There are many approaches to design and the general organization of space – minimalistic, oriental, Asian, family-style, farm-style, fantasy, classic, etc. Within each category, there are a plethora of ways to make the place unique, including colors, decorations, textures, menu, exclusive dishes and bar, entertainment, services, and so on.

And yet, before the wannabe restaurant owner picks a concept they like most of all, and starts planning the design and service, there are four most basic and crucial concepts they have to choose from in the first place.

These concepts are customer-oriented and address the behavior of the expected customers and the facility’s relations with the customers.

Based on the customers’ behavior and expectations, and the relations that the facility builds, the restaurant owner will have fewer issues choosing the design and deciding about the whole message and atmosphere of the place.

The customer-oriented concepts and their meaning for the restaurant are described below.

Many People, Less Time

The first concept is for the restaurant to serve more people per day but expect the people to spend less time in the facility.

A good example is a downtown restaurant that serves mainly breakfasts and business lunches for the employees of the office buildings around.

Embracing this concept means being ready to have as many places and room for customers as possible and place as many tables as possible. The kitchen should be oriented on cooking fast, the preference may be given to nourishing food over exquisite food, and fixed business breakfast or business lunch menus might be used.

Lunch of the day and hourly happy hours might also become part of the marketing strategy if the restaurant wants a bigger turnover of people in a shorter time.

This concept might not seem very attractive because it turns the restaurant basically into a diner, but it can be efficient and profitable, especially if the facility is located in the right place and offers better services than its competitors around.

Fewer People, More Time

This concept is oriented toward keeping the visitors relaxed, entertained, and spending more time in the restaurant rather than just waiting for their food, eating it, and going away.

When the restaurant wants the customers to stay longer it means they have time for that. Maybe they have a day off, a date, a meeting with friends, or an informal business meeting to talk in a relaxed atmosphere.

In this case, the restaurant is expected to provide more space around each table to let people have private talks without being listened to by other people. The whole design, lighting, and service should be more relaxed.

This does not mean that the customers have to wait for their food for an hour and then wait for another 30 minutes for the waiter to bring the bill. But it does mean that they can order several dishes or several glasses of wine over the time they spend in the restaurant, go have a smoke break, even play a table game or sing karaoke.

Attracting New Customers

If the restaurant chooses a concept of attracting new customers, again and again, this strategy has to be based on something – for example, on the facility’s location where the visitors are mostly tourists and they have to be attracted by something unique to choose the facility among its competitors.

Attracting new customers all the time usually means having a unique design and visual concept, really standing out from the crowd in visual terms. Also, the restaurant has to do a really good job in describing its menu and services in the best way possible in the fastest way possible, to attract the attention of the people walking by.

Happy hours, exclusive offers, lotteries, and presents for visitors may sound cheap, but these may work excellently if the facility takes advantage of its marketing strategy and tactic.

Really fast service and making the customer happy by bringing them a glass of juice or wine for free immediately after they sit at the table is one of the key ingredients for building a successful concept of attracting new customers.

Keeping Old Customers

If a restaurant, due to the nuances of its location or other aspects, mostly places its focus on keeping its old and regular customers happy, it should consider making itself a place where every waiter and bartender remembers every customer and their preferences.

Changing the music, bringing an extra blanket or pillow, and having small talks with regular customers are the musts of being successful in this restaurant concept.

The restaurant should also be ready to have all its tables booked in advance by the old customers so it will have to disappoint new visitors just walking by and dropping in to see what’s going on.

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Many casinos want to have their own restaurant that would serve their gambling customers, or have a deal with restaurants nearby for the same reason. For almost any restaurant, working together with a land-based casino is great luck if they know how to use the opportunity.

In this post, we look into the main benefits a restaurant can have from working together with, or near a busy casino house.

More Customers Every Day

There are many offline casinos – big and small, casinos with Microgaming and cabinets and casinos with Table Games, casinos that have game shows and small private casinos, and so on.

