A restaurant's design affects how efficiently your employees move about and how customers experience the facility. If you are a first-time restaurant owner, the unlimited designs you can use may overwhelm you. The guide below is a great starting point of things to consider during your restaurant design process.
Design Principles
A well-designed restaurant helps you turn tables fast, excite customers, and facilitate the movement of staff. Although aesthetics vary from restaurant to restaurant, contractors follow a set of design principles to sketch a restaurant layout. These aspects include:
Accessibility
Employees and customers, including those with disabilities that limit their mobility, should be able to easily access work areas, restrooms, and dining spaces. Further, ensure that you meet the guidelines set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for restaurants. Fortunately, an experienced contractor will sketch a floor plan that complies with all regulations and building codes.
Efficient Flow of Staff and Materials
Restaurants can quickly become chaotic if employees constantly run into each other and spill food. Ideally, staff should move in a circle across the dining room, where meals leave the kitchen on one side and dirty utensils enter the kitchen on the alternate side. Additionally, the dining area should have wide walkways to facilitate movement.
Keep in mind that materials should also flow efficiently. For instance, keep the storage and refrigerated areas near the receiving docks and separate the waste disposal area from the meal preparation spaces.
The kitchen can either have an assembly line or a zone-style layout. The former is ideal for food batches, where food stations form a line to simplify cooking and assembly. If you opt for a zone-style layout, employees work in different work zones. This layout is best for restaurants that serve foods that don't require a lot of cooking.
Simplicity
A restaurant design should have simplicity in mind. For instance, a complicated table arrangement can make the aisles feel cramped and disorganized. Instead, opt for simple arrangements that enhance customer comfort. Inside the kitchen, only add the necessary shelves and choose the right equipment with just the essential accessories.
Effective Supervision
Restaurant managers and executive chefs handle a lot of tasks on a typical day. Therefore, your restaurant's design should make it easy for the supervisors to communicate with other staff and monitor the workflow. For instance, consider half walls between parts of the kitchen to increase vision or no partitions to enhance movement. Ultimately, an open type of design simplifies the work of your executive chef.
Easy Sanitation
Furnish your restaurant with enough handwashing stations and waste disposal areas. Additionally, set space for trash bins at every worktable to simplify cleaning activities. To make the disposal process easier, use casters as you can move trash bins around the preparation area.
Additionally, your contractor can help you design large and well-lighted restrooms that are easy to clean. Also, separate the female and male bathrooms and be mindful of sanitation concerns like trash disposal.
Efficient Use of Spaces
A well-designed restaurant maximizes efficiency and comfort. Keep in mind that the dining area is the heart of your establishment and should
take up about 60% of your total space. While you may desire to make as many sales per square foot as possible, consider customer experience and regulatory guidelines.
For instance, according to On the Line, the industry standard is to have at least 18 inches of space between chairs to facilitate customer movement. Also, you can sit in every chair in the restaurant to experience the comfort level and see if the chairs need more space.
The preparation, storage, and kitchen areas often
take up 40% of the remaining space. You can divide the kitchen into different working zones to prevent employees from bumping into each other. Ultimately, consider the needs of suppliers, customer entrances, kitchens, and employee movement in your restaurant design.
A well-crafted dining space delights your customers and simplifies operations in your establishment.
Contact us at Cochran Construction Company today to build the restaurant of your dreams.
