To be sure that your restaurant, café, or bar is welcoming to customers instead of driving them away, consider the tips below to make your front of house areas and street-facing facades unmissable. With one of these tips, you will make sure that your dining area always stays busy.
Use Colors Effectively
If your restaurant is located in a small space, or perhaps in
a place that doesn't offer a lot of natural light, consider using light-colored
paint schemes in your front of house. For instance, use white, cream, and soft
pastels. It will help make a small space feel larger than it is. It will likewise prevent
a little front of house from looking cramped, poorly lit, or unattractive from the
distance.
Don't forget the balance of the colors you use is
important too. Too much of one color can make your exterior or interiors
boring to look at. So break up wide stretches of color with a few colorful
highlights or flashes.
You don't have to do that around the walls themselves. Instead, it can be as simple as adding brightly colored flowers or decorative soft furnishings for your front of house, like the style shown here.
Additionally, for those who have extra space to experience with, you have a wider selection of colors to test out. In addition, in a larger space bolder colors won't negatively modify the atmosphere of your diner. Actually, you can even create themed areas by combining different colors and furniture in various areas.
Remember, however, the intensity of some colors
can affect the atmosphere you need to evoke in your front of house. For instance,
bright, vibrant reds and yellows convey a feeling of urgency. Junk food
restaurants commonly use these colors.
On the other hand, shades of blues and purples could be
off-putting to some restaurant's customers. Actually, these shades have been shown
to decrease appetites.
Convey Comfort and Relaxation
We've all sat down somewhere that did not look particularly comfortable on first glance, but then found ourselves sinking into plush, luxurious comfort that we never desired to leave.
Creating areas that offer this feeling of comfort and exclusivity is a brilliant way to ask people to your business to sit down for a while. A good way to do this is to create dining nooks or private booth areas throughout your front of house.
As a matter of fact, you don't have to build
individual booths. Instead, you may create the same feeling of privacy and
seclusion by using fabric walls. Other ideas are to create small shelters or
to offer a spread of picnic benches or patio furniture inside your front of
house. However, be sure to provide ample distance in between each station. Within this
way, customers won't seem like they're on top of each other.
If you aren't sure what furniture works best together with your front of house, create a rough sketch layout of the available outdoor and indoor space. Begin by using a blank grid so that you can write down measurements approximately to scale. Then locate your nearest showroom for hospitality furniture and equipment and take a wander at your leisure.
This a terrific way to obtain a sense of the climate certain materials and merchandise can bring to your restaurant's front of house. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to check out possible furniture and see what it offers in quality, comfort, and functionality.
Consider the Season
A large number of keeping the dining areas busy would be to
make sure that you cater to the present climate. No customer really wants to enter a
place that appears warm and cozy on the hot summer's day. Likewise, they probably wouldn't
frequent an frozen treats bar within the depths of winter.
Additionally, in case your front of house includes outdoor areas, make certain these areas have shelter available. For instance, provide an awning over a terrace that may be retracted on pleasant days but offer protection if needed from the sun or the rain.
However, in case your front of house only has indoor space, attempt to add extra air conditioning or cooling facilities for that peak of summer. This is inviting to individuals who wish to escape the sun and spend time somewhere cool having a refreshing drink.
Spruce Your Front of House to Invite More Customers In
Creating a unique space in your front of house is key
to attracting customers into your dining establishment. This is correct whether
you're advertising online or trying to attract business from passing footfall.
However, do not get distracted by trying to create something different without taking into consideration the bigger picture of functionality and comfort. When you nail the fundamentals of making an attractive, welcoming space, you will be liberated to add decorations and unique characteristics for your front of house that will set you apart from neighboring hospitality businesses.
