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Restaurant Design
With the increase of restaurants and customers desire for something new; restaurant design has emerged, talented designers are developing their skills into restaurant design, and it has now become a specialised skill. What is restaurant design? Restaurant design is focused on a number of procedures that go in order, when this is followed the success of the restaurant’s space and image increases.

First procedure in restaurant design is known as “the concept” there is two types of concepts; there is the actual restaurant concept and the design concept. The restaurant concept can be integrated into the design concept.

Content

 * What is a restaurant concept
 * What is a design concept
 * Identity
 * Restaurant interior design
 * Restaurants areas to consider

What is a restaurant concept?
A restaurant concept is the proposal or idea that you have for an establishment; this includes:


 * your menu or cuisine
 * the type of restaurant
 * the type of service
 * expanding or just a unique establishment
 * the intended atmosphere or environment
 * target market

A restaurant type could fall into these categories, a restaurant concept or type does not have to be either or, it can be a mix of the types;


 * Fine dining
 * Casual dining
 * Fast food
 * Themed restaurants
 * Café
 * Chained establishments or stand alone
 * Eatertainment- (restaurant and night club or entertainment such as a comedy club or Jazz cafe)

The restaurant concept would also include:
 * Branding
 * Menu type
 * Target market
 * Fine Dining

Fine Dining
A fine dining establishment can is the experience and feel of the restaurant, it falls in these categories:


 * Attentive service
 * Sit down service
 * Top quality meals
 * Freshly prepared meals, or made to order ( a la minute)
 * Expensive prices
 * Expensive looking décor to match the ambience
 * Low lighting levels
 * Table linen on the tables
 * Comfortable chairs
 * In some cases, formal atmosphere
 * Long eating periods or time
 * An experience of pampered in some establishments

Casual Dining
Some casual dining establishment have a sit down service and the characteristics of a casual dining experience is the following


 * Good service
 * Sit down service ( in some cases not all)
 * Informal atmosphere
 * Medium prices
 * Non exclusive décor, but can be trendy and modern and to suit the overall identity of the establishment
 * Medium eating time

Fast food
A fast food establishment is for customers to eat get their orders promptly


 * Quick food service
 * Not everything will be freshly made; some items may be pre packaged to save preparation time and allow sending out orders to customers quickly.
 * Décor is made to match identity
 * chairs are not comfortable so that customers eat quickly and leave
 * Bright light levels to encourage customer to eat quickly and leave
 * Prices may be low
 * Require fast turn around

Themed restaurant
A themed restaurant is a restaurant that has a theme; customers are not going for the food but for the experience. The theme can be on anything that you wish to implement; you must make sure that you understand your target market before embarking on such a project. A theme restaurant may consist of
 * Any service that you wish to opt
 * A theme is primary shown through the décor and identity such as the logo, name staff uniform etc

There are many themed restaurants such as [|planet holly wood], [|rain forest café]. You can also theme a restaurant by replicating an era of time, like the cow boy times, or red Indians etc

Café
A café establishment service is predominately catered for a day market, although you do find many night cafes.
 * A café style service can be a sit down service or one that you order at a display counter
 * The service is generally quicker then the a normal restaurant
 * Not much cooking would be made on the premises, rather sandwiches, cakes, coffees etc
 * casual decor to match the identity, some cafes have outside seating
 * The atmosphere is very casual and laid back
 * Quality of the food can be very good or just normal
 * Primary a place to have a small meal or coffee

Chained establishments or stand alone
You may want to brand your establishment and have many of the same restaurants, duplicating its décor, service, style, name, every aspect and locate it in many other areas. Or you may want to design unique stand alone establishments with different concepts, name and image.

Eatertainment
An eatertainment has the similar principles as the themed restaurant; an eatertianment is a restaurant with entertainment added, such as a night club, comedy club, jazz café and many other forms of entertainment activities.

Type of service for eating establishments
The type of service could fall into these categories


 * Table service
 * Buffet
 * Self service
 * At the counter service
 * Giving a table number and ordering at a POS system by a counter, servers then bring the order to the table.

Developing your concept can be an ongoing process; it can keep evolving even up to when you are open and during.

Design concept
The design concept is the design idea and message that you may want to portray in the project. For example you may want a theme that is not related to your cuisine, you could opt for a Japanese or fusion cuisine type but the main focal point of your establishment is the view or the grand décor that resembles the 1920s opera houses.

Identity
The establishment’s identity is what will set it apart from remaining establishments within its vicinity as well as having the opportunity to brand and establishment its name within a broader region. The identity may be influenced by your concept. The identity is the restaurants unique characteristics that will make it stand out from the rest; it is the identity that will enable your customers to recognise your establishment. The establishment’s identity is portrayed from the logo, name, colour schemes, menus, website, staff uniform and any other publishing material that a restaurant decides to produce. The identity also forms your customer’s perception of your restaurant.

