Planning for success?

Are you making the most of your space, or is the venue layout holding your business back? Nigel Witham offers some words of wisdom on how to go about designing an outlet’s layout

In previous columns, I have written about the strategic use of design, something I believe to be key in allowing professional designers such as myself to offer clients more than simple help with the decorations.

Through strategic use of design, we can in fact make a valuable contribution to a business’ success.

Some clients like to be ‘hands on’ during the design process, or even design their own restaurant layout and decor; some restaurateurs may be in the process of starting their first venture and perhaps cannot attract or afford an experienced designer; others meanwhile may be operating in those tricky regions where designers are few or far between, or even non-existant.

I hope these tips regarding space planning will help if you happen to be working in any of these circumstances.

Be space savvy

Good space planning is essential to success — and I do not mean squeezing in as many covers as possible.

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All trained designers have been taught that form should follow function. Put into practice, this means that although it is crucial for a restaurant to be attractive in appearance, it will soon lose its allure if service is slow or inefficient as a result of the ill thought-through layout.

For this reason, back-of-house planning is just as vital as front. Your dining room is your salesroom, your kitchen is your factory; everything should be geared towards running the two together as sweetly as possible so that food arrives to the right table, at the right time, at the right temperature, with minimum disturbance to other diners.

When planning the layout, it helps if you consider a restaurant as a production line, in which each stage of the operation is laid out in the correct efficient order.

I frequently come across big mistakes. I recently redesigned a large restaurant in the UK that had been planned and built — for an experienced operator by a big firm of architects — without a dry store or an office.

The order of space planning

I recommend starting planning at the back of house — remember, function followed by form.

The first piece of information required is a schedule of food service equipment to be used, including all cooking, preparation and cleaning and storage items.

If you are planning to appoint a designer then you should provide this schedule up-front, as part of the design brief. If you have not done this, then it should be the first thing you and your designer work on together after you have decided on your target market and menu.

Bear in mind that if you don’t consider the menu prior to designing the layout, you’ll probably have to start the whole process over once you work out the food offering.

It’s best to do it once and best to do it right, so here is my order for space planning a new restaurant:

- If possible, food deliveries should be made at the back and refuse collected from there as well. Accordingly, the dry, refuse and cold stores should be near the rear exit.

For the sake of good hygiene, the refuse store should be outside or between the preperation room and final rear exit, separated by a fire door and separate ventilation system.