Impact of Restaurant design on your meal

paddylonglegs

"Design" meaning the design or branding of their logo, menus, signage etc.

Obviously the main point of enjoying a meal in a restaurant will be the food, followed by the service, and then ambiance.

My brother will be running his own restaurant soon and I am trying to show him the importance of how the graphic design of a restaurant can show a potential customer what you are all about, what style of restaurant they can expect, and what atmosphere you are trying to portray, (also how professional you are)

so does design in a restaurant have an impact on you? when you look at the layout of the menu, does it portray how professional the restaurant feels, or do you judge it solely on the taste of the food?

In my opinion, when I go into a restaurant, I always think the type of chairs portray what type of place it is (weird I know) but it shows how the owner thinks, therefor thinks something similar about the food...

diddlybit

I could probably tell you want I hate in a restaurant quicker than what I like:

Bad art, especially art that is either poor, faded reproductions or bad depictions of coffee/kitchens/food etc.

Music that is too loud or that no thought has put into, especailly when it really does not suit the style of the restaurant.

Overfussy tables. I find sculpted napkins and tabelcloths a complete no-no.

Huge sixteen page menus with seventeen thousand choices on it, with any further amendents crossed out or pasted over. Keep it short and daily.

In general I like the kitchen hidden (they are not that aesthetically pleasing and teh noise can be a distraction)or else if it's not, it has to be a feature. Eatery 120 in Ranelagh's view into the kitchen is great.

Make an effort when presenting the bill. (Favourite so far, presented in a compass box, accompanied by jelly babies in a brown paper bag. )

Make sure it's warm!

Don't make the waiting staff wear anything that will cause customers to snigger at them, they have feelings too. Comfortable staff are happy staff and make happy customers.

That's it I think. It doesn't have to be fancy, just simple, clean (! dirty menus, ugh), and to the point. Pick a concept and stick with it, find a couple of feature items to brighten it up (less is more) and I always find a couple of oddities picked up from an antique shop or two, always makes a place stand out. (Also thinking of tiles and glass tables in Eatery 120)

My aesthetically favourite restaurant is Yamamori on George's Street and the back of The Larder on Parliment Street. Not a fan of Knuttel paintings but they work well in the big space on George's Street. The Larder has kept it really simple, but has made the most of lovely brick walls.

Don't go over zealous buying loads of stuff for a vision, try to kit it out from a functional/aesthetic balance. Everything that goes into it, has to be cleaned on a regular basis. Wooden slatted blinds might fit the style, but will have to be cleaned to stop them getting dusty as an example. (Speaking as a poor minion who spent many years cleaning and polishing stuff in restaurants.)

You should use this as an excuse to check out a variety of restaurants. Just call it research.;)

Best of luck!

psycho-hope

personally, i like a menu that is easy to read in other words no strange font colours on a background that makes it hard to read, a short descrption under the item explaining what it is using plain english.

One of my pet peves is tables too close together, if im out for dinner with friends or the OH i want to be able to hear them and not be struggling to hear over the group beside me

RGDATA!

diddlybit wrote: »

I could probably tell you want I hate in a restaurant quicker than what I like:

Bad art, especially art that is either poor, faded reproductions or bad depictions of coffee/kitchens/food etc.

Music that is too loud or that no thought has put into, especailly when it really does not suit the style of the restaurant.

Overfussy tables. I find sculpted napkins and tabelcloths a complete no-no.

Huge sixteen page menus with seventeen thousand choices on it, with any further amendents crossed out or pasted over. Keep it short and daily.

In general I like the kitchen hidden...

Good post, strongly agree with you on those first few points I quoted especially (although I have liked a lot of places where you could see the kitchen)

As far as branding your restaurant, i have a little bit of experience with this , a very easy starting point is to keep it clean and simple.

Pick a typeface for your sign, go to a good signmaker who will give you some advice and options, and work from there. After that your logo needn't be anything more than your restaurant name in whatever typeface you choose for it.

If you're talking about design of menus - you can print these yourself on your own headed paper, you really don't need to get into designing them. Just take a bit of care what font you choose for your menu, avoid the bog standards.

Keep it simple but write the menu well, put the capital letters and apostrophes in the right places, avoid bs like 'succulent' and 'mouth-watering' etc

Personally, I get far more confidence from being handed a short simple, well-written menu than something beautifully designed and laminated and with a million options.

dudara

Appearance in very important to many people. One of my favourite restaurants (in terms of both price and food quality) doesn't look great at all. And it's definitely harming the revenue in the restaurant.

Take a look at restaurants you like - and figure out what they are doing right. See then how you can incorporate those elements into the new restaurant.

olaola

An interesting case - South Street Italian on Georges St in Dublin. Used to be packed, all the time. Open for years - not necessarily attractive inside, but it had a great ambiance. They did it up (a good while ago now), totally lost their 'vibe', I've only been back once since and we mentioned to the manager that we preferred the older slightly 'shonkier' look. I think he had heard this a million times, and his business had taken a huge hit because of the change. Whenever I pass it's usually empty, which is a pity - I used to love it.

the beer revolu

I don't think the design will affect my take on the food but it will certainly be a factor on whether I go there in the first place.

gbee

I've two criteria, fast food for lunch, I want the special and out the door, clean speed is the order of the day for that, most pubs would come to mind and I'm not talking chipper or McDonalds.

