If there is anything that restaurant chains hold in high regard as the quality of food served, it is the overall ambience and atmosphere. This can be a rather tricky venture. While there is a specific dish for everyone, the overall décor and ambience is something that is intended for one and all. Here are how different materials can affect your experience in a restaurant. Bear in mind that “materials” refer to elements that make or break the restaurant (not a vandalising joke). Still confused? Say no more, read below.
Visual Materials—Décor and Interrelated Materials
There is a certain element of attractiveness that the décor of a restaurant carries, which sometimes might prove to be quintessential in marketing it for what it is worth. Oftentimes you might come across an artsy café or restaurant, decorated well enough to make you visit and revisit.
While choice of curtain materials, wooden restaurant chairs, proportional lighting, and so on, is important, you need to understand that the conglomeration of them all is what constitutes the idea of a great ambience. While the term “materials” may seem like a misnomer at first, the core structures of the aforementioned elements are ideally to be made with the best quality materials.
Think about it, do you not judge a restaurant by the quality of tablecloth, the type of cutlery, the glassware used? The idea is rather simple. If you own a restaurant and you wish to establish and etch a great deal of positive memory in the mind of the average customer, you need to cut out on the sub-par materials, and choose quality over quantity in décor, just like you would do regarding the menu. If you are the customer, do not settle for anything less than exceptional. After all, your feedback and perception of décor will determine the quality of ambience, which in turn will determine the course of business.
Phonetic Materials—Sound of Silence?
This goes without saying—the type of music used in a restaurant determines the long-term intentions of the ones running it (good music equals good ambience, which further means long-term business). While there is a certain level of psychology involved when restaurants pick the kind of music they want to play, as a customer, your opinions might vary too. For instance, while a brief history of post-rock suggests that it is relatively older than modern music counterparts, the use of it is rather new. In fact, you won’t particularly find places playing a dolorous piece by ‘MONO’ or an ecstatic piece by ‘This Will Destroy You’. We might be nit-picking here, but what we are actually hinting at, is the idea of all-inclusive music.
Imagine going to a great steakhouse. The picturesque view in front of you, a rare find of fillet mignon, a glass of pinot noir, but some loud and throbbing house music playing in the background. Doesn’t fit, does it?
The idea of all-inclusive music, despite sounding (pun intended) like an exorbitant investment on paper, is actually more beneficial in the long run. After all, if the customers feel that the music is according to their taste, it would make them feel more at ease. Higher customer comfort is important for them to revisit, which in turn, exponentially increases business. While having a compartmentalized restaurant and a customised playlist sounds too good to be true, maybe even just a sham in theory, it might just work wonders. The idea of modern society expressing their utopia of an all-inclusive nature channelled by music—sounds fantastic, if you ask us.
Spatial Arrangements
While this might be a minor aspect, it is almost as important as the other two. Again, what might seem as a misnomer (if the literal sense of the term “material” is used), is actually an important element of restaurant ambience. Here is a simple way to understand this—if the restaurant is a beautiful piece of tapestry, the space between tables is one of the smaller fabrics needed for intertwining. Restaurants are an important place for some members of the demographic—anxious business meetings, nervous first dates, playful exchanges with friends—rather common sightings in restaurants, isn’t it? That itself is a good reason, why, much like healthy relationships, restaurants too should have enough space.
To Conclude—The Human Materials
We are in no way objectifying humans, but if the restaurant is an engine, the staff is the crankshaft (we apologize for the terrible wordplay). A well-mannered and courteous staff is rather quintessential for not just proper operating of a restaurant, but its sustainability in the long run. If you work at a restaurant, please be courteous. If you are a customer, please be more patient; after all, fine dining is a two-way process.