Commercial Seating

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Restaurant Table Design: Square Peg in a Round Hole?

You wouldn’t think that something as basic as a table top could make such a difference in atmosphere and ambiance, but that’s a reality for restaurant tables. Have you wrestled with the question of whether to select round, square, or rectangular?

Luckily, your selection of a vendor with a range of versatile products can help solve your dilemma.

Square table tops mean that you will be restricted to seating four for standard height and two for pub height. Round tops mean that you may be able to seat five at standard height and three for pub. Yes—maybe a bit of a squeeze depending on the diameter, but it does allow for a little flexibility for odd-numbered parties. Round tables also tend to add to a cozier, more intimate feel in dining rooms. Rectangular tops are must-haves for banquettes and booths, but also are good choices for venues catering to couples who like side-by-side seating. If your space and traffic patterns permit, mix them all together for an electric look and feel.

Consider, too, if you have the space to cater to larger parties, which means you’ll want to reduce the number of round tabletops in favor of squares and rectangles that you can group together.

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Restaurant Tables Design: Invest in Comfort

Successful restaurants depend on much more than their menu. Comfort is way up there in the rankings. A five-star dinner may be deemed only two if the chair and table are a source of discomfort and annoyance to the diner. In fact, few things are more annoying to diners than tables that wobble, tilt, or have a base that compromises leg room.
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New Trends in Restaurant Furniture Design: Be Ready for Big Events

More and more, space permitting, local restaurants are making their premises available for weddings and other large-group events. With today’s tough economic times, restaurateurs are smart to take advantage of the trend away from large weddings and other celebrations to smaller, more intimate affairs. If your restaurant has that possibility, is your restaurant furniture appropriate and up to the task?
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Restaurant Chairs Design: Tips on Trends

Following trends of the day is a fine route to take when it comes to restaurant design, but unless you’re made of big bucks, you need to be able to transcend trends—work with them so that they work for you and stay vibrant and exciting once that trend begins to pass.

A good restaurant furniture vendor has seen trends come and go, and offers chair, table, and bar stool styles that work now and into the future. And, based on their expertise and experience, they can provide excellent guidance on mixing styles, fabrics, finishes, and materials to the best effect. So be sure to survey the field and see what competing vendors can bring to the table.

As you plan your new venue or are redesigning, keep a close eye on consumer behavior for the clientele group(s) you plan to serve, retail trends, your competition, and your geographic location. Your observations can help you make furniture choices that work now and into the future.

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Restaurant Furniture Design: Fusion Furnishing

swivel barstoolWhat’s your look? Traditional? Contemporary? Fusion? The options for restaurant chairs, stools, and tables are all over the map—from wood to metal to plastics, from plain to fancy and in between.

The fusion idea is a fun way to approach an innovative décor. Eclecticism has been in vogue for a long time. That mix-and-match idea allows for a lot of creativity in restaurant furnishings. As with fusion cooking—which melds flavors and textures from different cultures and parts of the world—a fusion approach means you can mix metal chairs with wood tables, traditional bar stools in a space-age bar, outdoor chairs used indoors, and so on.

Use your imagination. Let your restaurant furniture reflect your menu or contrast with it. Use colored wood or a plain finish to enhance the textiles used elsewhere. Mix styles. Break the rules. Think outside the box. But never skimp on comfort and construction.

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Restaurant Furniture Layout: Avoid the Clobber Effect

ladder back wood chairEver eat at a restaurant where every time someone wanted to get to a nearby table or leave the place, you had to interrupt your meal and get up or move your chair? Or you got clobbered in the head by someone’s shoulderbag or a waiter’s tray because there’s simply not enough space to navigate between tables?

Too many restaurants crowd their furniture for all the wrong reasons—poor space planning, too eager to fit in extra tables, bad traffic patterns, restaurant chairs and tables that are scaled all wrong for the space they occupy.

Planning or re-doing your restaurant dining area? Make sure you pay attention to a few very important details. Consider your traffic pattern. Not only do your customers need to get around, but also your bus staff and waitpersons. Sure, you’ve provided comfortable chairs, stools, and tables to fit the mood and your customer base, but now where do you put them? The more elegant the venue, the more space you may need to provide. Folks spending a lot on a meal are not as likely to put up with being jostled and interrupted all the time. Do you need to be flexible—like moving a few tables together to accommodate large parties? Keep that in mind, and make sure you select table bases that facilitate doing so, to avoid having people bang their legs into table legs.

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