7 hospitality design considerations that impact your bottom line
If you’re a Hospitality Business Owner looking to design your new premises or refurbish your existing venue, now is the time to talk strategy.
Whether your project is small or large, your business offering traditional or niche, your design should be one that customers respond well to.
Before you start knocking down walls or buying top-notch equipment, there are 7 aspects of hospitality design you need to take into consideration to ensure a good return on investment.
Understand your customer
What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Have you conceptualised your menu inline with the type of restaurant, pub or bar you’re running? What is the demand in your local area for this type of business? What kind of aesthetic will your customers be attracted to? And most importantly, who are your customers?
Your business must cater to those likely to pay for your services. Keep your customer’s wants and needs at the forefront of your decision-making, and you’ll be headed on the right track to success.
Theme and philosophy
What makes your hospitality business stand apart from others in your area? Is it the impeccable service, culinary art, or a special dish? Perhaps your business will be known for its inviting or ground-breaking interior design.
Good service requires commitment to staff training, and your menu matters when it comes to hospitality design. Every hospitality business should be certain of its offering and consistent in the reputation it endeavours to create.
Ensure your customers know what they are getting every time they step into your venue.
Outline each space
Planning out a venue is like designing a house: there are several rooms to take into consideration, each with a different purpose and function.
Your kitchen should take up 30-40% of your total floor space, as your business’ success hinges on it.
Dedicate 40-60% of your space to indoor dining. You don’t want your customers feeling cramped or confined.
Employee facilities are also important so your workers have a dedicated area to rest on their break, and somewhere to securely store their belongings.
And if your alfresco area is in high demand, consider a folding wall to either separate or extend your indoor seating.
Continue planning your remaining rooms and spaces with the end result in mind, problem solving issues that are likely to arise as you go.
Create ease of flow for customers and service
The last thing customers want to experience while dining is chaos. Understanding how each space will be used minute-to-minute is integral to your return on investment.
Aim for all dining room staff and bar servers to travel in a set direction from their main post to prevent bottlenecks and cross traffic, because an established foot traffic pattern maintains productivity and increases ambiance.
Kitchen layout
When planning your kitchen, circle back to your menu. What dishes you plan to offer dictate what equipment you need in your kitchen.
Every part of the kitchen should be planned out for ultimate efficiency and hygiene. You will need to consider:
· Installing equipment that is essential to your service
· Food safety compliance
· Good ventilation
· Assembly line
· Fast preparation of quality meals
· Server collection
· Dishwashing and cleaning.
Don’t forget restrooms
Don’t withhold on providing your customers with sufficient bathroom facilities, as they may want to avoid your business in the future as a result.
For plumbing purposes, bathrooms should be near to the kitchen. Make sure the public restrooms have sufficient facilities (that means enough stalls in the ladies room). And staff-only bathrooms are useful for showing your staff you care about their comfort and wellbeing, too.
While you’ll need to keep your restrooms separate from your dining area, they should also be easily accessible and clearly signposted. Remember, nobody wants to sit right next to a public toilet, so consider dividers such as screens or indoor plants to create an illusion of distance between the table and bathroom.
Have a strategy
When drafting your floor plan, sit in every seat in your venue. This will help you to identify issues such as seats that face directly into the afternoon sun or stare into the kitchen.
Take the time to plan out every space, and remember each area has a function that should not be impeded upon. Test out each area as you nut out your design, and remember that your ultimate goal is to deliver comfort and satisfaction to the paying customer.
By using strategy to work out creative, rather than creative to work out strategy, you can avoid hospitality design pitfalls that tend to occur when superficial elements take precedence over practicality.
RAD STUDIO offers the expertise of an experienced builder who understands how design and construction collide to create well thought-out spaces that lead to ultimate customer satisfaction. Working with a talented designer with a construction background will save you the headache of putting out unexpected ‘spot fires’ that may arise onsite, and save you money in the process. Schedule a call with us today here.