Designing Restaurants & Bars that Enrich the Experience of your Clientele

Designing Restaurants & Bars that Enrich the Experience of your Clientele

Businesses, and especially those in hospitality, do not just sell products. They sell ideas, feelings, and experiences. Achieving such a feat involves more than just the perfect meal served on time. A good restaurant or bar is one entity, with its food, drinks, atmosphere, style, setting and layout all parts of a larger whole. All in all they give the establishment a personality, and that is what attracts or repulses the customers for an indefinite time.
This holistic approach to hospitality design encompasses all aspects of a restaurant or bar and integrates them into one. This includes analysing the local market, proper brand positioning and maintenance, graphical and aesthetic consistency, and unique concept.
In interior design, the key is to stay one step ahead of the trends. Every aspect of an interior designer’s work is essential for the well-being and long-term success of the business. If a customer is too cramped in their seat or the food takes too long to come, or if the place is too crowded or noisy when the space is not meant for such atmosphere, such as in a club, then the space has failed to deliver.

The efficiency of operations within the space greatly depends on its design: in and out doors and their placement, location of the kitchen, space for waiters to move or customers to adjust their chairs. It all comes down to good planning, and knowing what everyone needs. Circulation and moving space can all be accounted for by planning the layout. Does the customer have a view of the whole place or is it a more secluded, private division? How the chairs or couches are arranged, the atmosphere, the lighting, the music, all must be accounted for within an interior design project. The customer of course would not be aware of all that was planned in the background. In fact, the less they are aware, and the more seamless the mood seems, the greater the signs of success.
When it comes to space management, customers and waiters must be able to traverse the place with ease without stumbling on each other or cramping up the space. This is all up to preplanning and good furniture choice and distribution. Some restaurants have waiters squeezing in between each other with their platters and bumping into customers, while other restaurants have seamless paths in between tables and adequate space. Of course, this would depend on the size of the property and what the client intends to fit into it.

The location and how the establishment blends into the surroundings are of course essential. No one likes to see a large glass structure in a medieval village, or a quant looking stone hut among skyscrapers. Whatever is being designed must be relevant to the local surroundings and catered to the local demographic.
A main factor for what customers prefer is the social aspect. Are they coming to be on a quiet and intimate date, or are they going to socialize and meet new people? Perhaps spend time with family or close friends, or relax alone with a book. Are they going to have conversation or watch something? All these questions must be considered during design research and implementation. The choice of venue is decided by what mood the customer is in and what they desire.
One thing is for sure, preplanning is the most fundamental determinant of an establishment’s success and a mistake made in the start can be majorly impactful in the future. It can also be challenging to remedy. Perhaps a positive challenge to be tackled by a skilled designer.

Funding for all of this is of course a challenge in this field. Clients have to find good locations with decent renting prices to be able to allocate funding for interior design, and afford the quality food and service that determines the target demographic and popularity of the establishment. Many restaurants struggle simply because their preplanning was off.

The most important thing by far however are the customers themselves. Who are we trying to attract, will it work in this area, what style would attract such a demographic and what will get them to stay. These are the questions an interior designer must answer. Whether a tiny family run pub or a five-star hotel lobby, the customer is the point.