In this millennium successful restaurant concept must provide promising brand personality. It is much more than just good food, good service, and good atmosphere.
Creating an amazing restaurant experience with a perfect restaurant design is anything but simple.To achieve this goal, you have to think about all the details that will affect the restaurant workflow and customer experience. “The basics of restaurant design psychology” will teach you how to design a personality of the restaurant with maximum seating capacity, and no “bad table” in the house. So where to start?
Step 1. Start With a Professional Restaurant Designer & Architects
It is very important not to rush into the design and then try to fix mistakes later. You have to spend more time planning, as it is much cheaper to make changes in a software for restaurant design than it is to change a major mistake on a completed building.
While designing a restaurant there are hundreds of interdependent decisions and steps, so the time needed for this project can range from several very intense weeks to potentially a year or more for large-scale development projects.
Step 2. Create Memorable Brand Experience in Restaurant Space
Start with a core idea that motivates the business. It is easy to say that, but how do you find that super idea?
The first thing you must do is to define what you do, who you are, and why you’re doing it. This would be the best start for creating a consistent guest experience. Consistency is very important for a brand that makes promises. And of course, it is much easier to be consistent if your brand design shows who you actually are and represents your real work.
If you still don’t know where to start, maybe it would help to look at what some of your favorite companies have done to build their brand experience. In fact, this is a great way to find inspiration. Look at trends and try to stay one-step ahead. Talk to your designer and explain every detail that comes to your mind. Include your staff, friends, family and everyone who wants to be involved in this process .
Remember that everything your guest sees inside your restaurant is an indication of your brand. Interior design, name, logo, menu and uniforms should all be in step with the experience you’ve conceptualized.
Be aware of your restaurant design budget . It is amazing how often restaurant owners think that they will build the next Starbucks with a small investment. As with any investment, it is important to consider a ten- or twenty-year business plan when deciding where and how to spend money during the design process.
Step 3. From Restaurant Concept to Operation
Once you have decided who you are and what you can offer in your restaurant think about the location and your customer demographics . Who are they? What do they want?
What can you do to satisfy their needs and at the same time offer them something new?
Restaurant design is one of the main factors that create ambiance, and ambiance plays a huge role in getting people in, while food and service are what keeps them coming back, or not. Everything matters and all elements contribute to the operation of a space. From the restaurant’s entrance to circulation spaces, seating areas, to the bar, lighting, cutlery and music – each part of restaurant design affects the business.
Restaurant Design Layout
In basic space planning, the general rule for determining the area allotted is that the dining area should comprise 60% of the total area. This means that the restaurant kitchen, storage area and restrooms should take up 40 % of the restaurant. The design of the seating plan will depend on what type of restaurant you plan to open. If you are opening a fine dining restaurant it may require 20 square feet per person, while the fast food restaurant will require only 10 square feet per person. The general rule is that for every seat in the restaurant it is necessary to provide at least 5 square feet.
Commercial kitchen design layout must provide a particular pattern to optimize performance and efficiency of specific commercial kitchen components for food preparation, cooking, storage, cleaning, and service. All of these components have equal importance for successful restaurant kitchen workflow.
There are four basic types of commercial kitchen layouts:
- Island-Style Layout
- Ergonomic Layout
- Zone-Style Layout
- Assembly Line Layout
Island-Style layout is the best choice for large square shape kitchens but it can be modified to fit other shapes and sizes. Central section that we call an “island” is set in the middle of the kitchen and it is usually used for cooking, while the food preparation tables are set along the walls of the kitchen. It allows perfect communication and supervision but also leaves plenty of open floor space for easier cleaning.
Zone-Style layout has the kitchen set up in working sections such as dishwashing section, storage section, food preparation and serving section. Major equipment is located along the walls that provides good communication and supervision as the center of the kitchen is completely open. Sections follow the proper order of tasks for the best workflow.
Ergonomic layout applies ergonomic principles to make your staff more productive and efficient regardless of the energy efficiency. The time is the only thing that matters.
Assembly Line layout is a good choice for fast-food restaurants, sandwich restaurants or pizzerias. It is ideal for restaurants with a small number of menu items where the preparation of meals flows in a line.
Before you make a decision about your restaurant kitchen layout be sure to contact your chef as he will know everything about the process of preparation and necessary restaurant equipment that must be included.
Restaurant Lighting Design
Lighting is a highly specialized area of restaurant design. Proper lighting helps create appealing first impressions that set the mood with consistent color and light quality. The first thing you should do is to define your lighting aesthetic that will best suit your target demographic. Then you should follow some basic rules of restaurant lighting:
– Lights must be safe and work properly with low maintenance
– It must be easy to control the lighting throughout the day
– Food must be brightly lit during the dining experience
– Lighting must draw attention to artistic touches
– Pay special attention to reflective surfaces
– It must meet new energy standards
Every watt is counted so be sure to use the low-voltage power that also improves overall efficiency and reduces the heat.
There are essentially three varieties of restaurant lighting: ambient, accents, and featured lights. Ambient illumination sets the baseline, accent lighting decor provides the contrast, and featured lighting has less to do with lighting the space, and more with adding interest to focal points. Determine areas that should be emphasized, and those that need to be minimized.
Defining the space with perfect contrast of brighter and dim areas will bring magic to every restaurant.
Step 4 Make it Flexible
Even when you create the perfect design solution for your restaurant don’t forget that your restaurant must follow trends. Making changes to your restaurant design in the future is something that can be realistically expected. In other words, your design must be flexible.
For example, even small changes in a restaurant menu will require different equipment which means changes in the restaurant kitchen design. Flexibility is the new watchword in restaurant furniture. Seating and furnishings have to satisfy your young and older customers. Pair counter-height and traditional seating and add spice to your restaurant design. Be sure that your restaurant design could respond to market demands in the future.
Let the form follows the fun! Create with your flexible restaurant design the perfect showcase for your food and customer experience.
Good Luck!
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