The owner’s guide to restaurant seating and table management
Key takeaways
-
Restaurant seating is an art that should balance ambiance with profitability, maximizing your occupancy while ensuring that guests have enough space
-
Choosing your seating layout and whether to equip your dining room with booth seating, varying table sizes, bar stools, or a combination of the three depends on your floor plan and restaurant type
-
Investing in a front of house system with table management features allows owners to monitor turn times, provide accurate wait times for walk-ins, and make more informed business decisions
Creating your dining area is one of the most exciting parts of opening a new restaurant.
Deciding on cross back vs. ladder back dining chairs, whether walnut wood tables will match the upholstery, and if bistro sets would complement your outdoor seating are all fun issues to tackle, but good restaurant design will balance ambiance with practicality.
Restaurant furniture and seating options are also only one part of the front of house equation. Table management, the practice of seating the right groups at the right tables at the right time, will maximize occupancy and sales while helping your front of house staff breathe easy.
Working together, proper restaurant seating and table management will help reduce empty tables, improve turn times and enhance your guest experience, all going straight to your bottom line.
Consider these factors for your restaurant seating
No matter how good your food is, your seating layout can make all the difference in someone’s dining experience. While there are no hard and fast rules around how to set up your restaurant seating, your seating options should match your restaurant type and customers’ expectations.
Space
Customers should have enough space between them and the next table to feel comfortable, but not so much that they feel isolated. The amount of personal space needed between parties varies by restaurant type and customer demographic. A fine dining restaurant would naturally provide more space for each patron in its dining room than would a quick service burger joint. Younger guests may also be more comfortable with tables being closer together than their older counterparts.
A good rule of thumb for your dining area is to have at least 10 square feet per cover, and no more than 18 square feet per cover. For example, if your dining room is 2,000 square feet, your capacity should fall between 11–200 covers.
Proximity
Structure your dining area so prime real estate is reserved for customers, with enough room for front of house staff to easily navigate the floor with trays of food and drink in tow. Nobody wants to be in the back corner near the kitchen door, constantly distracted by staff moving in and out, or next to the host stand with new guests passing by. These situations are unavoidable in some dining establishments, but some interior design tricks like placing a plant wall between the host stand and dining room can help you make the most of your dining space.
Durability
Restaurant furniture is an important line item for your business plan. High-quality restaurant chairs and tables made of solid wood may be appealing, but aren’t always a fit when it comes to your ambiance or budget. Durability, however, should be a critical factor in your furniture choice.
Metal chairs and metal bar stools at high-top tables have made a surge across the restaurant business, reflecting both an industrial-chic trend as well as a desire for furniture that can take heavy wear and tear. When opting for other styles, be sure to consider the warranty on your furniture selections.
Comfort
Guests should naturally enjoy their dining experience, but their level of comfort in their seat should match your turnover goals. If you’re a high-volume restaurant looking to turn tables as quickly as possible, those metal bar stools may help prevent people from lingering for too long. Conversely, if you’re a fine dining establishment with 1–2 seatings a night, plush restaurant booths will encourage people to stay and order additional drinks and dessert.
Choose the right restaurant furniture
Booths, tables, high-top tables, and bar seating each provide a different type of dining experience. Mix and match these options to best meet your restaurant type and business goals.
Booth seating
Restaurant booths can convey luxury for higher-end restaurants, as well as tradition and relaxation for more mainstay establishments. They encourage customers to stay longer and can increase average check, but may work against you if you’re trying to turn tables faster. At the same time, booths can only seat a fixed number of people, so you may find yourself seating two people at a six-person booth unless you have enough reservations to frequently fill those areas.
Table tops
Tables allow for a dynamic restaurant floor plan. Combining and separating tables to fit party sizes in real-time allows you to maximize your occupancy. In many cases, restaurants will line their walls with booth seating to accommodate new table arrangements while also providing a booth experience for at least some of the party.
Bar stools
High-top tables have become increasingly popular, and allow your restaurant to expand the bar experience beyond the bar itself. If your ambiance encourages mingling and other situations where customers would like the choice of sitting or standing, high-top tables with bar stool seating will make for a win-win situation.
Use table management software
Table management software allows restaurateurs to effectively fill open tables, allocate seating for online reservations vs. walk-ins, and track peak occupancy periods. While these platforms do come at a cost, they’re worth their weight in gold when it comes to their automation of your front of house operations.
When choosing a front of house system, consider the functionality of creating customizable seating arrangements to match your dining area. These systems should also be able to use historical data to accurately predict how quickly tables will turn, providing accurate wait time estimates. Your table management software should maximize your occupancy while saving your hosts and managers valuable time in determining seating arrangements, taking phone calls and answering questions around wait times during peak hours.
Your table management software should also integrate with your point of sale system. Not only does this allow you to manage everything with one iPad, but the collective data around both your seating and orders provides you with valuable information to make critical business decisions like whether to restructure your seating arrangement, change your menu mix, or update your pricing.
Make the most of you restaurant floor plan and table management software
Choosing the right seating layout, table types, and restaurant table management software will be critical factors in determining your dining room’s profitability and guest experience. And while there’s a wide selection of seating arrangements and table management systems, all dining establishments will benefit from a full front of house system.
Yelp’s front of house system takes table management to a new level, managing online reservations and waitlists to minimize no-shows and providing accurate wait times in real-time for walk-ins. POS system integrations and table management features help you improve staffing, scheduling, and seating.
Get started with Yelp today.