Designing a Restaurant | How-to Guides for running your business from Business.com

Restaurant design should be more than just bits of décor positioned haphazardly on the wall. It should communicate your message and reinforce your brand at all times. From the lobby to the restrooms, your company’s personality should be apparent in every design element within your restaurant. Successful restaurant design is:

Purposeful
Conceptualized
Consistent with your branding

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Develop your concept

A well-defined concept will determine whether an establishment becomes an award-winning restaurant and or another face in the crowd. A well-designed restaurant concept has the potential for longevity and expansion. By dominating the market niche that your restaurant occupies, you can guarantee that you’ll consistently be on the tips of guests’ tongues.

I recommend: Positioning your restaurant. Don’t be the best at something, be the only one doing what you’re doing. Read Quantified Marketing Group’s Restaurant Positioning article at to help you fill in the blank for this sentence: My restaurant is the only one that _____.

Functionality

When designing a restaurant, functionality should be at the forefront of the conceptual design process. A carefully thought-out floor plan will maximize efficiency among staff and enhance a guest’s overall experience. Budget, timeline and securing building permits are other technical issues that should be considered before the restaurant design process begins.

I recommend: Entering the restaurant design process with a deliberate agenda. Read Quantified Marketing Group’s article, Restaurant Design Process.

Each stage of the restaurant designer’s process is intended to move you toward the ultimate goal of producing an efficient restaurant floor plan, an attractive atmosphere and an overall well-executed concept that resonates in the minds of guests long after they pay the bill.

Identify your restaurant’s personality

The typical upscale steakhouse usually isn’t described as “fun and irreverent.” It’s important to define your restaurant’s positioning and personality appropriately. Once you identify specific characteristics that define your restaurant’s personality, it should guide your design.

I recommend: Identifying your restaurant’s personality and using those words to brand your concept. Read Quantified Marketing Group’s article on Restaurant Branding.

Establish your creative platform

A creative platform is about more than your restaurant’s exterior and interior design. It includes all creative elements attached to your restaurant, including the logo, color scheme and typography. Menus, napkins and to-go materials must all be cohesive and match the overall creative platform and design of your restaurant. Seize every opportunity to communicate your restaurant’s personality and message to guests.

I recommend: Learning more about how other elements, including uniforms and menu design, can be a consistent part of your creative platform and can contribute to the experience your restaurant offers to guests. Quantified Marketing Group has helpful articles on Menu Design and Restaurant Uniforms.

Build branding into your restaurant design

Your restaurant’s brand is not only your promise to guests, but also to employees, the media and the restaurant industry as a whole. Your brand should be consistently reinforced through your menu, service, public relations campaign and design.

I recommend: Building your marketing into your restaurant design. Quantified Marketing Group’s article on Building the Marketing into your Restaurant Design will explain how this can be accomplished.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

Many restaurants use booths as part of their seating. Over time, booths can become outdated and often face brutal wear and tear. Changing the upholstery or finishes on booths or chairs is a quick way to revitalize the visual appeal of your restaurant.
Use restaurant uniforms as part of your creative platform. When designed with branding in mind, restaurant uniforms should blend seamlessly with a particular atmosphere and look out of place in any other restaurant.
Think of the formula “People + Product = Profit.” By engaging employees in shift meetings and keeping them focused on success, you’ll create a foundation for a winning restaurant concept.

The official source of Designing a Restaurant is the Restaurant Wall Decor page at Business.com

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