How to use design to make your restaurant stand out — part 2: restaurant atmosphere

By Megan Prevost While the design and content of your menu can certainly help your restaurant stand out, customers think about more than just food when they’re choosing a restaurant to dine at. Restaurant marketing professionals know that restaurants provide customers with an experience, not just dinner. Whether subconsciously or explicitly, diners select restaurants based […]

Restaurant design trends for the post-pandemic consumer

Perfecting your restaurant design can be tricky but it is a vital step for attracting and retaining customers. How can restaurateurs ensure they are appealing to the contemporary consumer? The latest edition of Datassential’s Trendspotting report notes that as restaurants continue to struggle to stay afloat in the post-pandemic, inflation-infused climate, more than one in […]

7 ways professional design can help your restaurant in 2022

By Mark Plumlee Over the past two years, thousands of restaurants have shut down across the country. Others have shut down their brick-and-mortar stores and moved to a permanent takeout model. In the place of restaurants that shut down, many new ones have sprung up to take their place. We’re left with an industry full […]

The psychology of restaurant interior design

By Jude Kamal Sometimes, a customer will walk into a restaurant and instantly feel relaxed, comfortable, and ready to have a pleasant time. That should be the aim of every restaurateur, and there is a science behind making patrons feel that way. Great restaurant settings don’t just happen randomly; they are designed that way. There […]

Start to Finish: Taking a new concept from drawing board to opening day

David Hopkins Whole food for the soul — that’s the mantra behind Mary Be Kitchen, where the food is fresh, the dishes are wholesome, and the recipes are good for you. The concept focuses on substance over style, with a menu that allows customers to build their own, healthy meals, selecting from tried-and-true clean proteins like […]

The Design Process: Where do we begin and how will it end?

From the spring 2018 issue of Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News By Chris Hannah In my early days of teaching design, I had to write a quiz for students learning the process for the first time. As it happens, I was sitting in a client’s restaurant composing the test, when he walked by and asked […]

New digs or a new problem? Avoiding the pitfalls of a bad location

By Caileen Kehayas Every neighbourhood has a dead spot, a space where restaurant after restaurant cycles through, each attempting to overcome the curse that did in the last before succumbing to the sea of red ink that’s formed beneath them. It’s both unfortunate and probable: the median lifespan of a restaurant is a scant 4.5 […]