Choosing Dining Chairs for Your Restaurant

Décor is the first thing that customers will notice when they enter your restaurant, making an instant impression. It is therefore one of the most important marketing tools, essential in ensuring your customers form a positive initial opinion.

With over hundreds of different styles of chairs available, each at a different price point — knowing which dining chairs to choose for your restaurant can be a challenging task

Defining Your Style
Restaurant chairs and furnishings are key features in defining the identity of your restaurant, sending your customers a clear message about what sort of venue it is. The style must be in touch with the ambience of the restaurant, complimenting your cuisine as well as making guests feel welcome and at ease.

Who Are You Catering For?
Who is your target demographic clientele and how concerned will they be with the style of their seating? Understanding who your customers will be should be based on your location, style of cuisine and menu price.

Fine Dining
The highest priced dining you can operate, also means that customers will expect premium seating. Patrons are more likely to stay for longer periods of time, therefore outstanding comfort and appealing aesthetics are essential to success.

Informal Dining
Also referred to as casual or family dining, with numerous styles of cuisine to choose from this is probably the most highly frequented type of restaurant — seating therefore needs to be durable, hard wearing and easy to clean, especially if children will be using your restaurant. Your chosen chair should offer comfort as well as being in keeping with the overall style of the restaurant.

Cafe
Cafe customers usually only stop by for a quick drink or a light bite — the chosen seating should reflect this; lightweight, stackable, low maintenance wooden chairs are a good option.

Steakhouses and Barbecue Houses
Restaurant seating needs to be comfortable and attractive, customers tend to stay for a couple of hours in this type of establishment, therefore booths and fabric dining chairs are a popular choice.

Types of Restaurant Dining Chairs
Wooden
Wooden dining chairs are a classic choice, synonymous with a warm and rustic ambient, offering customers a welcoming homely feel. Styles range from light and informal to formal heavy set and traditional.

Upholstered
The beauty of upholstered dining chairs, is not only the superior comfort they provide, but their outstanding versatility. Styles range from the traditional to the contemporary with fun and bold contemporary prints, glamorous crushed velvets, traditional wool tartans and other country styles to chic modern themes.

Key Considerations When Buying Upholstered Restaurant Chairs

• Weave of fabric and pile height — the tighter the weave, the less likely the fabric is to snag or get damaged.
• Stain resistant qualities — many modern fabrics offer excellent stain resistance
• Durability — will your chosen fabric withstand the test of time?
• Fire resistance — by law your fabric should fire retardant
• Colour — does the colour or pattern compliment your surrounding décor? Is it practical?

Leather Chairs
A leather upholstered dining chair not only offers a unique, timeless aesthetic appeal but is also exceptionally hard wearing and flexible, as well as benefiting from water proof properties.

Booths
Fixed seating, usually in the form of an upholstered booth, is becoming increasingly popular; a booth offers privacy, comfort, cosiness and generally more space for diners.

Aluminium
A great choice for outdoor seating, light weight, hard wearing and easy to stack, aluminium chairs offer a low cost, stylish and practical solution suitable for various ambients.

Height, Size and Space
The height, shape and length of your table is a vital consideration and must be considered carefully. High tables with bar stool style seating will encourage guests to mingle more.

Whereas large round tables provide a more intimate dining experience, encouraging guests to stay for longer periods — wider, well cushioned upholstered dining chairs would provide greater comfort in this case.

Long tables can be adapted to be either formal or informal with more rustic bench style seating.

A free flow of space between tables is a must, this not only provides customers with enough space to comfortably push their chairs back, but also enables staff to move around freely without bumping into anything.

Quality Counts
Low prices may be tempting, but quality furniture is an investment and will be more cost efficient in the long run. Your chairs should be attractive, durable and low maintenance.