The Best Designers Listen

Designing a restaurant from the walls out or renovating an existing facility is an exciting, exacting experience.

Each experience contains many complex issues, and focusing on only one can result in serious problems in day-to-day operations. It’s important to view the project from as many perspectives as possible before incorporating them into the planning process.

That’s why SRI, as a professional restaurant designer, listens carefully to your concepts, goals and objectives before offering a single design suggestion. You know the personality or atmosphere you want your restaurant to reflect. Once we know that we can address the technical details and begin building an effective design.

This is where a commercial interior designer goes off track in restaurant-related projects. A restaurant design specialist addresses functional components and considers the needs of clientele and staff every step of the way.

If you see a design layout that forces the staff to disturb their guests’ experience every time they need to do their job, chances are the layout was not the work of a restaurant design specialist.

At SRI, we understand the various building components, and by working closely with our clients we produce functional, attractive, cost-effective and efficient restaurant design solutions.

Some of the components to be considered in pre-design planning include:

An Entrance Area That Creates a Great First Impression

Your customers will form an opinion of your restaurant long before they reach the front door. Knowing that, you should design an entrance area that conveys positive information about your business, with a warm and welcoming atmosphere most important. The size of the area is also important: Too small or too large an area make for the wrong impression. Plan for an area that allows for a comfortable flow into the bar or dining room and your patrons will feel like guests, not a herd of cattle.

A Holding Bar Area To Remember

If your guests feel comfortable in your holding bar area they’ll be in no rush in going to their table, which helps your staff maintain a smooth flow. A comfortable, relaxing atmosphere in the holding bar area prepares your guests puts your guests in the mood for a delightful dining experience, so don’t squeeze in too many seats and ruin their mood. A good rule of thumb in to make the holding bar area a bit more impressive than the entry, building the guests’ anticipation for an enjoyable dining room experience.

Designing A Washroom To Impress

When people describe a restaurant experience they frequently mention the food first. The service could come second or third – depending upon the impressiveness of the washrooms. When guests are impressed by your washrooms they’ll tell everyone to visit your restaurant, just to see them.

And when it comes to washrooms, size matters. Too small an area translates to being uncomfortable. Finding the size that is right for your business is not easy, but given the cost of later renovations, it’s worth serious consideration. And it’s no longer enough for washrooms to be merely clean. Lighting, sound and music control, temperature and air controls are obvious concerns. The tactile value of floors, walls and counters can also make or break a design’s effect, and carpet or vinyl flooring should be avoided at all costs. Ceramic tile, marble or synthetic flooring can be good alternatives, and mirrors can provide the illusion of more space. In any event, the washroom and its fixtures should be as elegant as your budget allows, and economy plumbing and lighting fixtures should be avoided.

The Chef’s Kingdom

Too many restaurant kitchens were designed to fit into the leftover space after the dining room and washrooms were designed. This was often necessary to a degree, but an efficient and productive kitchen has a positive impact on customers and staff, and the input of your chef should always be a planning priority.

Your menu range, for example, impacts both equipment and staffing requirements. You can’t have servers tripping over each other while trying to do their jobs, and properly planning hot side and cold side preparation and pick-up areas can reduce stress and costs for all involved. Dish-pit staff also needs to do its job without moving through the prep or cooking areas, and your chef is the best source of information to make this happen.

That’s why SRI “grills” your kitchen staff for operational information, and we often rely on an experienced executive help when your chef isn’t available. As a result, we recommend designs that control preparation costs, creating kitchen efficiencies that cannot be overlooked.

Another important thing about your chef: Making him or her visible to your guests can be a great marketing concept, and the dining public likes to see who is preparing their meal. Many successful restaurants have adopted this approach and finds it adds to their customer’s overall dining experience, the goal of every forward-thinking restaurateur.

The Building Layout Can Alter Your Design Plans

Our goal at SRI is to help our restaurant clients understand what happens inside their walls. That includes helping them grasp how quickly their chosen design plan can become totally cost-prohibitive by ignoring potential problems within their existing structure.

Knowing how electrical, plumbing and ventilation systems inter-relate with load-bearing structures can product huge renovation cost savings. Since SRI designs each system component of your renovation to make your restaurant both functional and cost-effective, we can save you from a renovation nightmare. The easiest problems to solve are the ones you don’t create, and local zoning and by-law restrictions are often just the tip of the ice berg.