The restaurant interior design
The important issues of designing the interior of the restaurant are the following;
 * Exterior& Entrance
 * Space planning
 * Kitchen design
 * Ambience design

The Exterior and Entrance
The front signage and image of your shop front needs to sell as well making it clear what the establishment is offering in terms of the experience, quality and service. It is the exterior that will encourage passer by traffic to want to enter your restaurant, this is way that it is important that the exterior is consistent with the establishment's identity.

The entrance of the establishment must be thought through when locating a position (if you have the option to locate a position) it must be obviously visible to the passer-by. Understanding what you want your customer’s experience and impression to be when entering your restaurant can determine what you will include in the entrance area of the restaurant. For example you could have them welcomed by a reception server or a maitre d’ or you may just lead them to a food counter or a bar area. Different layouts or design ideas create different kinds of impressions; When you have a member of staff welcoming you at an establishment, it gives the restaurant a sense of formalness, a sense that it could be an expensive establishment, a sense of importance to the customer, it may also give a sense of comfort, direction and ease especially if it is a large dining area.

Restaurant space planning
Restaurant space planning should consider the following essential key factors;
 * Profitability and feasibility
 * Flow
 * Efficiency
 * Circulation
 * Comfort for customers
 * Creating a specific ambience and atmosphere

Profitability and feasibility
When choosing a location you must consider the size and how much money and time you may need to invest into it; it is worth carrying out a site appraisal before going ahead with that premise, A site appraisal will also include analysing and foreseeing how many seats can potentially fit into the restaurant without losing customer comfort. When trying to analyse how many seats you can fit into the space or chosen area you must not forget that you must also allow for other areas of use to be placed; such as the kitchen area for a restaurant; the kitchen size is normally determined by your menu, the kitchen can take up to 30% of the actual dining area (unless you have a separate floor that you may want to locate the kitchen in) you must also allow for the toilets; again the size of the toilets will be determined by the number of seats you are going to have in the restaurant, you must consider storage, and what other elements that you may want to include in your restaurant; All these essentials influence one another. Analyzing the above basic fundamentals before hand in order to give you some kind of indication of turn over will be beneficial and avoid time consuming mistakes; you must ask yourself will it give you a return on your investment? Will it be profitable?

Flow
Creating flow in the restaurant means that you must ensure that you lead the traffic through the space without disturbing the movement and circulation of people using it. To get the most effective flow you must consider the following categories; staff, food, storage, customers, tableware and other utility functions; how will they interrelate with one another while using the space without disturbing each other and actually working well together. It is like driving when you are driving amongst other divers and the roads are designed to allow each driver (if they drive probably) to flow with one another.

Efficiency
Designing a layout so that it takes into consideration staff activity; ensuring their work load is eased so allowing them to work faster, and less stressed, this is the key to efficiency. Staffs have to deal with the busy and demanding environment; when the layout and procedure is not designed to their favour, productivity is then lost.The following activities are main concerns that staffs have to deal with therefore they must be taken on board when planning a layout:


 * Table access and being able to manoeuvre from table to table comfortably without disturbing customers.
 * Having service stations in large dining areas helps the staff with efficiency; the service stations must all have necessities such as condiments, cutlery, napkins etc. there will be occasions where cutlery will fall by accident either by the customer or the staff, spillage may occur, therefore having service stations located in convenient spots will be quick and easy access for the server to the necessary items.
 * The location where the food will be collected from is also a factor that you must look into when planning, it is important that it is positioned in a spot where it won’t take too long to take to the tables. If the kitchen is on a separate floor then perhaps you may have to look into some kind of a hoist system or dumb waiter.
 * You may also have to consider where to dispense the dirty dishes.
 * Point of sale systems in large dining areas may also be included to increase efficiency of the staff, or if you have the budget hand held systems are becoming very popular.

Circulation
Circulation in a restaurant is the area in the room that is required for movement of people from place to place; for example a circulation point would be the area by the kitchen for the staff, or the path to the toilets for the customers, the path to the bar, the entrance area, sometimes the aisles or corridor etc Estimating the overall numbers per day of customers expected will help you determine the amount covers that may be required. For example if you calculate roughly how many people you think will be circulating for during breakfast, lunch or dinner will help determine the amount of circulation space. You must plan for heavy traffic in some areas or congested areas, this is where there will be a numerous amount of people at the same time in that area such as around the bar of the venue or if you are a self service or buffet style restaurant the counter would be a high traffic area. Enough circulation space for these areas must be catered for.

Circulation Planning should ensure to aim for


 * The required facilities are in appropriate places
 * Movements are planned and controlled
 * Space, facilities and employees are used most effectively
 * Delay, crowding and congestion are controlled
 * Annoyance to other customers is minimised this applies in planning both customers needs and the production of food.