Then I want to go out at night for THE night out. Here ambiance and comfort is the order of the day, I want ROOM. I don't want to have to move my chair overtime a waitress wants to pass or customer wants a break.

paddylonglegs

Great feedback from everyone there, really helpful and will defo use your suggestions. Nice one

Mrs Fox

Laminated menu puts me off straight away...

paddylonglegs

Thanks,

I wanted to emphasize your take specifically on the quality of how the menu is laid out. Do you care about the difference between a menu typed up on MS word and printed on normal printer paper, and a thought-out, well-designed menu?

Below are websites for two different pizza restaurants, based on their layout, where would you feel more comfortable taking friends or family if you wanted a nice evening meal? (ok I know pizza isn't too posh, but i'm trying to point out how first impressions will affect your decision)

http://www.marajon.com/business.aspx?businessid=79

http://www.milano.ie/

olaola

Less is more IMO. Keep it simple, no matter what you do. A well laid out and simple A4 is perfectly acceptable (places like the Winding Stair have it on a clipboard) and it also suggests that the menu is and can be easily changed. Which is a good thing, when people are now so cognisant of seasonal produce.

the beer revolu

The first menu would put me right off but not cause of its lack of graphic design but because it is trying to be all things to all people in its scope. Design is important but not nearly so much as the food.

I'd agree with everything olaola said too.

olaola

If you keep your menu in a binder/folder, you have to keep them clean all the time. Nothing worse than being handed a sticky/stained menu.
I feel like a menu is like a CV, should keep it to one page if possible!

diddlybit

olaola wrote: »

Less is more IMO. Keep it simple, no matter what you do. A well laid out and simple A4 is perfectly acceptable (places like the Winding Stair have it on a clipboard) and it also suggests that the menu is and can be easily changed. Which is a good thing, when people are now so cognisant of seasonal produce.

+1 on this. The clipboard style works well. I also enjoy when a restaurant changes their menu frequently, as if you find somewhere that you really like that doesn't change their menu, you can get very tired of it, very quickly.

That first menu's very difficult to read, the style and colour of the text is really off-putting. Milano's have a fairly extensive menu but they overcoem the length with a well laid out and white (!) background.

markymark21

paddylonglegs wrote: »

"Design" meaning the design or branding of their logo, menus, signage etc.

Obviously the main point of enjoying a meal in a restaurant will be the food, followed by the service, and then ambiance.

My brother will be running his own restaurant soon and I am trying to show him the importance of how the graphic design of a restaurant can show a potential customer what you are all about, what style of restaurant they can expect, and what atmosphere you are trying to portray, (also how professional you are)

so does design in a restaurant have an impact on you? when you look at the layout of the menu, does it portray how professional the restaurant feels, or do you judge it solely on the taste of the food?

In my opinion, when I go into a restaurant, I always think the type of chairs portray what type of place it is (weird I know) but it shows how the owner thinks, therefor thinks something similar about the food...

Your absolutely right.

How a place looks from the outside has a major impact on whether or not someone will make the decesion to walk in the doors.

Remember most people don't go to restaurants just to be fed. Its all about the meal experience and ambiance, warmt, service and comfort - all the intangible aspects. These are vital to a restaurants success

daiixi

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Below are websites for two different pizza restaurants, based on their layout, where would you feel more comfortable taking friends or family if you wanted a nice evening meal? (ok I know pizza isn't too posh, but i'm trying to point out how first impressions will affect your decision)

http://www.marajon.com/business.aspx?businessid=79

http://www.milano.ie/

I didn't even get to the menus. One glance at the first website and I closed it straight away. Websites and menus are easy to design so that they look good. If you can't put effort into those things why should anyone believe you'll bother putting effort into your food?

Mellor

daiixi wrote: »

I didn't even get to the menus. One glance at the first website and I closed it straight away. Websites and menus are easy to design so that they look good. If you can't put effort into those things why should anyone believe you'll bother putting effort into your food?

He was asking about the two websites not their menus

They were both bad imo, for different reasons

daiixi

diddlybit commented on the design of the menu. I was just saying that I didn't get that far before I was put off.

Ronan Box Seven Design

I judge a restaurant on the whole package. Food offer, Food quality, Service and Design.

If too many items are on the menu it makes me uneasy. The best chef can't keep everybody happy with their offer. It's best to have five or six items done simply and really well. On menu design, description of the dishes is really important, some restaurants just won't use plain English, fancy words won't make the food any better. I know they need to use some kitchen-foody terms but best kept to a minimum. They could have fun with the descriptive language without going over the top with the French.

If staff are confident and come across as if they have more interest in the enterprise than just their wages, this helps a lot.

Clean well designed well lit toilets. To me how clean the toilets are indicates how clean the kitchen is.

On the interior design side I like it simple with really good but simple lighting,
I need to see what I'm eating. But a restaurant shouldn't be lit like a flourescent canteen.

Sound. I've been in a lot of restaurants where too many hard surfaces have been used and it's an acoustic mess once the place fills up. You end up having to speak really loudly almost shout. I like a great buzz but there are ways to baffle the sound.

I enjoyed reading all the comments.