How to choose the furniture for your Restaurant, Cafeteria or Bar

In today’s post we are going to give you some important tips so that you can find the perfect hospitality furniture for your business, so that it becomes a trendy place and, above all, lasts over time. Let’s start!The personality of a restaurant, café or bar is not only defined by the service it offers or the quality of its menu, as the decoration of the space and the furniture are two key elements. Choosing the furniture for a restaurant or bar is one of the most important tasks within the general decoration of the establishment.
In addition to being in tune with the public and with the decorative style you have determined, the furniture for the restaurant or bar must be comfortable and have good quality.

Through the furniture, you must recreate a pleasant, harmonious environment and above all, one that conveys your personality. The product, the service and the atmosphere will be the 3 fundamental pillars that will determine the success of your cafeteria or restaurant.

In short: product, service and environment are the pillars on which to create a successful restaurant.

How to choose furniture for the Hospitality Industry

What kind of hospitality business do you want to be?

Decorating and furnishing your establishment is a delicate project, in which you must take several factors into account, however, before choosing the furniture, you must decide what type of restaurant or cafeteria you want to recreate and the type of customer you want to address.

Choosing one type of furniture or another will depend on the type of premises you have. It is obvious that if you are looking to encourage your customers to have a beer or a drink, a place with many chairs and stools around the bar or with high tables is perfect to recreate a relaxed and cozy atmosphere. On the other hand, a restaurant furnished with comfortable armchairs will encourage your customers to enjoy a longer lunch or dinner. If you are looking for a coffee or tea establishment with a more dynamic clientele, low tables and chairs are the most suitable type of hospitality furniture. One option is to characterize our restaurant according to the type of food we are going to serve. For this we must try to include the main attributes of the kitchen to transmit them without loss of information to our customers. In this way we will communicate to customers the features that really make the restaurant different and in turn we will better connect with them emotionally.

Let’s take a general example. If we have a family restaurant, where Italian food is served, we will have to play with the decoration and the typical furniture of the area. Select the typical elementary materials, if possible even autochthonous. Wooden and metal tables and chairs, stone decorative elements… As for colors, we would select primary and identifying tones of the area in question.

Define your target audience

Our target audience will be closely related to our type of establishment.

The target audience, in short, we could define it as the group of people who want and/or need what our business can offer them. For this reason, they will be more likely to come to our establishment. You should ask yourself questions such as, for example:

• Between what ages will my service be most in demand?
• What days and times will they frequent my facility?
• What is their purchasing power?

What we offer may appeal not just to one type of person, but to several. This is something we will have to analyze carefully. Once you have established your customer profiles, it will be easier to work on your project and choose the right restaurant and hospitality furniture.

Find your decorative style

To furnish your establishment, you must establish the decorative style that will predominate: classic, industrial, bistro, vintage, modern… Now we are going to see some examples of what type of furniture to choose according to the decorative style we are going to implement.

Industrial Style

Adding an “industrial” touch to our establishment is simple. So that you can enjoy an establishment in the purest New York style, it is enough to include in our space decorative elements and furniture with a rough and bohemian look (exposed brick walls, ceilings with pipes or wooden beams, large suspended iron lights, industrial furniture with a used effect, etc). Regarding industrial furniture for the hospitality industry, whether it is a restaurant, bar or cafeteria, it is recommended to choose materials such as wood, metal or a mixture of both materials. Furniture made from recycled pallet wood, poufs, chairs, stools and tables made of wood or iron. At present. the industrial style has been softening so that this type of furniture can fit in a multitude of spaces and decorative styles to give a“casual and characterful” touch.

Vintage Style

The Vintage or Retro style is one of the biggest decorative trends today, which is also often merged with other styles such as industrial, classic, bistro or Shabby Chic. To bring a vintage touch to our establishment, it will be enough to include furniture that imitates or evokes the taste or fashion of a bygone or antiquated time. We can include furniture that has designs typical of eras ranging from the 1920s to the 1980s. Vintage furniture for the hospitality industry adds sophistication to the decor. They make spaces more inviting because they have a special, exclusive appeal. They are objects with history, that transmit emotions and that have resisted the passage of time and fashions.

Contemporary Style

The concept of “modern furniture” or contemporary furniture includes all those pieces of furniture belonging to the current design trend. Therefore, it is complicated to define the type of furniture that fits into this concept because it is very broad. Currently, the eclectic style, or eclecticism, is a trend in decoration of spaces. It consists of mixing several elements of different styles in the same space, considering shapes, colors and designs to create a unitary and harmonious whole. Basically, in the modern style, you are looking for furniture that creates a fun and creative atmosphere that is both comfortable and looks casual at the same time. Vibrant colors, different coatings and attractive textures are often used, which when mixed together, create a unique and personalized touch.

