There’s more to a successful restaurant than just fine-tasting dishes. You have to combine it with a stunning atmosphere where people can sit back, relax, and enjoy their food. Not only will this lead to more orders, but your customers are more likely to spread the word about your restaurant. It’s all about enhancing the customer experience by providing them with amazing cuisine and a pleasant environment to go along with it.
When designing a restaurant, you want to incorporate a variety of elements that will make your customers stay for hours. Here are a couple of tips that you can follow to ensure a successful restaurant space that your customers will love.
Add your own personal flair
The first thing you should know is how to add personality to your restaurant. This will influence the design process where you want to match it according to your tastes. How do you achieve this? By being yourself. Think about the kind of food you love to make and the type of audience you will serve it to.
People are always looking for new restaurants to try out, new dishes to discover, and new places where they can get together and enjoy good food.. You don’t want your restaurant to look the same as the one that’s a couple of blocks away from you. You want it to be unique and you do this by adding your own personal flair.
Make your space stand out by telling your story through both the interior and exterior of your restaurant.
Use an appropriate lighting layout
The lighting in your restaurant is what sets its tone, mood, and atmosphere. People want a bit of privacy and intimacy when sharing their food and the last thing you want is to highlight each table for everyone to stare. You also don’t want to create a too stark of an environment where your customers can barely read their menu. Ask your local shop fit out company for recommendations if you are unsure about the types of lighting your store will need.
It’s all about using an appropriate lighting layout that’s not too bright or too dim. If the ceilings in your restaurant are high, you can use chandeliers or even pendant lighting. Of course this depends on the interior design, but these fixtures are a great way of adding visual effects and lighting to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere for your customers.
Incorporate unique elements
As we’ve said before, you want your restaurant to be unique so that it peaks the interest of your target audience. You can select a few stand-out pieces that can help differentiate your restaurant such as food artworks, colourful accent walls, or even a bulletin board where people can pin their photos taken inside your restaurant. Let your creative juices flowing and incorporate unique elements that your customers will associate your restaurant with.
Just be careful where you place your standout elements. You don’t want them to be too in-your-face or else it’ll distract your customers with their food. A great example of featuring a unique element is at the entrance. You can use a chalkboard and write a welcome message for your customers or add neon signs at the bar and invite customers for a few drinks.
Be mindful of your colour palette
People respond differently to different colours and the colour palette you choose can make a huge impact on your restaurant. When designing your restaurant space, you’ll want to choose an inviting colour palette that best associates with your brand image. A good example are muted earth tones like terracotta and deep garnet red.
Avoid using vivid colours as much as possible because they can be quite irritating to the eye. Yellow is one such colour because it can appear too bright when the restaurant lighting hits it. Stick to cool colours that mirror those found on your brand’s logo.
Pay attention to comfort and elegance
Aside from the quality of food, comfort and elegance what makes or breaks a restaurant. There’s no value in offering mouth-watering meals when your customers are sitting in a brick of a chair. These elements go hand-in-hand when enhancing the overall customer experience. To achieve this, use high-quality sofas and chairs that have sufficient cushioning and play relaxing music that matches the vibe of your restaurant. The tables should complement the seats and is not too low or not too high.
If you operate a fine dining restaurant, you can light up a candle on each table to provide an upscale feel for your clientele. You want to provide adequate space between seating arrangements as fine dining focuses on giving the customers as much private space as possible. It’s easy to focus on the aesthetics of your restaurant and neglect its comfort and elegance. Make sure these elements are of your top priority when designing your restaurant space.
Effective use of available space
No matter how much area you’re working with, there has to be an efficiency with the way you utilise your restaurant space. You don’t want your customers to feel too cramped and you don’t want to leave large spaces in between the tables. Keep in mind that when designing a restaurant, functionality is where it’s at. This makes it easier for your employees to serve food while at the same time, allowing a continuous flow of customers in the dining area.
When you start incorporating these elements, you’ll be enhancing the dining experience of your customers. A recipe for a successful restaurant starts with good food, great service, and topped off with a relaxing atmosphere that will have your customers come back for more.
