The customers’ psychology is of prime importance when they enter a restaurant. If what they see is appealing, their appetite increases, and they’re likely to order more food and more expensive dishes. For that reason alone, you have to get your restaurant interior design just right.
Attracting new customers, and getting your existing clients to spread complimentary things about your eatery via word of mouth must be uppermost in your mind. Let’s look at a few ways you can positively influence your customers’ response to their surroundings.
1. Layout Practicalities First
The rule of thumb regardless of the type of restaurant is that about 60% of the available space will be taken up by diners. You’ll need the remaining space for storage, the kitchen, and restrooms.
A fine dining restaurant should allow about double the amount of space around each table than a fast-food restaurant does. Waiting staff should have enough room to move around, even when the restaurant is packed.
Seating should always be comfortable; it encourages people to stay for dessert, or relax and have that extra glass of wine. The faster the food and the faster the desired customer turnaround, the less comfortable the seats need to be.
The restrooms should be easy to find. Signage is key in this regard; you really don’t want to be giving directions all the time.
As to restroom design, you might like to take your cue from the tasteful, minimalist interior for dental office look, with colorways that hint at matching the dining area. Whatever you do, don’t locate the restrooms near the kitchen; it gives patrons the wrong impression.
Restrooms should not be close to the serving area either if you have one. The welcome desk should always be tucked away to the side of the entrance door to allow for the smooth flow of customers in and out. And everything — everything — must be spotlessly clean at all times.
2. Ambiance
Lighting either enhances or dampens the mood. Too bright, and people won’t relax; too dim, and people will feel that the place is dull and boring. And these days, everyone likes to take photos to post to social media. So, the lighting must be just bright enough to take a decent picture.
During the day, it’s a huge plus if you have plenty of natural light streaming into your interior, but without the glare.
Light fittings should be in keeping with the theme of your design. The more environmentally friendly the illumination, the better. People care about these things now. Warm colors make people feel “at home”, and that’s just the kind of response you want as a restaurant owner, no matter where on the scale of fine dining you pitch your business.
3. Tailor Restaurant Interior Design to Client Type
You know exactly who your target customers are. Fast food restaurant interior design layout will be different from cafe interior design, bar interior design, or a cheap restaurant interior design.
If you go upmarket, remember that your customers will be more discerning. Your choice of ceiling, wall, and floor materials and colors needs to be coherent, but not obviously thematic. Subtlety is essential, as is the obvious good quality of the materials used.
How you dress the windows cannot clash with how you dress the tables or seating, yet even stark contrasts are a possibility. Everything needs to flow, even if you are on the cutting edge of the avant-garde.
Continuity Is Good
Many establishments make the mistake of renovating their restaurant interior design too often. Remember that your customers come back to your restaurant repeatedly because they like the look and feel of the place as well as the food. Once you get a good interior design established, keep it.
Renovate some elements of the design, by all means, but don’t rely on customers returning if the total makeover departs too far from what you had before.
You might learn a little about how customers behave from the many articles here on our site. Feel free to check them out.
