Restaurant Furniture Design: Avoid Bad Booths

Planning booths as part of your restaurant seating? Think comfort, think space, think square feet.

Use yourself as an example. You’ve probably sat in booths that weren’t exactly the height of comfort. Maybe some were overstuffed, making you feel like you are being pushed froward. Then there are the booths that have no space between the seat back and the table edge—no room to slide in, no room to breathe, crushed ribs feel like a certainty. Booths—usually the wood ones—whose seat backs are at ninety-degree angles to the seats are murder on backs. They seem designed to make people want to leave as soon as possible.

Don’t be a victim of poor booth design. And don’t make the mistake of squeezing into space that’s not sufficient. If your tables are attached to the walls or floor, there’s no way to remedy the situation of no breathing room. Make sure nothing gets nailed down until both booths and tables are physically in your restaurant. If you are ordering, make sure you have full measurements of the space in which the booths are to be placed, and don’t settle on a booth until you have the table selected (height, width, and length)–and vice versa.