When opening a restaurant of any sort, tackling the matter of putting together a functional dining room can be a bit challenging. No matter the type and style of your restaurant, you need to consider multiple different aspects of a dining area – not just tables and chairs – and see how you can come up with the optimal design for the space.
Furthermore, you need to be realistic when determining the number of seating solutions you want to implement because you don’t want your restaurant dining room to feel overcrowded or stuffy. That being said, here are some major design points you need to consider when putting together a restaurant dining area.
The seating arrangements
First and foremost, when designing a dining room for your restaurant, you need to know exactly how much space you have at your disposal. Keep in mind that an average table with chair space requires around 4 to 5 feet and the minimum traffic path between occupied chairs needs to be at least 18 inches wide to allow for free flow of traffic of both servers and diners. This will allow you to come up with an optimal floor plan for your restaurant’s dining area. Aside from this, the type of restaurant you choose to open and the clientele you’re looking to attract will also play a crucial role in this.
The waiting stations
Furthermore, when arranging the dining area in your restaurant, you need to leave a certain amount of room for the waiting stations as well. In a well-organized restaurant dining area, the wait stations need to be easily accessible by the wait staff but hidden away from the eyes of the patrons. Also, these stations should be big enough to hold all the necessary equipment – condiments, coffee, glassware, cutlery, and napkins so that the waiters can easily access them. Finally, you should consider adding a POS system here as well, so that your staff can deal with the necessary transaction more easily.
The overall atmosphere
Next, you need to make sure that you create favorable conditions for your customers as well. Aside from making sure that everyone has enough room and that the dining area is nice and bright, you also need to take care of the indoor temperature. In countries that experience a lot of hot days throughout the year, such as Australia, indoor areas can – and will – quite easily overheat especially when they’re filled with a lot of people. That’s why restaurant owners hire experts who offer air conditioning service in Sydney, to make sure that their customers enjoy a pleasant atmosphere while indulging in delicious meals. On the other hand, if the area where you live experiences a lot of cold weather, you should also consider implementing an excellent air conditioning system to make sure you offer a warm and inviting atmosphere to your customers.
The bar area
The next piece of the restaurant dining room puzzle is definitely the bar area. This one is very important to implement as it offers your customers a place where they can comfortably wait for a table to become available. Not only that, but they will surely consume a drink or two while waiting, which only brings more profit to your restaurant. So, make sure that your bar is fully stocked with various drinks, no matter if it’s just a service bar or full-sit-down bar. Of course, the size of your dining area will also determine the size of your bar so that’s also something to keep in mind.
The storage area
Finally, no restaurant dining area can do without a storage area where you will keep clean tablecloths, dishes and other necessities. This area should also be easily accessible by your staff but hidden – at least visually – from your customers. Therefore, you should explore different hidden storage solutions when determining the design of your dining area and see how you can seamlessly blend it with the rest of the room to create a cohesive environment that looks both stylish and well put together.
The restroom area
Finally, the restroom area is a crucial part of any restaurant floor plan. While you need to make sure that this area is easily findable by your customers, you also need to make sure that it doesn’t interfere with their dining experience in any way. That’s why you should make sure that the sign pointing to the restroom area is easily spottable, but the area itself needs to be a bit secluded.
As you can see, designing a functional and practical restaurant dining room is not that difficult. However, you will have to keep in mind the amount of space you’re working with, as well as all the elements that need to be included, so that you can find the optimum layout for the area and come up with the best design solution for the space.
Also see – Best Restaurant POS
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