Top Tips for Refurbishing your Bar

How we dine and the way we meet up with each other has changed dramatically in the last couple of years, which in turn, has had a knock-on effect for bars and restaurants. In a post-pandemic world, many of us still opt for eating at home and meeting friends in the comfort of our own home to wine and dining at local restaurants or meeting up for a bar crawl. 

So as the tables continue to turn in this ever-changing landscape, we consider some of the most recent hospitality trends and how, if you are refurbishing your bar or restaurant this year, we can help you reconfigure your layout, and give you plenty of restaurant interior design ideas, so that you can get the most out of your space, and your business.

Photo Credit: Bethanie Galloway and The Giddy / White Goose

Food for Thought

The most important thing to keep in mind when refurbishing your bar is to think about your customer. Would your customer prefer comfy seating so they can lounge around for hours on end, or would they prefer a ceiling mural and lots of ornate, vintage furniture? Certain types of customers attract different types of business, and the key to a successful bar or restaurant is to create a dining experience that tells a story, a story that your customer can follow every step of the way. Making sure the customer is comfortable, well-fed, and having an enjoyable time is what will keep them coming back for more, and the best restaurant designs are always tuned in to the customer. 

Photo Credit: Dirty Bottles Alnick

Make Ordering as Easy as Pie

One trend that seems to be sticking around is becoming a tech-savvy place to eat.  Giving your customers the opportunity to book a table, order a takeaway and order food to your table all under one app, will give your brand serious brownie points. App services that can show you a menu, book a table, offer delivery, curbside pickup and a tracking service is becoming a standard that all bars and restaurants want to uphold this year. Add daily or weekly offers and rewards into the mix, and you will give your brand serious brownie points.

Even if you can’t offer an app service, giving your customers flexibility to order to their table without waiting around for staff speaks volumes for your customer service. Apps, QR codes and even a well-oiled mobile website will help make this a possibility in 2022, and what better time to implement it than a total refurbishment or rebrand?

Photo Credit: Backyard Chicken Co

Oil Up Your Layout

Since the pandemic hit, many bars and restaurants were forced to offer a takeout only service, a development that continues to grow in popularity, and so you could consider a new layout if your brand offers takeout, pickup, and dine-in. If it does, you could reconfigure your layout to include more space for a waiting area. A spacious, comfortable section with soothing music for customers while they wait to pick up food, a nice atmosphere will tempt your customers to book a table and eat in next time.

Many bars and restaurants are opting for an open kitchen, following in the footsteps of our own home kitchens. Open kitchens mean that customers get to see their food being cooked. Teppanyaki and Hibachi style restaurants offer a different dining experience, so you could opt to slim down your seating and open your kitchen letting your guests enjoy the scenes, smells and sounds of your kitchen.

If you have space outside your bar or restaurant, you could add in a drive thru service, or create a more indoor/outdoor feel, which will increase your popularity during the warmer season.

Get Into the Spirit of Rooftop Refreshments

If you don’t have much outdoor space to play with, you could consider a rooftop bar. Make it indoor and outdoor, with patio heaters in the blankets for chillier evenings. A rooftop bar is great if your commercial space is in a big city with no outside space. Decorate your bar with plenty of plants, booth seating, fairy lights and lanterns to make it a super cosy space. 

Your outdoor space should still represent your indoor décor, but you could use alternatives like glass, woods, and stone, if you wanted to go for a concrete jungle vibe, rather than a botanical effect. 

You Are What You Eat

Your brand needs to speak to your customers, so if they enjoy evening drinks after work on rooftop bars, then a swanky, contemporary scene would be best, with a range of cocktails on the menu and an uber-cool atmosphere that customers can relax in after a hard day’s work. 

Food is perhaps the hardest but most important thing to think about when deciding on the brand of your bar or restaurant. If you are a café located in a small town, and pride yourselves on hearty homemade grub, then perhaps shabby chic or rustic vintage pieces would work best. Your drinks menu should also reflect your brand, a Michelin star restaurant would be serving fancy champagne, whereas a wholesome English pub would specialise in craft beers.

Sustainability

Another top trend which should be taken into consideration is sustainability. Eco-friendly and plant-based restaurants and cafes want their ethos to be instilled in not just the food but in the décor too, so faux leather and reclaimed woods are a perfect choice. Our Eco-Friendly Chairs are stackable and the backs and seats are made from 100% recycled plastic waste, a great option for eco-friendly companies that are in need of some outdoor space. With many of our dining tables made from reclaimed woods, we have an array of tables that are suitable for bars and restaurants, just have a look at our restaurant seating section.

As an ever-growing topic of conversation, sustainability is having a huge impact on the way our businesses work – so if you can make more eco-friendly choices, you are not only appealing to a wider audience, but you are also doing your bit for the planet.

Whether you go for a full rebrand or are simply updating some tired old furniture, your space and décor should help curate a brand that you are proud of and can continue to build on. And as the way we wine and dine changes, remember that your brand should represent you and your customers for many years to come.

If you need help to find the best furniture to suit your business, give our friendly sales team a call or have a browse at our restaurant and bar section on our website for some inspiration.