How to Renovate Your Cafe, Bar, or Restaurant

If you know you serve great food and drinks yet the income still falls short of expectations, it’s time to consider a restaurant renovation. Improving the interior of your food and beverage venue is a great investment. Giving your bar, restaurant, or cafe a fresh new look will enhance your patrons’ experience and will encourage them to spend more time at your place. The longer they stay, the greater the revenue you reap.

A new, better ambience may also get better reviews from guests and food critics, attracting more customers and enticing them to visit your hospitality venue. A healthier and more stimulating working environment for your staff may also lead to more satisfied patrons. But you might be overwhelmed and have no idea how to start on your restaurant or cafe renovation. Don’t worry, here are some tips on how to renovate your cafe, bar, or restaurant:

Identify Critical Issues

While you may be excited to get into the aesthetics of your cafe or restaurant right away, you have to consider the comfort and convenience of your staff and patrons first. Prioritise the critical issues in your restaurant fitout. Check if you have cracks on your walls, a leaking sink in the kitchen, rickety tables, or flickering lights. Treat key surfaces, signage, and key pieces of furniture and check if they need an upgrade or replacement. When revamping your hospitality space, the pieces of furniture that you should think of replacing are the chairs as they are not just ornamental, but also repeatedly used throughout the day and are the main touch point with your patrons.

It is also important to check your venue’s noise levels. Patrons often go to cafes and restaurants and go home with a sore throat because they practically had to yell to be heard. Acoustic solutions can help you provide a quiet and comfortable environment for your patrons.

Establish Your Goals

How would you want your restaurant, cafe, or bar renovation to impact your business? Set a purpose and determine if you just want to revamp the look of your restaurant or if you want a rebrand. This is important because redecorating will allow you to retain colour schemes and most elements while rebranding may require you to come up with new concepts and designs. If you want to rebrand your food and beverage venue, you may also need the help of a professional branding and graphic designer alongside your interior designer to achieve the best strategy and design for you.

Keep Track of Trends

Your bar, restaurant, or cafe fitout must be able to keep up with the times. Keep track of relevant trends; you might realise that either you can just add a new twist to your current design or you may need to completely redo your interior, especially if you haven’t renovated for years. Check and analyse the latest trends in your industry. Your renovation plan should not only look modern but also make your venue stand out among your competitors. Even if your brand is traditional, you can incorporate a few modern elements as well as new-age technology and facilities.

Look for Ideas

Make sure your restaurant, cafe, or bar fitout stands out among your competitors by making your venue’s ambience match your brand identity and goals. Look for ideas from other successful hospitality places. Survey your staff and patrons to get their opinions and suggestions. You can also look at pictures and clips from magazines and the internet for more inspiration. Create a mood board so you can easily show your peg to your interior designer.

Set Up Your Budget

Remodelling your cafe, bar, or restaurant will most likely cost more than what you expect. The profit you make is also a factor in putting up a budget. If you’re not sure how to create a reasonable budget for the mood board you made, you can ask your interior designer for the expected expenses for labour and materials.

Hire the Right Designer

There are several factors that you also need to consider in renovating cafe, bar, and restaurant fitouts. While changing the aesthetic of the space is exciting, you also have to pay attention to wiring, lighting, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, and ventilation systems. To make your renovation safe and compliant with the National Construction Code (NCC) and Australian Standards, get an interior designer who specialises in restaurant, bar, and cafe fitouts. Take note of the standards and factors you should consider to help you hire the right designer for your hospitality venue.

Announce Your Venue’s New Look

Maximise your investment and make sure the world knows about your restaurant’s new look. Make use of your social media pages and email marketing. Create teasers and announcements both in print and digital to entice more patrons to visit your place. Do everything you can to get the word out and pull the crowds in.

The Takeaway

Giving your cafe, bar, or restaurant a fresh new look is a great investment. Get stellar reviews from patrons and critics by giving them a better ambience and making your staff happier with a healthier working environment. Even if your food and beverage venue is doing great in business, it’s essential to give it the right changes to keep up with the fast-paced and ever-evolving landscape of the industry. For a safe and successful renovation, hire an interior designer who specialises in restaurant, cafe, and bar fitouts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]