Skilled tennis star Andre Agassi used the catch phrase, “picture is all the things” when showing in tv spots for Canon.
The identical could be mentioned for sure investments made by restaurateurs, similar to upgrading a restaurant’s foyer space. Whereas it may be tough to gauge the return on funding, a foyer improve could be successfully carried out for a minimal price — and it might go a good distance towards additional bettering the restaurant’s model.
Foyer upgrades are typically made for 2 causes. The primary is to offer clients with a extra snug or attention-grabbing setting when they’re choosing up meals or ready for a desk. The second is to create a unique model, one that usually could resonate with a extra upscale clientele.
The worth of upgrading a restaurant’s foyer relies upon largely on buyer demographics, says Michelle Bushey, companion and artistic director of Vision360, an architectural and design agency in Dallas that makes a speciality of designing interiors for eating places internationally.
Within the final 12 to 18 months, because the nation’s recession has begun to take maintain, the restaurant trade has witnessed two vital traits: a cutting down of client eating habits, and extra emphasis for households on consuming meals collectively, Bushey claims. Consequently, the redesign of many foyer interiors has included a “quick, however informal” environment that features extra snug seating and a “lounge” setting.
For eating places with dine-in seating, Bushey recommends having a “to-go” space that targets takeout clients and permits them to obtain and pay for his or her orders in a extra environment friendly, well timed trend. That separate podium or designated “to go” space can assist reduce down on the variety of clients ready within the foyer space, lowering the necessity for extra seating.
Nonetheless, Bushey does suggest that dine-in eating places embody a minimum of 4 to 6 seats for patrons who’re ready for a desk or take-out order. For a lot of clients, the important thing could also be high quality over amount relating to such seating.
“It’s at all times going to be laborious to quantify the worth of a extra snug and alluring lounge space, however these eating places that incorporate snug seats or sofas relatively than laborious benches may even see a rise in buyer satisfaction for these clients who do have to attend,” Bushey mentioned. “It may possibly make a wait appear not as lengthy.”
Vitello’s Italian Restaurant in Studio Metropolis, California, could not have a big foyer space, however possession has made a concerted effort to make the foyer an attraction in its personal proper. On the left-hand aspect of the foyer is a colourful wall plastered with almost 500 autographed movie star pictures. This wall invariably attracts a crowd, even within the midst of Los Angeles’ Hollywood space, says Vitello’s Supervisor Craig Warner.
On the correct aspect of the foyer is a powerful array of wine racks that maintain a whole bunch of bottles of wine and include details about a few of the restaurant’s distinctive picks. And when clients fi rst enter they’re greeted by a suspended, life-size wax determine of a “thinner” Marlon Brando that was bought at a neighborhood public sale a number of years in the past.
“We’re making an attempt to convey a Hollywood really feel to our restaurant and when clients fi rst stroll via our doorways they get the sensation that it is a place the place many stars have eaten through the years,” Warner mentioned.
Whereas Pronto Pizza within the New York Metropolis market could not have a “Hollywood” really feel to its foyer space, proprietor John Porcello did spend money on some structural and non-structural upgrades throughout the final two years to his Broadway location. These investments have given the pizzeria extra of an upscale really feel. Porcello feels that these upgrades make sense as a result of lots of his clients are higher class executives from a few of the best-known employers within the Large Apple. A lot of them cease in for a fast lunch, only a brief stroll from their Manhattan workplaces.
“It’s clearly essential to have a clear environment however we wished to offer our clients one thing completely different,” he says.
That “distinction” contains smoked mirrors, brass lighting and extra white gentle, new tile and brighter colours on the partitions. It additionally included some paintings of pizza and Italian meals. These foyer upgrades “weren’t too costly” in keeping with Porcello, however they did obtain their meant impression — eliminating sterile foyer seating and changing it with some heat.
As a part of the upgrades, Porcello additionally added a full-size glass window the place onlookers from the busy sidewalk can watch pizzas and different menu gadgets being made.
Better of all, Porcello says his Broadway location achieved increased gross sales of some share factors after the foyer upgrades had been accomplished in 2007. For him, the picture is certainly one of a extra upscale pizzeria that pulls clients of all demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
“It’s the little issues that make a distinction,” Porcello says. “We wished so as to add some class given the realm the place (that location) is.”
Displaying off a powerful lounge space can enhance buyer loyalty, one thing that Outdated City Pizza in downtown Portland, Oregon, can attest to. For over 20 years, the sit-down and take-out restaurant has given its clients a uniquely vintage or classic setting, one that’s emphasised in its foyer space with plush classic chairs, couches, espresso tables and paintings.
Since many staff at Outdated City Pizza are native artists and musicians, their work is usually displayed or publicized within the restaurant’s lounge. The complete restaurant additionally mimics this setting with authentic items of artwork and vintage chairs scattered all through the institution.
Such an environment, mixed with a menu comprised of natural meals produced from Oregon-grown merchandise, has made Outdated City Pizza a “should see” for native residents and out-of-town company. However the model of the restaurant is first emphasised from when the client enters the foyer mentioned Normal Supervisor Simon Carrillo.
“Prospects usually first come to see the environment within the restaurant, however finally they’ll come again for the meals,” he says.
The flooring in Outdated City’s Pizza foyer have been redone to incorporate darkish marble, whereas different areas of the restaurant are hardwood flooring. Common buyer surveys show that the restaurant’s setting is why nearly all of its clients desire to dine-in when doable. Such an setting can also be why the restaurant has been featured in a number of native and regional publications.
“We provide our clients one thing completely different and the way in which our foyer is organized has labored for us for a few years,” Carrillo mentioned. “We need to make coming to Outdated City greater than a meal, however an expertise they need to have once more.” ?
Mike Scott is a Michigan-based freelance author who covers quite a lot of business-related subjects.