Minimalist Style

It is a timeless furniture, with simple lines, neutral colors and without much ornamentation. Minimalist decoration evokes simplicity and is characterized by functionality, harmony of forms and the absence of unnecessary elements. It is balanced, elegant, sober and luminous.

Exotic Style

If our goal is to recreate an “exotic” style environment, we should look for furniture made of wood or natural fiberssuch as wicker, rattan or bamboo. Through a harmonious and elegant combination of natural raw materials, you will create a wonderful space.

Nordic Style

In Nordic decoration, wood is always present, as it is the characteristic element of this style. In addition, it is warm and provides a feeling of comfort. To recreate a Nordic style environment, you should include wooden furniture of different varieties and colors. Regarding the design of the furniture, straight and refined lines stand out, creating furniture that does not lose modernity with the passage of time. Simplicity in this style is a plus.

Parisian Style

The Parisian style cafeterias of the 40’s and 50’s are a trend nowadays. The star pieces to recreate this decorative style are the well-known Parisian chairs. Originally, these chairs are made of bamboo, with an interlacing of synthetic fibers in white, black, blue, red or beige colors that have a bohemian and romantic air.

Bohemian Style

The Bohemian style, known as Boho Chic, is characterized by including vibrant and very intense colors in its decoration, by using printed textiles and by combining different types of furniture. So that the result of all this mixture is not too overloaded or strident, it is usually bet on a neutral base on the walls. It is the decoration and furniture that bring color and life to the environment. Of course you should always be original and give it your personal touch.

Choose your color palette wisely

A good way to give personality to your business is to select a color palette for branding. Playing with a certain color palette is a great tool for customers to perceive your identity, so you must take care of even the smallest detail. Corporate colors can also be reflected in the furniture. For example, you can choose chairs or sofas upholstered in your company’s corporate colors. If it seems a bit risky you can play with textiles, including for example, cushions with the corporate colors of your business. Also remember that the colors that stand out in the decoration of your restaurant is a very important factor and should not be chosen lightly.

According to several studies it has been proven that color has a very important influence on the purchase decision and the increase of sales.

Keep in mind the“Psychology of Color” and apply it also to the furniture of your restaurant or hotel.

Remember that Fashions are Passengers

Playing with trendy decor and furnishings to add a touch of modernity and style can be a great idea. However, don’t get too caught up in fads or what everyone else is doing because“it’s the in thing now“. Look for your brand identity, your own style through a design and quality furniture that stands out from the rest. Fashions are fleeting, but the furniture and decoration of your business will be present for a longer period of time.

Differentiating your business from the rest is essential to succeed in a saturated world with brutal competition.

In addition, by differentiating yourself from others, it will be more difficult for your store to fall into oblivion by clinging too much to ephemeral fashions.

Stick to a budget without losing quality and comfort

It is important, before getting involved in your interior design project, to stick to a more or less limited budget. As in everything, you must establish priorities and think about what is more important, and what is not so important. If we have a limited budget, we must prioritize comfort and quality. Although it is obvious, if we are looking for the most economical furniture for the hospitality industry, we will probably give up these important factors. As experts in corporate furniture, we know that it is always preferable to forgo certain visual aspects of the decoration and look for affordable alternatives so that our furniture is of good quality and comfortable.

Hospitality furniture needs to be comfortable and inviting for your customers to enjoy a refreshment, a coffee and to come back another day.

There is no point in choosing very modern and eye-catching but uncomfortable and poor quality catering chairs. For customers, sitting for more than half an hour will be an ordeal and they will only be thinking about leaving.

Delimit the space adequately

The space of our establishment is another essential factor to take into account. We should not think that if we have a larger space we should occupy it all with tables. Remember that often “less is more”. It is better to have a spacious restaurant that is comfortable for customers and workers to move around in and do without a table or two. In addition, we must adjust the number of tables to the service we can offer. It is essential to ensure customer satisfaction and not try to take on more than we can handle. In short, with an original and comfortable decoration and furniture, a unique gastronomic offer and a quality service, you will become the trendy place to be. Remember that if you need help to carry out your interior design project, at Fiaka we have an excellent team of professionals who will study your needs and suggest the perfect solution that combines quality, aesthetics, practicality and price. We also have an extensive catalog of corporate furniture, in which we incorporate pieces from a wide range of decorative styles. We also give the customer the option to customize their furniture 100%, both functionally and aesthetically.