Making the Most of Restaurant Seating

Maximize the efficiency of the commercial seating in your restaurant

Restaurant seating that is comfortable and functional is a major component of a successful restaurant. If customers are uncomfortable while dining, they may not come to your restaurant, regardless of how good the service is or how wonderful the food tastes.

The key to making the most of restaurant seating is to place the seats in a way that provides maximum privacy for guests while still allowing employees to care for the guests properly. Consider these suggestions when planning the seating:

1. Appeal to every customer by providing a varied selection of restaurant seating options.

2. Plan the layout of the dining area carefully.

3. Remember the young guests that visit your establishment.

4. Pay attention to cleanliness in the dining room.

 

Use multiple types of restaurant seating furniture to make every guest comfortable

There will be times when a guest is unable to sit in dining booths. This is the case with many people who are in wheelchairs or use walkers. While some restaurants simply have a person in a wheel chair roll up to the edge of a booth, this is uncomfortable for the patron and may cause a safety hazard if the wheelchair blocks a fire exit lane. Parents with young children may want to sit in restaurant booth seating to box their children in so the kids can't run off. A single person may enjoy sitting on a restaurant stool along a bar or counter where they can mingle with other single guests.
Try: CommercialFurnitureCenter.com has a varied selection of restaurant seating, including dining booths and chairs. This company gives quantity discounts. RestaurantFurnitureSupplier.com has restaurant seating booths, chairs and bar stools.

Maximize guest and employee flow with an effective restaurant seating floor plan

Placing restaurant seating takes planning. You can do this the hard way by placing tables and seating in the dining area and moving it around until you find a good setup or you can do it the easy way by creating a virtual dining room on a graphic arts program. If you use the program, you can move items around at the click of a mouse. Once you have the plan perfected, you can simply place the furniture in the dining room according to the floor chart.
Try: SmartDraw.com is a graphic design program that has a restaurant seating plan design tool. You can try the software for free before purchasing it. Draw Pro offers a reasonably priced restaurant seating chart program. This program is compatible with Microsoft Office, PowerPoint and Excel.

Help keep children safe by providing youth restaurant seating options

Providing youth restaurant seating options for patrons who visit your establishment with children is an ideal way to show that your business is family oriented. Many restaurants have only high chairs and booster seats, which means that parents with infants have to put the infant carrier on a chair, on the table or on a high chair flipped upside down. None of these options are safe. If you really want to appeal to families, order some infant carrier stands made to safely hold an infant carrier.
Try: FoodServiceWarehouse.com and InstaWares have numerous child seating options from various restaurant seating manufacturers. Both companies offer discounted prices on all items.

Encourage guests to come again by providing clean restaurant furniture throughout the restaurant

Nobody likes to eat at a restaurant that looks dirty. By keeping all of your restaurant seating furniture clean, you show guests that they can enjoy their meal knowing that they are in an establishment that keeps the entire restaurant clean.
Try: Mission Restaurant Supply has food surface sanitizer in tablet form. ReStockIt.com has powder food surface sanitizer for sale. This company offers bulk powder and cases of individual packets of sanitizer.

 

• Keep in mind that you may have to move restaurant seating around to accommodate a large party.

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