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The seats of your restaurant will be one of the most important touchpoints of your business during your customer dining experience. Many people of different ages, heights and weights will sit on the chairs every day. At a first glance, it may seem not so important but the right choice has a direct impact on your revenue. That’s why you should consider the following points when looking for the ideal chair:
Environmental Branding
If you checked our previous post about environmental branding, you know how important it is to communicate the same message throughout all the touchpoints of your business. Your interior space tells the story of your brand and any item should be dismissed.
What does your brand stand for? Is your brand fun, elegant, classic, natural, or sustainable…? Your furniture should communicate that.
A brainstorming session is a great exercise to discover how to translate a brand identity into furniture characteristics. Let’s use as an example a brand that is fun. A fun brand personality could be translated into vibrant colours, unexpected shapes, unusual material and much more.
Average Check and Time
The chosen seating can dictate how long your customer will stay and consequently how much they will spend. That’s why a one-size-fits-all or generic approach doesn’t work. A fast-food chain doesn’t have the same average check as a 5-star Michelin restaurant and this needs to be also reflected on the seats.
While comfortable seats stimulate patrons to stay longer and consume more, less comfortable options signal people to shorten their stay and give space for new customers.
When looking for comfortable options you should go after upholstered chairs with backrests and armrests. This is not a rule but for sure it will make the stay of your patrons more pleasant. On the opposite hand, harder finishings and chairs without backrests are indicated when you want your patrons to leave faster.
Material and Maintenance
When looking for the right chair for your restaurant you are going to find an infinite amount of materials and finishing options. To make a smarter decision about the material you should ask yourself the following questions?
Is the dining area indoor or outdoor?
It’s very important to consider the location of the dining area of your restaurant. There is a large range of weather-resistant materials that you can choose from. Even indoor areas with direct exposure to sunlight should be furnished with such options.
How easy it is to clean?
Think about your menu. Is it full of sauces and foods that stain? You can either avoid upholstered chairs or treat the fabric so it’s water-resistant.
How often are the chairs going to be moved?
Will your restaurant likely be visited by large groups? Does your staff need to move the furniture daily? (For the outdoor area as an example) You should consider lighter furniture options to make it easier to connect tables and create different dining settings. On the opposite side, if you don’t want the layout to be changed, heavier options should do the work.
Is the restaurant pet friendly?
Dogs and cats tend to scratch furniture so when allowing pets in your venue you should be sure that your furniture will resist the tension.
What are the fire regulations in your country?
Every country has its fire regulations and you should be well informed about them when choosing your furniture.
Budget
The furniture of your restaurant is an investment and you should always look for quality instead of cheap prices.
When planning the allocated budget for the chairs you need to keep in mind the whole lifecycle of the product. Every material has different needs of maintenance and you should consider this cost and frequency of it. A low initial investment many times means a higher cost with maintenance and also more often replacements.
To guarantee the high quality of your seats you should also look for commercial furniture instead of residential ones as they have to pass several tests to be able to handle higher traffic of people.
