Outdoor Restaurant & Café Design

Create an Atmosphere for Hospitality

A Guide to Crafting an Authentic Outdoor Dining Experience for Your Customers

Outdoor dining is a customer magnet, so create a space that will capture more business and utilise unused space. How will you make it functional and comfortable enabling you to improve your bottom line? Let’s take a look at how you can recover your restaurant or cafe’s unused space to create memorable, authentic dining experiences.

Café and Restaurant Outdoor Space Design guide

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Custom Branded Umbrella Case Study

Ironhand Winebar in South Bend, Indiana, transformed their outdoor space by adding cantilever umbrellas with custom branding. This upgrade not only increased their dining capacity but also enhanced their marketing impact.

Expand your Business with an Outdoor Space

Increase customer spend

No one likes a queue… Picture this, you’re standing in line behind five people waiting to be seated and there’s someone at the front of the line arguing with the maître d’ about their seating options. The longer they take, the more your belly aches, and the scents coming from the kitchen, tantalizing and torturous. Time grinds to a halt as your stomach begins to shout. You’re getting impatient and irritated and there are still 4 people in front of you.

Limiting your seating options will limit the number of people you can have on-site, enjoying your food and spending their money.

Improve online ratings

What’s your go-to seating option at your favourite eatery? Is it outdoors? Customers love to fill up the outdoor seating first, it’s away from the noise of the kitchen and coffee machine and closer to nature. Customers who have a good experience are more inclined to leave a review of your business.

Review platforms like Yelp can help give your restaurant some serious clout – the millions of monthly users can influence potential customers. Reviewers are critical about the whole experience, from the food to the atmosphere. Customer reviews on Google play a huge role in determining your page rank.

Grow social shares

Social media platforms are one of the best marketing channels for the hospitality industry. There are over 4 billion users on social media worldwide. With the right strategy, you can attract more customers and promote your brand by:

Publishing original content
Sharing interesting information
Sharing your customers’ experiences and pictures
Promoting special events
Engaging with customers in real-time

A strong, influential social media presence is key in today’s customer decision-making.

Spend some energy researching your competitor’s social media presence, what’s working for them and what can you learn from their successes and missteps. This will help you create a strong following that will visit and talk about your great establishment.

Leverage your target market by creating a space that is perfect for mobile photography – mood lighting, good shade and a complementary colour palette. It’s also worth investing in creative outdoor dining features such as a drinks bar or an outdoor pizza oven.

Italian Cuisine in the Heart of Sydney

Andiamo Trattoria is a popular Italian restaurant situated in the Chippendale suburb of Sydney, Australia. Nestled in a bustling laneway, the relaxed, casual dining experience has been enhanced with a Shadowspec Unity™ Cantilever Umbrella in the Trio configuration. Andiamo Trattoria has increased customer satisfaction alongside revenue with the advent of shade in its central location.

How to Design a Successful Outdoor Dining Space

So, you’re excited about creating a new outdoor space? Fantastic! But where should you begin? We’ve put together practical design tips to help bring your new revenue-generating space to life, with a focus on functionality, comfort, and profitability. Our passion for hospitality drives us to support business owners like you, so you can concentrate on delivering outstanding service, food, and drinks.

Having provided outdoor solutions to hospitality businesses around the world, we’re well-equipped to help you design a space that not only enhances your business but also looks superb and boosts your revenue. We’re here to assist you in creating a consistent and memorable experience for your patrons.

Whether you’re trying to serve up the best food and wine or trying to be the trendiest restaurant in town, all restaurateurs have the same goal: ‘Provide an excellent customer experience’

It’s time to think outside the box for your outdoor space. Perhaps your customers would enjoy live local music, relaxing on loungers as opposed to chairs, sipping on cocktails from an outdoor bar or having an intimate get-together with their loved ones. Whatever path you find yourself on, make sure function is front-of-mind.

6 Steps to Developing Your Outdoor Space

Step 1: Find your who and your why

Look at your outdoor space and analyse its potential. Identify who your ideal patron is and what are they looking for. Do you need space for a band, or different seating options for people who need to lounge? Is your outdoor space going to be used for a specific segment of your clientele?

Identifying the users and the types of activities that will occur in the space is a crucial first step, as it will shape the entire exterior design. Once you’ve clarified who will use the space and its intended purposes, you can then focus on the atmospheric elements that will help create a memorable experience for your guests.

Step 2: Mood boards and creative choices

Once you’ve clarified how you want to use your space, the next step is to gather inspiration. Avoid disregarding your existing interior design choices as you expand outdoors. Consistency is crucial in hospitality design, so consider your current fixtures, colour scheme, and the atmosphere you’ve created indoors. Aim to extend these elements into your outdoor space.

Visiting other hospitality venues that inspire you is a great way to get a sense of what you like and what you don’t like in a space. Searching online through Pinterest, Instagram and Google Images is a great way of finding designs that move you. Print media is still thriving, so pick yourself up a few design magazines to sink your teeth into. This 3-layered approach gives you a chance to explore all your options.

Throughout this phase, you will start to see trends appear in the inspiration you’ve pulled. It might be a colour scheme, a certain style, textures, patterns, materials or an overall ‘buzz’ you can’t quite put into words. Whatever it is, be sure to keep this at the forefront of your design choices. Create a mood board that expresses your design aesthetic and your overall look and feel.

Step 3: Understand the significance of colour

Colour is a powerful tool in any design arsenal. Colour can improve moods, sway thinking, increase appetite and affect the energy in a space. Think about how you want your guests to feel. How can you inject colour into your outdoor area to influence and amplify these emotions?

