Common restaurant design problems

Whether it is an interference regarding the flow of circulation between the dining area and kitchen, or maybe the kitchen is too small and there simply is not enough space for the chefs to prepare the food and meet consumer demands, every restaurant will have small problems. In this article, we will talk about some of these problems and provide advice on how you can avoid these common design problems.

That area where no one wants to sit.

In almost every restaurant, there is always one or two tables where nobody wants to sit. It could be because it’s next to the bathroom, or beside the kitchen or maybe it is just located next to the main door where customers will experience drafts. Having to readjust your chair every other minute or having an ice cold/ uncomfortably warm just blow past you every other minute will make for a very unrelaxing meal.

The solution to this is actually quite easy. Before you open your restaurant, we recommend that you take a moment to just trail every seat, think about the temperature, the view, the smells, the noise level they might experience, the proximity to the bathrooms and kitchen.  You will be surprised and find at least one table you thought was fine actually experiences one or two of these problems. If you are having this problem, ask yourself; do I need the table? If yes, is there somewhere else you can locate the table? Are you so busy that this table is always full on every shift? If you aren’t filling this table on every shift, maybe you can consider moving the table into storage, allowing you to use this opportunity to utilise the rest of the restaurant layout to a fuller potential. You can even find that just by changing the table shape or the layout of the tables, you will not only benefit the design and circulation, but it may also help you utilise the space far more efficiently.

The tiny kitchen.

In an ideal world, we could all have the perfect commercial kitchen, with large open clean surfaces to meet every need for the chef, with plenty of space for circulation. However, most unfortunately, the reality is quite the opposite; you will most likely end up with a tiny little kitchen, which may be lacking in some speciality equipment and space for the chefs to prep the meals.

Realistically, knocking down walls isn’t always an affordable option for most of us, with budgets and time frames. So another way around this issue is to consider amending the menu. By shortening the menu to offer have a smaller variety of products will enable you to make the most of your smaller kitchen by requiring less amounts of preparation space. A large variety of different options will require your chefs to make sure there is never any cross contamination of products. By making the list of options available smaller, you will both excel in the products you do cook and ensure reduce the preparation space and cleaning time required.

No budget?

Opening any new business will be expensive, so to ensure those start-up costs stay under control you might have to re-evaluate your original restaurant plan.

Instead of spending thousands on buying new furniture or a rebuild. Why don’t you consider using reclaimed or pre-used furniture? This can save you money in the initial price, the cost to do it up (if required) can mean you can personalise this item to make it bespoke, or depending on the item bought, can be used to add to the aesthetic of the space. If you can’t afford to move all of your walls around you can consider installing temporary dividers, not only will this save you money, but it also gives you the flexibility to change and rearrange these dividers according to changing design and demand. In addition, never underestimate the power of just changing the lighting or paint used. These two have the power to transform any space without requiring you to spend money on a new refurbishment.