Comfort for customers
Regardless of what type of establishment, customers expect some degree of comfort and service while spending their time at your restaurant.

If it is fine dining restaurant then customers expect the highest level of service and food, they expect to be in an environment that accommodates them to feel relaxed and enjoy the dining experience with no troubles. It is the staff’s responsibility to provide this treatment while it is management’s responsibility to ensure that everyone is doing their part properly.

Issues that may make customer uncomfortable might be when
 * When servers come to collect the plates from the table they must ensure minimum interruption or discomfort as possible to the customers for example if there is a booth seating arrangement against a corner wall and the remaining 3 sides are also against the wall and occupied by customers, if the table is so large that the server has to lean right across the table to access the customer sitting right at the end, the server has no other means of getting to the other side, well this makes it very awkward and slow for the staff and disturbing for the customers trying to enjoy their meal. It is then important to think when deciding to put a large table.


 * Access for customers to the toilet or other areas of the restaurant must not be uncomfortable or awkward, one example might be of awkward would be for the toilets being right next to the kitchen in an downstairs area, tight stair case and staff having to run up and downstairs with things in their hands and at the same time the customer might be wanting to use the toilet.

Creating a specific ambience and atmosphere with layout
The important question that you must keep asking yourself is; how do you want the space to be used? What are you going to be serving? The concept has an impact on the layout of the restaurant aesthetically and practicality for example, with the layout you can create a grand theatrical effect, or a close cosy environment. By placing the tables and chairs in a formal manner can make the dining experience feel more formal. High ceilings help to create a grand theatrical feel. Booth seating create a sense of warmth and comfort as well as relaxed feeling, if placed against the wall can increase seating numbers. You can do a lot with space planning to create a certain ambience. The French Brassiere is a good example; people are tight up against each other, encouraging this in a brassiere contributes to creating that effect.

Kitchen Design
The restaurant kitchen is like a factory; the production of dishes, it is essential to have this designed and built correctly. The design will have an impact on the speed of production as well as the way everything can be managed. The kitchen size will depend on the number of meals served at peak times of the day. There is a basic procedure and order of events that takes place within the kitchen;

You must take into account before deciding upon a final kitchen design;
 * Goods in
 * Storage
 * Preparation
 * Cooking
 * Serving
 * Equipment cleaned and prepared for re-use.

Your type of operation and menu


 * This will influence decisions on the location and space requirements
 * This will determine the type of equipment
 * The type of production and serving
 * Storage space

Goods In

Method of Purchasing


 * This needs to be considered when designing for the loading and delivery area
 * How will the food arrive, in what type of containers
 * At what times
 * Frequency of deliveries
 * The extent of preparation on the actual restaurant premises
 * Storage space requirements

How much of the preparation will be done on site

Times of service

Preparation time required before serving breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Storage

The storage size will depend on your operation and size of your restaurant as well as how much of the preparation or cooking you will do on site. Having the storage laid out close to the delivery entrance will be much more convenient.

Things you must consider for storage space are


 * How many meals per day will be produced
 * Estimated frequency of delivery and reliability of deliveries
 * Reserve for emergencies
 * Purchasing arrangements, type of foods used, centralisation of storage and preparation

Preparation

The preparation area layout will depend on the menu and organisation. You can have separate preparing areas for each item such as fresh meat, fish and vegetables. If you are limited for space you can have one central preparation work top area or a hot and cold preparation area, you can also commission some items to a catering company for specialised foods such as bakery, pastry etc this then minimises preparation areas, storage and equipment as well as staff;

Garbage

Access for rubbish collection and storage is generally determined by your local council.


 * It should be covered from view
 * The enclosure to be secure against unauthorised entry and against scavenging animals.
 * A hose for cleaning

Ambience design
Ambience design is important for any environment or interior, but it is key for restaurant, bars and night clubs or any other form of entertainment venue. It may be worth checking this link out [|Studio D2] as it has more information on ambience design as well as useful books on restaurant design.Another useful book on restaurant design is [| Successful restaurant design] Ambience design is the key when it comes to restaurant design, it is here that makes restaurant design such a challenge and making it different from any other design. Ambience design is primary created by the interior texture and colours, lighting is key, music and of course the people.

The overall important areas that you must consider are:


 * Car Park
 * Entrance Area
 * Reception
 * Waiting Area
 * Cloak Room
 * storage
 * Merchandising
 * Bar Area
 * Lounge area
 * Chill out zone
 * Storage
 * Dining Area
 * Terrace Area/ Al fresco eating
 * Kids area
 * Private dining room
 * Banqueting rooms
 * Storage
 * Toilets Area
 * Male
 * Female
 * Entrance lobby
 * Storage
 * Kitchen Area
 * Storage
 * Staff accommodation
 * Access for goods
 * Disposal area
 * Preparation areas
 * Wash up area
 * Cooking area
 * Office