ing a warm, wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment where they can eat, drink, work, and gath­er. A vari­ety of seat­ing options, includ­ing tables and chairs, booths, and even couch­es, can serve the diverse needs of cafe guests. Space-sav­ing restau­rant fur­ni­ture design is also often a pri­or­i­ty.

• Bar fur­ni­ture can range from ultra-casu­al to high-end, depend­ing on the desired ambiance. Gen­er­al­ly, bar stools are a sta­ple piece. It’s not unusu­al for design­ers to opt for easy-to-wipe mate­ri­als for bars, although upscale estab­lish­ments may pri­or­i­tize aes­thet­ics instead.

• Cafe­te­ria fur­ni­ture typ­i­cal­ly needs to check a vari­ety of box­es, with dura­bil­i­ty and com­pact design being top goals. Hav­ing the flex­i­bil­i­ty to accom­mo­date var­i­ous group sizes is also a plus when search­ing for cafe­te­ria fur­ni­ture pieces.

Of course, the amount of space avail­able also plays a piv­otal role in the fur­ni­ture selec­tion process. Effi­cient use of space is always a use­ful fea­ture in any restaurant’s design, but par­tic­u­lar­ly so for those with a con­ser­v­a­tive foot­print. Both guests and staff should be able to eas­i­ly maneu­ver around the space, which means that care­ful plan­ning will be involved.

Func­tion­al­i­ty is anoth­er core com­po­nent of well-suit­ed restau­rant fur­ni­ture. It doesn’t mat­ter how beau­ti­ful a piece may be if it doesn’t prop­er­ly func­tion with­in your space. For exam­ple, a set of stun­ning din­ing chairs may look beau­ti­ful, but if they are ter­ri­bly uncom­fort­able, they are not a good invest­ment.

Final­ly, your bud­get will be a guid­ing force in the deci­sion-mak­ing process. While the cheap­est restau­rant fur­ni­ture isn’t typ­i­cal­ly the high­est qual­i­ty, there are afford­able options that will meet your stan­dards. By going the cus­tom route, you can make deci­sions to make the most of your bud­get while still ful­fill­ing your over­all vision.

3) Use Contrasting Colors to Enhance the Appearance of Your Restaurant Interior

The psy­chol­o­gy of col­or is an often-dis­cussed top­ic in busi­ness, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the restau­rant indus­try. Cer­tain col­ors are often asso­ci­at­ed with spe­cif­ic effects; for exam­ple, nat­ur­al tones like green and brown can con­vey a calm­ing atmos­phere, while vibrant shades like orange often inspire cheer­ful feel­ings. Instead of tak­ing aim at one emo­tion, the ide­al restau­rant col­or schemes incor­po­rate appro­pri­ate­ly con­trast­ing shades to achieve max­i­mum ben­e­fit.

When imple­ment­ed care­ful­ly, con­trast can cre­ate visu­al inter­est. For exam­ple, you might pair uphol­stered booths in a rich egg­plant shade with a light inte­ri­or paint col­or to draw guests’ atten­tion to seat­ing areas and anchor the design. Or, vivid shades of yel­low and red can pro­vide a pop of col­or against white table­tops, rem­i­nis­cent of 1960s pop art. How­ev­er, too much con­trast can have a neg­a­tive, some­what chaot­ic effect.

Remem­ber that there are many ele­ments that will con­tribute to the appear­ance of the inte­ri­or, rang­ing from the fin­ish of wood table­tops to the met­al legs of your barstools. As you assem­ble a selec­tion of restau­rant fur­ni­ture, reg­u­lar­ly “step back” to con­firm that there is a har­mo­nious bal­ance of con­trast and cohe­sion.

4) Create a Sense of Space Within Your Restaurant Interior

Regard­less the type or size of a restau­rant, there are clear­ly defined zones that each serve a unique pur­pose. Aside from the clear divi­sion between the din­ing area and the kitchen, you should also strive to devel­op a cer­tain lev­el of orga­ni­za­tion with­in the areas that guests will occu­py.

These var­i­ous spaces might include:

• Seat­ing areas that cre­ate suit­able spaces for solo din­ers, duos, and groups
• A bar area that encour­ages social inter­ac­tion
• A com­fort­able, wel­com­ing wait­ing area
• Spe­cial rooms or areas for large groups and/or pri­vate events

In addi­tion to con­tribut­ing to the expe­ri­ences you want guests to have, these spaces should also be orga­nized in a way that sup­ports an obsta­cle-free path of move­ment. Open, emp­ty space is just as valu­able as the areas occu­pied by fur­ni­ture (and thus, peo­ple), and plan­ning for both is key. As you select restau­rant fur­ni­ture, be mind­ful of how you can achieve both of these goals at the same time.

For exam­ple:

• Plush, high-backed booths that offer a sense of inti­ma­cy and pri­va­cy
• Table­tops that pro­vide just the right amount of usable space
• Tables and chairs that can be eas­i­ly moved to accom­mo­date var­i­ous group sizes

Ulti­mate­ly, your goal should be to select fur­ni­ture that allows you to make opti­mal use of the space by bal­anc­ing busi­ness needs and cus­tomer wants.

5) Understand How Custom Restaurant Furniture Improves the Environment

Although mass-mar­ket com­mer­cial fur­ni­ture may seem appeal­ing­ly con­ve­nient, it often doesn’t per­mit your restau­rant to reach its full poten­tial. When you think about the val­ue of invest­ing in cus­tom-man­u­fac­tured fur­ni­ture, the last­ing ben­e­fits become clear.

Cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture makes it pos­si­ble to flaw­less­ly exe­cute your design in a way that aligns with your inte­ri­or style and over­all brand. There are no com­pro­mis­es nec­es­sary, so you don’t have to set­tle for pieces that are “good enough.” Guests will enter your restau­rant and be able to imme­di­ate­ly dis­cern what makes your restau­rant unique from your com­peti­tors.

Also, choos­ing cus­tom fur­ni­ture makes it far eas­i­er to devel­op a cohe­sive space. Because you main­tain com­plete con­trol over every detail, there’s no need to force var­i­ous pre-made pieces to fit togeth­er. This con­sis­ten­cy can be felt both in how a restau­rant func­tions and how it looks.

Above all, a bet­ter restau­rant envi­ron­ment results in hap­pi­er guests — which trans­lates into return vis­its, pos­i­tive feed­back, a strong rep­u­ta­tion, and increased sales and prof­its. In this way, your restaurant’s fur­ni­ture has a direct and pow­er­ful impact on the suc­cess of your busi­ness.