If there is one thing that can often act as a thorn in the side of most restaurant owners, it is a distinct lack of space in current brick and mortar locations. Rampant inflation has hit the real estate sector particularly hard, and that has made it quite challenging for entrepreneurs to maintain a sufficient level of profitability in the long term.
In the interests of attempting to save money, restaurateurs usually have to make do with spaces that are unusually cramped. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but it can bring its fair share of disadvantages into the mix.
Firstly, you may not be able to fit as many customers into your restaurant as you would have liked. Not only would this limit your cash flow for the foreseeable future, it will also force you to turn away customers if your dining area is already packed to capacity. That can ruin your reputation in the market, but restaurant booths can do quite a lot to prevent such a thing from becoming too much of an issue!
Replacing tables and chairs with booths has yet another advantage too. Namely, it can open up some room in the center of your restaurant without restricting the quantity of customers that you can effectively serve at any given point in time.This is important since it can make it easier for your servers to get to each customer in a timely manner, not to mention its helpfulness in terms of preventing unhappy accidents such as collisions between members of your wait staff that are in a bit of a rush.
With all of that said, how exactly can you use booths to maximize space? Well, for one thing, the kind of design that booths have to offer tends to inherently benefit you on that front. You see, most booths are arrayed in such a way that they can create a secluded island in your dining area that can seat up to twice as many customers as a regular table and chair set up.
You can also check out the immense variety of booths that are currently available so that you can pick and choose whichever ones will best suit your needs as far as space maximization is concerned. The classic bench booth is a great option here, since it can turn empty wall space into a perfectly functional seating area that your customers will be scrambling to book in advance!
Bench booths can serve as a complement to the double booths that will form the bulk of your seating arrangements in your eatery. The main advantage of double booths is that they can take the area that would’ve been filled up by a table for four and replace it with enough seating for six patrons. What’s more, it will also enhance the level of comfort your diners can enjoy by a huge margin!
One thing that we would recommend is that you mix up your booth choices. Relying on just one type can be a grievous error. While you still get the same kinds of space maximization benefits that you are going for, chances are that you will fail to provide enough variety to cater to as many customers as you need to keep the lights on.
You should start off by arranging double booths along the entirety of one wall. Assuming that this wall is about twenty feet in length, you’ll be able to fit around eighteen customers as long as the booths are lined up properly. Organizing them end to end is all well and good, but there is another thing that you can do to add some diversity to your seating layouts along with boosting space in a way that can be incredible to behold!
Single booths and bench booths don’t always work well in corners, or at the very least they can be improved upon by opting for circle booths instead. Such booths come in several shapes and sizes, with the half and three quarter circles being some of the most prominent examples that can serve you well.
We would recommend going for a three quarter circle in at least one of the corners, especially the corner that is on the far end of the wall that is otherwise populated by double booths. You may be able to squeeze in as many as nine separate customers with such booths.
That will make your restaurant a viable option for diners who are coming with a large party. After all, double booths can’t really fit more than six people at a time, so you definitely need something that can cater to the larger groups that will help bolster your revenue inflows considerably.
You can make the wall directly opposite the entrance to your restaurant, the one that already has a corner set up with a three quarter circle booth on one side, dedicated exclusively to sizable groups of customers. Adding some half circle booths, such as the standard and full radius variants, can further improve your ability to satisfy customers regardless of what their needs might be!
Now, there is one wall left that you would need to fit with some booths. We would advise you to be a bit more versatile there. Many patrons would come in to dine on their own, or with just one other person. Fitting them into double booths would be a waste of space. Hence, it would be far better if you used these areas for wall benches that have tables right in front of them. This provides the perfect mix for individual diners, couples as well as families or groups that comprise more than six people.
