How to choose chairs for your restaurant

There is nothing quite like going out for a great meal with friends and loved ones. Many would argue that décor and comfort are just as important as the food and service. And whether people are conscious of it or not, at the heart of both décor and comfort are the chairs on which customers sit throughout the dining experience. Thus choosing the right chairs is of fundamental importance to restaurant owners. Not only must they be comfortable, and hard-wearing, they must also be in-keeping with the overall theme of the restaurant. Here are some key tips for choosing the perfect chairs for your restaurant.

Consider Your Space

How large is your dining area and will it be exclusively used for dining? If you have a bar or a lounge area, you may want to put other furniture here instead of just tables. This will leave you with fewer tables overall.

So you are looking to maximise numbers, choosing chairs without arms will allow you to fit them together more closely. Take, for example, the Jean Prouvé-inspired Standard Chair which is made of a wooden seat and backrest with a steel frame. It would fit perfectly in say a modern, gourmet burger restaurant where the key is many customers with a low wait-time.

Choose a Durable Material

Not only do you chairs need to be long lasting in terms of their build quality, you might want to consider how easy they are to keep clean and maintain generally.  Restaurants are home to spills of all kinds and not every material out there is easily rescued. Luckily, many of the more modern chairs out there allow you to clean up bolognaise sauce or Malbec easily and have them looking as good as new in a flash.

Our beautiful Lou chair is made of plastic – and so is wipe clean – and yet it would look stylish and chic in any top modern restaurant thanks to its elegant design and the juxtaposition between traditional form and modern materials.

Focus on Your Theme

Your restaurant will no doubt have an overarching aesthetic; designed to impact the customer’s experience from the moment they step through the door, to the final bite of their delicious meal. You therefore need to ensure that all your furniture fits in with this theme. For example, you would not Queen Anne dining chairs a contemporary sushi restaurant. Neither should you choose colours and textures that are not reflective of the space – a very rustic refurbished space with exposed brick work and metals fixtures is perhaps not the environment for plush fabric chairs and pastel colours. Juxtapositions can work, but you need to really know what you’re doing to pull it off. Generally, picking chairs that are sympathetic will create a much more harmonious and considered environment for your guests.

As you can see, chairs actually have more of an impact on a restaurant than you might initially have thought. Think long and hard about your restaurant and exactly how you want it be to be perceived. 

Once you know that, the perfect chairs are only a quick search away…