Dec
03
A Key To Restaurant and Bar Success: Balance The Look and Functionality Evenly
Byby Richard Saporito
Recently, I performed a restaurant service consulting job for an interesting restaurant/bar/lounge operation here in NYC. The design was unique and artistic from every standpoint ranging from the wooded exterior to the inside walls to the bar, tables and lounged seating. It was a small operation though quite busy–and I mean wall to wall people between Thursday and Sunday nights.
From the outside walk-by and drive-by view, it made one want to get inside and have a great time drinking and dining. But once inside, the lack of functionality took hold and detracted from the total experience. Since the designer had no previous restaurant experience, he could not foresee the many restaurant service problems that would arise when the staff tried to create the products and get them delivered to the customer.
When I first entered the operation, I quickly noticed that the kitchen exit to the dining room floor, the service bar and the POS system were all within 3 feet of each other making for an annoying bottle neck. This traffic flow obstruction basically poured a substantial amount of service reputation and easy revenue down the drain.
How? Food was getting backed up in the kitchen because waitstaff could not get to the kitchen slide area. Waitstaff could not get through to the POS system to place orders. Waitstaff could not easily pass to and from the service bar to deliver drinks to the customers. The restaurant service was slowed down immeasurably to the point where I had to be called in to help remedy the situation. My conclusion? No matter how much waiter training, there would still be restaurant service problems because of this bottleneck.
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What was missing in the restaurant design? An even balance between the look and functionality of the business. The Restaurant/Bar business is one half an art form (look) and one-half a business form (functionality). One concept can rarely override the other concept for a successful operation. Someone with a design degree who has restaurant experience can help.
If you are going to have a restaurant or bar designed and constructed, make sure that your designer has previous restaurant experience. If not, get someone who has previous restaurant experience to work alongside your restaurant designer or you may have to fiercely back peddle. In the meantime, restaurant service reputation and sales are seriously hurt, and you can be put out of business if the road has already closed behind you.
About the Author:
Richard Saporito is the Founder of Topserve Restaurant Consulting, author of “How To Improve Dining Room Service.” If you’d like to improve your restaurants’ reputation and increase sales, contact Richard today for a Free Initial Restaurant Consultation by calling (888) 276-4808 or visiting his Contact Page.
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You have a very valid point, in the way that often, inexperienced managers or proprietors often think about aesthetics before practicability. I have grown up in restaurants and have seen firsthand how simple errors in design such as not enough space for dirty glasses can block other service routes thus creating bottlenecks and generating more problems.
So many restaurants and bars open up offering the latest concept and modern designs, but so many of them forget the essential key of hospitality, they forget the personnel aspect which is the life of any establishment, therefore they never last longer than a few years or even months.