Designing a Restaurant to Reflect its Cuisine

Restaurants provide more than just a place to dine - they offer an experience, and many features within the restaurant itself define what this experience will be.

A restaurant's interior and menu offerings are undoubtedly important features when it comes to defining the overall concept of a restaurant, and both should go hand in hand to work successfully.

Your menu can offer the best type of restaurant inspiration when it comes to the interior design of your establishment!

Restaurants shouldn't build a fantastic menu and create a good interior separately, but should instead use one to create the other.

Many restaurateurs decide on their food and drink offerings before a restaurant's interior has been designed and this provides a great opportunity to design the restaurant's interior as an extension of its menu.

The same can be done for existing restaurants that undergo refurbishments or a rebrand!

A Restaurant Design Concept that Works

An unforgettable interior to match a unique menu // The Man Behind the Curtain, Leeds

One of the most important decisions that needs to be made about a restaurant is its theme. What is the restaurant going to be - casual, fine dining, quirky? British, Italian, Mexican? Your concept can't be carried by the menu alone, but also needs to be done so by the interior of the restaurant.

The reason for doing this is to give customers a full experience and to communicate the concept of your brand in the best way. Tying interior design in with the menu will give customers an unforgettable experience and really strengthen your brand.

To help, Medium have identified the 5 main types of restaurants to help you identify the style and atmosphere that is likely to be expected from your type of business.

Restaurant Design Inspiration to Reflect Cuisine

Use Lighting to Define the Ambience

We mentioned the importance of lighting in our Instagrammable restaurant blog post and there's a reason why we keep banging on about it!

Lighting is hugely influential towards the overall ambience of a restaurant, and the theme and concept that you have already decided on will help you or your interior designers to find the perfect lighting to reflect your restaurant's concept and desired atmosphere.

Shape Experience With Furniture

It goes without saying that furniture is an integral part of a restaurant, but this too should reflect the concept of your business and the food on offer.

The type of furniture you select within your establishment gives new and potential customers an idea of the type of cuisine they can expect to experience from you, so it's important to get it right.

Comfort is key regardless, but your menu can give you an indication as to the layout of your furniture and whether it ought to be intimate or sociable. This will then aid you in finding the perfect furniture to match.

Relevant Decoration

The floor, walls and ceiling of your restaurant are the foundation for your interior, and the colours and textures chosen can all be influenced by the menu items on offer and strengthen your theme as a whole.

For example, restaurants focusing on fresh produce and healthy food are great when paired with natural materials in the restaurant itself. Woods, stone and accents of greenery would be extremely on-brand for this type of restaurant, and the way they are introduced would then be completely unique to the business.

Brainstorm the types of textures and colours you would associate with your cuisine as a starting point and build up your space from there.

Themed Furnishings

Furnishings and decorative items can also be used to reflect your restaurant's concept and cuisine. From artwork to cushions, tableware to sculptures; carefully consider all of these to construct the perfect and complete experience for customers.

Think of furnishings as the icing on the cake - they can offer the perfect finishing touch to help shape the best experience for customers when carefully selected.

Be Consistent but Be Unique

Despite the intentions to keep your restaurant's style in line with its menu, it's still important to give your establishment an edge. You want your business to stand out from the crowd!

Whilst tying your venue in with your overall concept, still consider ways to make your restaurant into an unforgettable interior.

If you're specialising in a particular type of food or drink, consider ways to play with this in your interior too! Signage, wall art and slogans can all be used to create points of interest and give your space something that it can be recognised for.

It's good to think about features that would attract your social media-savvy customers, so head over to our Instagrammable restaurant blog post for some inspiration.

As commercial interior specialists, our designers can create a stand-out restaurant interior concept to help your business to look and function at its full potential. Contact us to discuss your project with us!