Choosing the right furniture for your new restaurant can be very time-consuming but also a lot of fun. It’s an opportunity to put your stamp on the establishment and set the mood for years to come. You’ll want to choose based on the theme of the restaurant and your own personality, but you might forget to take into account what really matters – your customers. When making your furniture checklist make sure you bear in mind the following:
Your customers need to be comfortable. This depends to some extent on what sort of establishment you run – whether you serve fast food or long meals. Diners need to sit in comfort for the duration of the meal. This means that your furniture should have the right amount of padding, offer a good seating position for eating from a table, be the right height from the table and adjustable to the correct distance. Sometimes people make the mistake of buying chunky pieces of furniture that don’t fit very well underneath the table so are difficult to pull closer.
The seating mustn’t be cramped – customers should be able to get up easily without having to squeeze in between furniture. This could upset their own party and also those nearby. It should also be light enough to be moved easily but sturdy enough to provide a seat for even the most robust diner. The materials should be carefully chosen to take into account the rest of your restaurant – for example if you have wooden floors avoid seating that will squeal when it’s moved! Small details like this influence people’s perception of your restaurant and can leave a bad impression even if they’re not sure why.
Your tables must be the right size, both to fit into your restaurant allowing for optimum use of the space, and also to give the customer a convenient dining experience. For example, if you’ve got a lot of corners you might want some circular tables to let people sit in them without being cramped. Smaller tables are perfect to cater for couples or those dining alone. One of the worst things for a diner is to have a table that’s too small for their plates and they have to shuffle things around. Even then they might worry about knocking something to the floor. If you serve large plates or large side orders, don’t buy very small tables where you’ll encounter this problem.
Another effect of the size of your restaurant furniture is the quality of service the customer receives. Large tables and chairs take up a lot of space and can mean that your waiting staff find it difficult to move between groups when serving. This makes service slower and can actually cause accidents if spaces become overcrowded. Be sure to measure all the furniture you buy or test it in situ to make sure there are no space concerns.
The colour and style of your furniture is totally up to you and gives your restaurant its unique atmosphere. If you remember the customer in all your decisions you’ll strike the right balance for your business.
Sylvia Kittens lives in Harrogate, England


