jack
Interiors can play a key role in the success of any hospitality business. This is why most bar and restaurant owners give a great deal of thought and consideration to the interior decor and furniture they choose.
Yet, if your venue has outdoor spaces, it’s just as important to consider the type of outdoor furniture you select for your customers.
How To Choose the Best Outdoor Furniture for Your Bar or Restaurant
If you want the carefully curated atmosphere and vibe of your bar or restaurant to extend to your outdoor spaces, here are some tips for choosing the best outdoor chairs, tables and accessories.
1. Review The Interior Style
For a seamless dining or drinking experience, the ideal is to choose outdoor furniture that matches, or at least complements, the look you have chosen for the interior of your venue.
For example, if your bar or restaurant has a shabby chic vibe, it’s important to continue this theme in your choice of outdoor tables and chairs.
Alternatively, if your premises have been designed to incorporate a dark, atmospheric style, it would be appropriate to continue this approach in the outdoor spaces.
While it’s important to ensure there is continuity in the style of both your indoor and outdoor spaces, there’s some room for variation to allow for the differences in ambiance and lighting.
For instance, outdoor areas will likely benefit from more natural light, so this could be incorporated into the design of your external spaces.
Equally, lighting will be required if you use your outdoor areas at night, and this is another opportunity to introduce an outdoorsy twist on your theme – with festoon lights for example, as long as you continue the general design and style of your indoor areas.
2. Consider Practicalities
The tables and chairs in your outdoor spaces will obviously have to be suitable for the different challenges of eating and drinking outside.
All restaurant furniture has to be practical and fit for regular use and cleaning, yet outdoor spaces will naturally experience more conditions that need to be considered.
For example, how will your tables and chairs fare in all kinds of weather? Will they be damaged by excessive sunlight?
Are they easy to move around and rearrange, if your customers want to create their own social grouping?
While it’s ideal to match the style and design of outside furniture to the interior of your venue, the best choices will also be a good practical solution to the many demands of outdoor dining and drinking.
3. Consider Your Budget
As a business owner, you’re likely to have a budget for your outdoor furniture, so this is naturally going to be one of your most important considerations.
One important thing to remember when planning your budget for your outside tables and chairs is that they may need to be replaced more frequently than your interior furniture.
The rigours of weather and the nature of outdoor eating and drinking may result in more wear and tear than your tables and chairs inside.
So, when planning your budget for your new outdoor furniture, keep in mind that it may not be as simple as a one-off investment.
The advantage of this is that you’ll learn which types of outdoor tables and chairs work the best for your business and your customers.
Plus, there are some great options for outdoor furniture for bars and restaurants at all price points, so you’ll be able to choose some great-looking furniture for your venue, whatever the budget.
4. Do Some Field Research
One final tip for helping you make the best decision for your outdoor furniture is to spend some time in other venues to see how they do it.
By visiting other bars and restaurants, you’ll get a sense of what works well, and also what soon looks tired or weather-worn.
You may also get some inspiration for design styles or weather-proofing solutions that you would never have thought of.
Ideally, conduct your research in venues that are aiming at a similar target audience as your establishment.
And actually spend some time in their outdoor spaces, to see how much you enjoy the experience as a customer.
This kind of field research can be invaluable when it comes to deciding the best options for your own clientele.
Buying furniture for your bar or restaurant – whether indoor or outdoor – is a considerable investment, and so careful consideration at the planning stage can save you both time and money down the line.
These tips will help you weigh up the ideal aesthetic with the practical issues – a balancing act any hospitality business owner will know well.
