Customer experience is one of the most important aspects of running a successful business in general, if not the most important. However, when it comes to the restaurant business, customer satisfaction is without a doubt the number one feature to maintain. People generally come to restaurants for relaxation, chats and good food, so they will return to the place as long as the establishment is doing its best to provide them with the best possible experience on all three accounts.
In case you own a restaurant or are planning to start a new one, check out the following tips to incorporate elements of customer satisfaction right into the design of the restaurant itself.
Comfortable Seating
The first thing people do after entering a restaurant is find a seat for themselves, and that’s more important than a lot of restaurants care to acknowledge. Buy restaurant chairs that not only match the overall theme and décor of your establishment but are also comfortable to be seated in for long durations. If your customers are uncomfortable in their seats, they will leave early, irrespective of the ambience or the food. Sometimes, it isn’t even a conscious effort, but a subconscious feeling of discomfort that cuts their time at your place short and they are much less likely to come back due to that experience.
Make sure the chairs/sofas/couches are comfortable and they are not packed in too tightly with each other. Also, the table should be of the right height for your guests to rest their arms comfortably on them.
Match the Ambience
You need to choose a theme from the very start and make sure that everything lives up to that theme to create the ambience that you are aiming for. This includes the seating arrangement, the walls, ceiling and floor décor, the utensils, and even the menu. Alternatively, you could just go for a classic diner without any specific theme, but even then, everything must match.
Do not sacrifice on this to accommodate and cater to different kinds of customers because you will probably end up attracting very few with that strategy. If you are to have multiple ambiences in one establishment, they need to be separated by walls or they need to be on separate floors.
Maintain the Right Temperature at All Times
Whether it’s the heating or the cooling that’s required, make sure that your thermostat is maintaining a comfortable temperature at all times, because along with the seating arrangements, the room temperature is the most important factor when it comes to keeping your customers comfortable. Eliminate hot and cold spots in your establishment completely by designing the vents properly from the first day.
Do make sure that the heat or smell from the kitchen is not disrupting the dining ambience in any way.
Design a Good Menu
It’s important to have a wide menu with variety, but it’s much more important to have a good one first. The menu doesn’t need to run along for ten pages, but everything on it should be available and should taste delicious. Design separate sections for breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks and dinner, while detailing each of the dishes a bit with a few lines to guide the customer.
There are of course a lot of other ways to engage customers and improve their experience at a restaurant, but these are the core elements which must be maintained while designing the restaurant right from the beginning.