Do you want your space to feel fresh and vibrant?
Bright colours such as yellows and oranges can bring this to life by elevating moods and making your customers feel happier. People tend to indulge more when they are feeling happy than when they are calm or sad.

Do you want to increase your average spend per head?
Consider the colour red. Red can increase appetite as it drives up blood pressure and increases heart rate. Try mixing it into your table settings or in large pieces or artwork. As a shading solution, consider red umbrellas, shade sails or awnings. Red is an eye-catching colour so try to use it in a big way if you can as it can drive more street traffic to your business.

If warm tones don’t fit your vibe, cool tones in the right shade can have a similar effect. Blue plates have been proven to increase appetite. Green is a colour associated with health, wealth and abundance. Tropical plants paired with a splash of turquoise can invoke the carefree feeling felt when on holiday, causing your guests to splurge more and spend more time.

Step 4: Leverage lighting

Photographers will tell you the most important part of the image is the lighting. This rings true for your outdoor project too. With the right lighting strategy, you can create ambience and enhance your customer’s dining experience, you’ll make it easier for your guests to snap a few shots for social media too.

When planning your lighting strategy, you will need a mix of ambient lighting to allow people to see and navigate through your outdoor space, task lighting for your staff members to complete certain functions and accent lighting to create drama, opulence and highlight focal points in your outdoor space.

Creative ways you can use lighting is with fairy lights, fire pits, outdoor heaters, menu boards, water features, lanterns, candles, string lighting and signage.

Step 5: Shade from the sun, shelter from the rain

If we’re being practical, you will need to consider comfort for all weather conditions. Your customers will need shade from the sun during the daytime, warmth from the cold during the night-time and protection from the rain, any time.

Think of your shade solution as an investment. You might spend more at first, but your returns will be better in the long term with less replacement and maintenance costs. Be cautious of cheap products which may look great for the first 6 months but deteriorate soon afterwards.

We’ve curated a list of the Top 6 shading solutions available. Read below to find out which shading option would best suit your space.

Step 6: The details

Tables and chairs. Salt and pepper. Entrées and Mains. There are lots of little details that go into creating the perfect dining experience in the perfect outdoor space.

The key ingredient is consistency. We’ve talked about this in the previous steps. It’s imperative to create a space where all parts work together. Your staff and customers will appreciate it even if they don’t notice it.

Don’t forget to test and measure once you’re ready to launch, if something’s not working don’t be afraid to modify it, all it could take is shifting one table to improve your numbers.

6 Ideas for Outdoor Shade Products

Selecting the right outdoor shade solution is crucial for ensuring your guests are comfortable throughout the day. You need to create a space that provides protection from the midday sun and occasional showers. Here are several options for achieving effective shade:

Outdoor Umbrellas
Outdoor cantilever umbrellas are dynamic and modular, you can fit them in or make them stand out. You can have them wall mounted, cantilevered or a traditional centre pole to match your venue’s aesthetic. Cantilever umbrellas are built for the hospitality industry, they’re available in any colour and can be provided with custom branding. The canopy fabric provides UV protection all day long.

Fabric Canopy
These are mounted on a four-pole structure, anchored to the deck and can be retracted when shade is not necessary. Because this is a semi-permanent structure, it may not be a good fit for all spaces.

Trees and Plants
Natural shade from trees or tall plants is not always a quick fix and requires regular maintenance. You can create a natural feel to your space but they’re best paired with another shade solution when designing your space.

Pergola
This is an elegant four-piece structure, but the roof is constructed with rafters, so they aren’t ideal for shading on their own. Pergolas work best when paired with an outdoor umbrella and some shrubbery for full, safe shade.

Shade Sail
A shade sail is triangular-shaped and suspended overhead. Popular with schools and shared spaces, they’re a permanent fixture that can be hard to clean and maintain.

Awnings
Attached to the wall, Awnings are good for keeping out of the way, but their size and internal mechanics make them expensive to maintain and replace.

The Advantages of Working with a Specialist Supplier to Design Your Space

Creating an outdoor space doesn’t have to be a herculean effort, there are plenty of online resources you can use to narrow your focus, including this one.

Our key suggestion is to approach your space with a quality-first mindset, which will push you above and beyond the competition. Don’t risk purchasing cheap outdoor furniture and fixings from local hardware stores or in bulk from low-quality manufacturers.

Always choose a quality investment that will push your establishment to the top of the pile. You don’t want to get lost in an endless sea of options for patrons.

The allure will always be there to save on upfront costs but that can be detrimental to the look and feel of your space. Nothing is worse than spending money on a revamp only to investigate your competitors’ space and realise you’ve brought the same cheap tables and umbrellas as them and now your spaces look the same.

Learn More
Talk to our NZ-based Shade Specialists

Consistency Is Key to Great Spaces

Outdoor dining and entertainment areas offer a fantastic opportunity to create a new, dependable revenue stream for your hospitality business. These spaces are often the first to fill up, even on cooler days, as patrons are attracted by the allure of fresh air combined with the delightful aromas of your food and beverages.

Incorporating shade into your design is crucial for maximising the profitability of your outdoor space. Without adequate shade, you risk not utilising your space, which can impact your potential earnings. There are numerous options available to craft the perfect ‘outdoor room’ that ensures your guests remain comfortable and engaged.

Maintaining consistency throughout your establishment is essential. The overall ambience should be coherent from the smallest details, like the soap, to larger elements such as the ceiling paint. Creating a seamless experience for your customers is key to enhancing their enjoyment and encouraging repeat visits.