DOES AMBIANCE MATTER? WHY SOME RESTAURANTS HAVE A BETTER “VIBE”
Does Restaurant Ambiance Matter?
Have you ever gone to a restaurant and felt uncomfortable or rushed? Believe it or not, it happens often. Restaurants that have a good “vibe” attract people who want to sit and hang out, enjoy a beer and share stories. So what makes a place more appealing? Is it the lighting, the decor, or a combination of things? Furthermore, does ambiance matter to you when you are making your decisions? Here’s why restaurant ambiance matters.
To us, it’s a package deal. Everything has to be just right so that people want to stay and hang out. Good lighting with uncomfortable furniture is a bad combo. So here we will break down the basics of the most important factors of restaurant ambiance.
Color Selection
Do you ever notice that fast food joints always have red and yellow? That’s because those colors make people uncomfortable, and fast food is all about getting people in and getting them OUT. No one ever stays at McDonald’s for more than the time it takes them to scarf down their double cheeseburger. But that’s the point. Proper color selection is the first step to winning the ambiance game.
Decor
Do you ever walk into a Mexican restaurant and notice how cliché the decor can be. It’s like there is some book that everyone reads that says one wall must be orange, one yellow and one red. Cliché is not the way. In fact, most places that stand out do so because they did something different. Not just the same old same old.
Lighting
Lighting could be the most important ‘vibe’ factor. A lot of it is personal choice, but it also has to blend with the theme of the restaurant and the decor. A modern restaurant might have brighter lighting vs a dim warm light. But again, you don’t want lighting that makes people feel like they’re in a hospital.
Art
Who doesn’t love art? OK, maybe some people don’t. But clearly we do. That’s why in all of our restaurants we have original hand made art from local artists. Blank walls or Ikea posters just aren’t cutting it in 2019. Cool art can go a long way, especially in the days of people instagramming EVERYTHING.
So what’s the number one thing that attracts you to a restaurant? Maybe it’s one of the things we listed, or something we left off. Let us know in the comments that one thing that makes you keep coming back week after week.