Wednesday, July 14, 2010

6 Common Dining Room Floor Plan Mistakes



Did you know that people sitting at a good table will purchase 15% more than people sitting at a bad table.

People sitting in a booth will buy more than people sitting at any other type of table.

Stephani Robson is a Ph.D. and an expert in consumer seating behavior. She's also the author of Seating Charts That Work (6 Common Dining Room Floor Plan Mistakes and How to Avoid Them) that appears in the July 2010 issue of Restaurant Startup & Growth.

Dining Room Mistake No. 1. Having the Wrong Table Mix.
Many restaurants have too many tables for four ("four-tops) because it allows you to seat parties of one, two, three or four at any of these tables. If your restaurant is quiet, it doesn't matter. In a busy restaurant, you are wasting 50% of your space when you seat a party of two at a table for four. Analyze your restaurant statistics. What proportion of your guests are deuces? Do you need more tables for your parties of two? If you have too many deuces, you can easily combine two of these tables and make it suitable for a party of four. You can't divide a table designed for four people in half.

Dining Room Mistake No. 2. Putting Your Two-Tops in the Wrong Place.
In almost every case, guests strongly prefer to sit with at least one side of their table "anchored" by walls or other impermeable structures, especially when they are in a party of two. So put your deuces along walls or partitions, next to some kind of design element that helps your guests define their personal space.

A bad idea is to place deuces down the center of the dining room.

Dining Room Mistake No. 3. Ignoring Breezes and Blasts.
A cold, wind-blown guest is a miserable guest. It is not going to help your guests stay longer and buy more.

Dining Room Mistake No. 4. Forcing Guests to See What They Don't Want to See.
Guests want to see four things when they dine at your restaurant: What's on the table in front of them, the people they are dining with, the view (if you have one), and at least some of the rest of the dining room. People feel more comfortable when they have some idea of what is happening in the space around them, so don't make booth backs too high. Guests don't want to see things like wait stations, restroom doors and storage areas.

Dining Room Mistake No. 5. Keeping Staff From Seeing What They Need To See.
Great servers always know what needs to be done on their tables. Having partitions, high walls, and odd configurations make it more difficult for a server to properly serve their tables.

Dining Room Mistake No. 6. Hobbling Your Staff With Bad Service Area Design.
In many restaurants, service areas aren't so much designed as plopped into the dining room almost as an afterthought. Staff may have to walk too far to get an extra fork or refill water or coffee. Put your service areas no father than 25 feet from any table. As a rule of thumb, no table should be more than 60 feet from the food pickup area.

1 comment:

  1. Great post. I'm opening a coffee shop in Durango, CO and this made me think. With limited space, I also am taking into consideration the space per table. My step father is an architect, he recommended 4 - 6 feet. Anyway, thanks!

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