Dining Areas

Did you know that inside a table support restaurant, customers spent up to 25 percent of their time just waiting? They wait to order, wait for the food to arrive, and so on. They do not feel comfortable if the space is too crowded, and they don't feel comfy if the space is as well empty. The question of how many seats can fit into a particular dining space defines, to a big extent, the experience a guest will have at the restaurant. The trend in main metropolitan areas seems to be to squeeze in just 1 or two more tables, even if this means the difference between convivial and catastrophic.

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New Yorkers, for instance, are accustomed to tiny apartments and crowded subways, so perhaps they tolerate the jostling and closeness much better than others. It's true that packing a restaurant with guests contributes to an overall air of excitement, which designers realize and sometimes exploit in their layouts. Possibly it is exciting...but is it safe? As long as we mentioned New York City, the fire codes here neither specify nor limit the number of seats based on total square footage. Instead, the codes require that restaurants maintain clear corridors, three feet wide, leading to fire exits. Restaurants with 74 seats or a lot more are needed to have two fire exits; those smaller than 74 seats should still have unobstructed aisles, but they can lead to a single exit.

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Most people think about how to accommodate crowds; but in bigger spaces, you may also wish to consider the way to separate your dining region into smaller spaces (or spaces that appear smaller) when things are slow. Many eateries seat in only 1 of two or three dining rooms at off-peak times. A great guideline is to permit 15 square feet per seat. This figure includes aisles and waiters' support stations, but usually excludes the entryway and restrooms. Of course, your figures may be modified by the shape or size from the dining room and the sizes of the tables and chairs.

Various types of facilities have industry-accepted standards for dining room allocation, as shown in the discussion of "Space and Sizing Guidelines." Usually, the lowest spaceper-seat allocation is in a school cafeteria, with 8 to 10 feet; the highest in restaurants with a high average check, at 15 to 18 feet. One factor to take into account may be the seat turnover, or seat turn, which may be the number of times a seat is occupied during a mealtime. How much turnover you have depends on the method of service, the time or day, the type of customer, the kind of menu and atmosphere, and even the availability of alcoholic beverages in the restaurant.

Arranging Tables and Booths: After the overall dining space is agreed on, you must consider how tables or booths will be arranged within that room. On paper, drawing the chairs, not just the tables, helps remind you to leave enough room to pull them out and seat individuals comfortably. You can find endless variables in table arrangement Notice that the diagrams don't take into account items like columns, doorways, and architectural features (unusual wall placement) that frequently exist. Another reality of seat turnover is that, even when your dining room is "full," all the seats might not be. A party of two may occupy a table that could seat four, and so on.

This partial vacancy rate can be as high as 20 percent in table support restaurants or 10 to 12 percent at cafeterias or coffee shop counters. Vacancy rates don't apply to facilities in which meals are all eaten in the exact same time, for example prisons and military mess halls. For most eateries, however, table sizes can help control the vacancy rate. Arrange tables for two (deuces, or twotops) so that they can be easily pushed together to create larger tables if necessary. Quickservice establishments can also try stools and countertops or classroom-style seats with tablet arms to accommodate individuals eating alone.

Banquet/Meeting Rooms: Flexible space plans and style statements can rejuvenate meeting and banquet spaces. What sells these days is really a combination of signature style and market-driven functions. What makes meeting and banquet spaces more attractive to potential guests? Comfort. Outdated audiovisuals, inadequate lighting, and run-of-the-mill banquet chairs make private spaces unfashionable. Be sure to have diffused lighting to decrease eyestrain and select chairs which are comfy for those extended (eight-hour-plus) corporate gatherings. Use tables with wheels (on lockable casters) so you are able to customize the space for each event having a minimum of staff time. Ease of use. Incorporate audiovisual (A/V) equipment into the room design.

Avoid the unsightly and unsafe practice of having to tape wires and cables along the meeting room floors. Allocate space for individuals who are in charge of the meeting, and be certain that you have sufficient room in the back from the room for loading and unloading A/V equipment unique to particular users. Customization. Minimize built-in furniture/fixtures to permit for maximum flexibility. Include a provision for electronic locks to ensure that each client can have a custom key for his or her room, if required. Think about making the major walls of the meeting rooms of tackboard covered with rich textiles to enable presenters to post flip charts very easily. Flexible lighting controls permit customers to individually determine the correct level of illumination for their events. Technical savvy. Customers who use meeting rooms travel with their own amenities nowadays, lugging around laptops, individual digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, iPods, and individual DVD players.

These devices have become ubiquitous. Your meeting area guests have rapidly turn out to be accustomed to constant connectivity and expect facilities to accommodate them. These days, the baseline for high-tech meeting rooms is wireless and/or wired high-speed Web access. In fact, Internet access has become a substitute for numerous other technologies, such as videoconferencing and in some cases teleconferencing, which can be done via the Web. Essentially, meeting planners and associations are looking for simple plug-and-play ability in a meeting area. This necessitates Web access, a big screen and LCD projector, and easy setup and/or an on-call A/V professional to assist when necessary.

Arranging Banquet/Meeting Space. One main decision you must make early on is whether to offer round or rectangular tables for banquet seating. It's especially important when planning this room to permit enough area for aisles, since the waitstaff will truly be bustling (with full trays) in this environment. With the correct tables and great plans on paper, the same area can take on various personalities for each occasion. There's a handy formula for calculating banquet seating: If you are utilizing standard rectangular tables, divide the square footage of the room by 8 to discover out how many seats the area will accommodate.

For instance, a 500-square-foot area, divided by 8, will seat 62 or 63 persons. When utilizing round tables (of any standard circumference), divide the square footage of the area by 10. A 500-square-foot region with round tables will seat 50. This formula allows area for chairs too as space for aisles. Its use is limited only by columns, entrances, or service doors that would need fewer individuals sitting in individuals particular areas.

Dining Areas
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