Restaurant Transformation : A makeover for every season

Once your restaurant was ready, did your designer walk away leaving you to do the best you could for the changing seasons, or to bring more customers in?

From our experience of designing restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs, we know that small changes can have big impact! Consider the value of a quick makeover.

Restaurants that want to keep their brand fresh need to be constantly evolving. That’s why the big brands focus their resources on brand evolution and re-branding efforts. So how can smaller operators, those without similar resources, keep their brand exciting in the mind’s eye of their customers? Sometimes a simple, precise plan in the form of a restaurant makeover can go a long way in keeping a restaurant updated and inviting.

In the restaurant business, there is no status quo – there is a natural attrition that occurs with the customer base. If you are not growing, you’re dying. And to keep your business constantly growing, you need to be constantly changing and constantly adapting to be better than your competition.

When operating on a smaller scale with a limited budget and short time frame, your plans need to be executed quickly and efficiently, with the goal being improving end-customer satisfaction.  We identified three points that we felt were the most important objectives (end outcomes):

• Attract new customers
• Increase the cheque average
• Increase brand visibility
  
  

This brings us back to our original question – what do you need for a restaurant makeover? Well in essence, not much really. We advise our clients to make a list of objectives, a defined budget and a timeline. This helps in outlining the changes that need to be made to your restaurant.

Start with the small, easy to do things. Small things could be anything depending on your restaurant, such as decluttering server stations and the point of sale area and anything else visible to customers.

The best way to spruce up a look is with a new paint job – as we did, whilst dressing up the restaurant  ‘Under The Neem’ at the Karma Chalets. We chose a deep, but vibrant grey-brown with tints of copper to act as the backdrop for the ‘Solarium’. A quick paint job for some table bases and upholstery change on a few dining chairs meant we continued to embrace our theme – ‘to bring the outside, in’. A few new table centres and some greenery will give the dining area a fresh and warm feel.

Additionally, have a look at the front of house furniture layout and determine whether this layout is best suited to achieve your restaurant’s objectives. Move things around!

Lighting has started playing an increasingly pivotal role in ambience creation. Be it a romantic setting or an executives dinner, the lighting chosen should enhance the ‘feel’ of the meal. A single large bespoke piece that catches everyone’s eye as they enter the restaurant will allow you to have a recognizable design element in your dining area and could double as a photo op. If you don’t like going big when it comes to lights, you can go understated and dispersed as well, just make sure to remember that the lighting will evoke the emotion in your space.

Retrofit automation using existing switchboards for mood lighting is also possible today.

Let’s not forget, this being a restaurant, what’s paramount is the quality of food coming out of the kitchen. And this is where the theme needs to come full circle. The name has to reflect the menu and the menu has to reflect the interiors. Make sure to get a graphic designer on board to determine a new design direction for your menu and to better style your improved offerings as well.

Remember that in today’s market, anything that has been captured will be shared. And the overall sensation you should strive toward should be one of temptation. Your customer should be lured by the food and enamoured by the design. The food should keep bringing them back, but the ambience and entire experience should keep them enamoured and hankering to return!

Are you an engaged owner? If you would like to send us images of your restaurant makeover for a festival, a party or any event, we would be happy to share it on our website!