Restaurants are incredibly popular today, as almost all people love food and would like to go to lunch or dinner at some of the best restaurants to try out various dishes that they don’t normally serve or cook at home. Through restaurants, you will be able to get a glimpse of the culture of a certain country or nationality by tasting some of the dishes of their local cuisine. 
In addition to different cultures and cuisines, restaurants would often have different concepts and themes as well. So, not all restaurants will look the same, as their designs are different from each other and would typically offer something different for their customers. Besides the food, the concept or theme of a restaurant is also present in its interior and exterior design. In this article, we will take a close look at the design process of restaurants and how they are able to construct these designs and make them into reality. Here is an inside look at restaurant design and construction. 
Restaurant Size and Seating Capacity 
Before deciding on the overall design and layout of the restaurant, the owner must first determine the size of the restaurant and its seating capacity. One of the most important rooms that a restaurant should have enough space for is the kitchen, which should be spacious enough for your cooks and chefs to move around while cooking and preparing various dishes. 
Another important aspect of a restaurant is its seating capacity, as this will determine how busy your restaurant will be during peak hours and how many customers you can accommodate. For small restaurants, the ideal seating capacity is 25 to 30 restaurant chairs with about 12 to 15 tables. With this size, you will be able to accommodate plenty of customers per hour while also not getting the kitchen too busy from serving too many diners. 
Finding Solutions for Common Design Problems 
Once you have figured out the size of the restaurant and its seating capacity, it would then be appropriate to talk about common design problems that you may encounter while designing the restaurant. Most of these design problems usually occur in the dining area, specifically in the sections that are near the entrance, restrooms, and the kitchen of the restaurant. These design problems will limit how many customers you can accommodate despite having ample restaurant seating capacity, as there are a lot of customers that don’t want to dine in sections of the restaurant that are near the said rooms. 
Fortunately, there are several ways for you to fix or hide these design problems, and one of the most effective methods is by installing dividers or booths near other rooms of the restaurants. Through dividers, customers wouldn’t be able to see the restrooms and the kitchen of the establishment, and they would also be given privacy since the dividers and booths would have an artificial wall on each side. 
If some customers still don’t like to take a seat in those sections of the dining room, then you can just place a waiting station or waiting room at the entrance of the restaurant so that they can just wait for other customers to finish eating and take a seat in a better area. Before you implement these fixes, you can check out how your restaurant is doing first during the week after opening day and see where customers don’t usually like to take a seat and dine so that you will know which areas of the dining room need to be fixed. 
Ventilation and Proper Heating 
An aspect of the restaurant that is often forgotten or overlooked is the ventilation of the rooms and areas, particularly the kitchen. In the kitchen, there are a lot of appliances that produce heat, and without proper ventilation, your chefs or cooks will suffer from high temperatures and the overwhelming smoke coming from stoves and ovens. So, kitchens should be properly ventilated to give your employees a safer and more comfortable environment to work in. 
Heating and air conditioning are important aspects of the restaurant that you should focus on, as these aspects are essential if you want your customers to have a much better time dining. If the area where your restaurant is located is constantly experiencing high temperatures, then you should have commercial-grade air conditioners in the dining area so that your restaurant will feel cooler and more comfortable for customers. But, if the location also experiences colder weather, a commercial grade is also important to install to keep your customers warm. 
Furniture and Decorations 
The items that will surely elevate the look of your restaurant are the pieces of furniture and decorations found in the dining area, the entrance, and in sections of the restaurant that are visible to customers. Choosing the best furniture and decorations for your restaurant can be a difficult and time-consuming task to accomplish, but if you have the budget, you can hire an interior designer that will give you advice and design ideas for your business. The interior designer would also enable you to have an easier and faster time coming up with the best design for the restaurant. 
Picking furniture and decorations would also depend on the size of the restaurant. If you have a relatively small restaurant, you will need to find pieces of furniture that are small enough to maximize the space of the dining area while still being comfortable enough to use. The theme of your restaurant would also be the focus when choosing furniture and decorations, so decide on the theme of your business first before buying anything. 
And there you have it, the simplest explanations and details about restaurant design, layout, and construction. If you are planning to open a restaurant soon, it would be essential to think about the theme or concept of the business first before renting a space and buying appliances and furniture, as the theme will dictate what you would need to purchase to make it easier for customers to see the restaurant’s concept. After deciding on the theme, it would then be your goal to provide a comfortable work environment for your employees and also offer your customers the best dining experience.