The influence of Instagram continues to grow year on year and it’s showing no sign of slowing down. The platform has transformed the way many people discover new bars and restaurants to visit, ultimately having a huge influence on where people choose to spend their time and money. As a result, bars and restaurants now need to offer more than just exceptional food, drinks and service.

Customers can now decide whether to visit an establishment based on the visual content they see on their phones, and businesses can cater to this huge audience by considering visually appealing bar and restaurant design that will look great on Instagram. Instagrammable restaurants are reaping the benefits that being popular on these social media channels can have! In 2018, Zagat conducted a survey, which revealed that 75% of restaurant users say they have actually picked a place to eat based on shared food photos.

Putting our expertise to good use, we have some Instagram-design wisdom to share with you. Keep reading for some of the important and creative features you'll need to know to make your bar or restaurant more Instagrammable.

1. Recognise the Importance of Good Lighting

Bar and restaurant owners should consider how their business will look when photographed and shared on social media. The lighting you choose for your venue defines how the space will look when people are taking their snaps and, remember, diners need great lighting to get the perfect 'gram!

Natural light is the best way to ensure you capture the perfect photo. However, if your venue isn't graced with this luxury and instead relies on artificial lighting, it's important to strike a balance between the harsh bright lights, which cast unsightly shadows, and the feature lighting which may not boast enough brightness to capture the perfect photo.

Take a look at our recent project for North Brewing Co, where we utilised both natural and artificial lighting to fit the brand and its venue. Compare this to The Man Behind the Curtain, where we fitted out a space with almost no natural light. The key is to find the right lighting solution for each venue!

Consider different types of lighting to create perfect photo opportunities. Bespoke and quirky lighting features create the perfect photo spot for your diners to snap, and dimming options help you to create an Instagrammable ambience that will make your restaurant, food, and diners look fantastic!

2. Boast Your Branding

Instagrammable restaurant design to make your business stand out // North Brewing Co, Leeds

Branded menus, napkins and signage provide great Instagram opportunities. Social media-savvy individuals love to share photos of the place they're visiting and posting a photo of stylish and cleverly-placed branding provides a great photo subject as well as a brilliant advertisement for your business.

Additionally, having branding cleverly placed throughout your interior means that it will often make its way onto photos that aren't intentionally focused on your branding. This is a great bonus when it comes to marketing your business on social media as viewers will be able to recognise your branding in the visual content they are seeing, but branding can also start to become an instagrammable restaurant feature in itself when you become an established and desirable brand!

3. Create a Stand-Out Drink or Meal

Restaurant Marketing Ideas for Instagram

Give the Instagram-world something to buzz about with a recognisable or unique menu item that gets people snapping photos whilst inspiring new customers to come and visit your venue. Bars and restaurants are successfully implementing this all over the globe with funky cocktails, burger towers, and many weird and wonderful concoctions that become a signature item that just needs to be photographed.

4. Don't Overlook the Bathrooms

Stand-Out Interior Features that Customers Will Want to Snap // The Man Behind the Curtain, Leeds

The key to Instagrammable restaurant design is to pay attention to all details throughout your premises, and the bathrooms are certainly important. Stylish and quirky restaurant bathrooms have been taking the Instagram world by storm by offering the perfect setting for the ultimate #selfie.

To encourage users to snap a photo in your venue's bathrooms, lighting is just as important as it is throughout the rest of your premises. Try to provide enough lighting for photos to be taken clearly and large wall mirrors are favourable. Wall lights are great, photogenic, and flattering options for bathrooms, and even better, wall lights placed either side of a wall mirror produce a fantastic Instagram-friendly combination!

5. Aesthetic flooring

Are you catering to the 'feet floor selfie'? Yes, you heard us right. Feet floor selfies have been thriving on social media platforms as users capture aesthetically pleasing floor shots to upload to their feed, and it's becoming a new way for restaurants and bars to feature online… is your flooring up to scratch?

Think bold blocks of colour, interesting tiles, and unique patterns. Take a look at I Have This Thing With Floors on Instagram for some visual inspiration.

How to implement these Instagram-related restaurant marketing ideas

Restaurants and bars without an 'instagrammable' interior risk losing out on potential new customers that could be reached through photos on the platform, falling short in comparison to their competitors who are having photos of their business posted online on a daily basis.

If you're unsure on how to start implementing these Instagram-related bar and restaurant marketing ideas, we're tremendously experienced in producing interiors that fit superbly on the 'gram, and we can work alongside you and your venue to design a space that not only works, but excels.

Our design and fit out expertise has allowed us to transform a variety of venues in the food and drink industry. We can help you to stand out from the crowd by really getting to know your brand and your customers, which enables us to work out just what they need. Get in touch to find out how we can make your bar or restaurant more Instagrammable!