Restaurants are not just about food and drinks but also service and ambiance. Both can drive customers to dine in the restaurants, but it is the place’s atmosphere that diners first notice. Read on and learn the crucial things you must consider in designing and building a restaurant.
Keys to Designing and Building a Restaurant
- Create a Perfect Restaurant Layout
A well-planned restaurant layout is one of the primary keys to having a successful bistro. It prepares you for what you must do to attract more patrons. It tells you which color, furniture, fixture, and lighting you should use and how you should train your staff.
Customer service plays a vital role in every business, and well-trained servers, staff, and management teams must have proper training in handling common and worse-case scenarios, whether during regular business hours or even in special events.
A perfect restaurant layout must also cover the flow of the business. It must clearly state things that must be done during peak hours when there’s heavy foot traffic to meet your customer’s needs and prevent or at least reduce the restaurant’s churn rates.
- Tailor Your Core Values to Your Target Clients
A successful restaurant brand comes from the company’s culture and core values, representing the establishment’s target market and covering the three factors you must consider when designing a restaurant.
- Demographics
Demographics is statistical data that includes the market’s age, gender, religion, educational attainment, race, and location.
- Psychographics
This factor classifies your diners according to their values and aspirations.
- Behavior
The behavior pattern of your customers and prospective diners also matters, as they can significantly affect your business’s day-to-day operation. Their buying habits, hobbies, and digital behavior determine your restaurant’s peak hours, menu, and even platform to focus.
You can quickly create a marketing ad that will attract customers by mastering all three factors.
- Exceptional HVAC system
Your HVAC system could make or break your restaurant’s revenue. Without adequate heating, ventilation, and cooling system, your customers might consider dining at another restaurant. Also, proper ventilation is needed to remove the heat from the kitchen and keep the ideal temperature of the place. Include the HVAC system in your construction drawings when planning and designing the restaurant.
Protecting your HVAC system from unauthorized access that may affect your business’ regular operation is also essential. Consider installing HVAC access doors and panels to help your HVAC run efficiently and smoothly.
- Secured Restaurant Storage
Before shopping for the best furniture for your restaurant, you must first run through the essential parts of the place, which include the kitchen, restrooms, and, most importantly, the storage area.
How you lay out your storage room can affect your kitchen’s operations. Remember that your storage room contains all the essential products and produces your menu needs. The area is vital to be clean and organized and always have the right temperature to keep the food edible. With these, your kitchen can function effectively daily, especially during peak hours.
- Keep well-lit Restrooms
Most restaurant owners often overlook the restrooms. Make sure to avoid the same mistake. Give importance to the toilets, like how you give weight to your kitchen, as both functions are essential to the diners. Remember that customers might use the restroom anytime, especially women who care about their looks.
Also, a foul-smelling restroom is one of the restaurant’s most significant red flags. People will only enjoy perfect savory food and wine if they cannot smell the stinky sewage.
- Choose the Right Color and Light
Your restaurant’s color and lighting can also make a difference. As much as possible, it would be best if you made the restaurant as inviting as possible, relaxing, and excellent for all ages.
White is one of the safest colors that you can use in your restaurant, as it can blend well with other colors. Add green as an accent if you need it to have a touch of nature or transform the restaurant’s vibe into a more accommodating place.
However, you can only pull the desired ambiance with proper lighting. Lights can significantly affect the color and the vibe of the place. Install enough light, and the site will look more vibrant and alive. Thus, talk to your interior designer and your architect to ensure that your restaurant gets enough light any time of the day.
Conclusion
What makes a restaurant successful is the preparation stage. Make sure to tailor-fit everything to your customers. Pattern the menu and the place’s vibe according to their demographics, behavior, and psychographics. Keep your clients coming by ensuring the bistro’s HVAC efficiency and a well-ventilated and clean storage room and restroom. May these simple tips on designing and building your restaurant help you in your journey in the food industry.