Restaurant Design Flaws

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by diane on November 18, 2007 at 2:03pm

Michael, nice post. As a consumer let me offer this possible unintended consequence...

If a restaurant doesn't provide adequate waiting room, people often spill outside to wait their turn. Maybe that restaurant is able to churn the people quickly, I don't know. But if I drive by my favorite breakfast place and see lots of people lingering outside waiting for a table, I assume the place is too crowded, the wait too long, so I just keep on driving.

They've just lost me and my whole family as we drive to the next place. But if the people were inside waiting, I would stop, and park, and we'd go inside and wouldn't mind waiting ten minutes or so as that's easier than getting back into the car and driving on to some other alternative. Customers retained...

Permalink Reply by Valerie Vittu on January 17, 2008 at 7:36pm

The main problem is that most designer don't know much about working in a restaurant (or any other retail) But there is a profitable solution: the entrance is a lounge or a bar with small tables and in the back is the restaurant room. By wanted to change every thing, and thinking they can re-invent the wheel, nothing rolls.... Just look at old restaurants set up in Europe. You have the bar and in the back is the restaurant room. So if it is crowded you can always start with a drink, or two...and you forget about the time waiting for your table. you simply having a great time with your friends, and the restaurant is turning full blast. everybody's happy....

Permalink Reply by Thomas Shackelford on January 30, 2008 at 9:20am

I understand peoples pain. I really do, but after working for the chain that I work for for the last 8 years I've found that people will still crowd in and clog it up no matter the design. We have a reasonably large wait area and a nice sized bar area for people to wait, but people still choose to wait right in front of the host stand awaiting thier name to be called instead of choosing one of these other alternatives.

We've made it kind of a bottle neck area by the host stand too to keep the flow moving but it doesn't always work. I think even if we add a few feet here and there to the wait areas then that will just bring in a few more people and still feel just as crowded.

It's often asked by the guests why we don't make our stores bigger and I really don't have a perfect answer for them. We're a very high volume concept and when the cold months hit, everyone moves inside and fills us up!

My answer is, go to the bar area. There is always more room in the bar if people just take the time to go check it out. Otherwise, choose a concept(like ours) that allows you to Call Ahead. Basicly allowing you to put your name on the wait list while you're still at home or on your way there. Then you only have to deal with the crowd for a much shorter time.

Permalink Reply by Stephani Robson on July 31, 2008 at 2:33pm

Understanding a bit of psychology will help you create an effective waiting area.

The reason people like to crowd around the host stand is because they want to ensure that they a) are treated fairly (first come, first served, or somesuch) and b) don't somehow miss being called when their table is ready. Many restaurants have moved to a pager-style device to notify guests when their turn comes, so many guests are happy to sit at the bar and buy drinks knowing that they are in the queue and can't miss their slot. Consider how your host function works and decide how you will set up your queue and inform guests of their turn. Having two hosts during most shifts is a good strategy here -- one can be managing the door while the other is seating guests, keeping tabs on the progress of tables, etc.

Another quirk of the human psyche is that we like to physically see progress when there's a queue, and see that this progress is orderly and fair. This is the basis behind those deli-counter number systems (not that I am advocating those for your restaurant, unless your concept lends itself to this level of informality). So the waiting area and the bar should allow guests to see what's happening with those functions, but maybe NOT see all the seating areas. Nothing gets guests hotter under the collar than to be waiting for a table and see unoccupied tables in the dining room. They may not understand the importance of balancing your server stations or staggering in-orders to keep your kitchen out of the weeds -- they'll just see an empty table and think "Why the heck aren't they seating me there? The service here stinks." So consider making the dining areas harder to see from the spaces where you make your guests wait.