But what they have in common is that they usually have lots of customers, daily, especially on weekends. Casino houses attract both regular players and new visitors, tourists, or young people who at last are of legal age to make some bets.

For a restaurant, such popularity of a casino means only one thing – all these gamblers, or the majority of them will be hungry at some point in time, so the restaurant will definitely have orders on a regular basis.

Common Music Shows and Entertainment

This is especially true if the casino and the restaurant have a common facility because both casino visitors and people dining can enjoy the shows even if they do not gamble.

The restaurant can share organizational moments with the casino or just provide food and beverages, but the final result is the same – the restaurant has an additional attraction for its visitors, and additional visitors enjoy the casino games and the show. A win-win situation!

Common Marketing Tricks

If the restaurant and the casino house decide to work together more tightly they can develop a parallel marketing strategy and use common marketing tools like happy hours, discounts, etc.

For example, the restaurant can provide free cocktails to people making bets on a specific game, and the casino can offer tournaments to make the players order food during happy hours.

There are many marketing tricks that two facilities can think of together for the shared benefit and to take their services to the next level for the customers.

The restaurant in this case gets even more advantages because due to the nature of the business, it inherently has fewer entertainment opportunities compared to a casino house.

Any Cuisine Works

In contrast to many busy tourist places or just places where the competition in the restaurant business is high, a restaurant that works near a casino house can offer any type of cuisine.

It can be Japanese, Chinese, Italian, local, French, literally whatever. The main task for the cuisine is to be nourishing, tasty, and served fast because gamblers come to gamble.

Hotdogs and burgers are very likely to be sold as successfully as exquisite Oriental food and the players will be glad to pay. So, basically, any restaurant can try and benefit from cooperation with a casino house nearby.

Being a Necessity

Funny enough, from the gambler’s point of view, a restaurant in a casino house or nearby is more a necessity than part of the entertainment.

Of course, some people will still prefer having a great dinner and will perceive it as part of their fun, relaxation, vacation, or birthday party.

However, on a day-to-day basis, people that come to such restaurants to eat come actually to eat because they are hungry.

In contrast to, say, a music show, a restaurant and a bar are necessities for the gambling house and one cannot go without them.

Being an obvious necessity means that the restaurant will always have its share of customers.

Fewer Competitors

Because of all those amazing advantages a restaurant gets from working with or nearby a casino house, many restaurants would love to, but all of them can’t do that.

Restaurants and casinos usually operate within the same facility or have exclusive agreements with each other to share the customers.

As a result, for a restaurant, the competition stops being a problem because casino visitors are more likely to dine with the specific restaurant that is closer to their gambling cabinets, serves them free drinks when they win, and offers happy hours.

Other restaurants have to squeeze in and there is no guarantee they will be successful.

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As you probably know, most casinos serve alcoholic drinks for free. Just sit at one of the noisiest tables or by a slot machine and place a couple of high bets, and the cocktail server will magically materialize in front of you asking for your drink order. Free of charge.

‘Free of charge’ at a casino won’t mean paying nothing at all, though. It is a barter: the alcohol will make you more mellow and less thrifty, more willing to take risks and show everyone a good time and less cautious about tomorrow.

Champagne can turn anything into a celebration; a cocktail umbrella will light up any dull day. And that good old whiskey? Oh, just place the rocks glass into my palm, and watch me crash that Blackjack Dealer!

That’s what alcohol does: it makes your guests stay longer and have a better time which adds up to better sales and returning customers.

But enough about the emotional side of the story: let’s get down to the pragmatic business aspects.

Why you should serve alcohol at a restaurant:

1. As we’ve said before, a bar menu attracts customers, increases sales, builds rapport with guests, and brings many of them back.
2. Alcohol sales drive business. It can be a real boost for a restaurant that is just getting started and struggling to make a profit.
3. Bars have inner aesthetics: from the way glasses and bottles are placed on shelves to professional bartenders able to turn each serving into a small show and conversing with guests. Throw a few more bright shots, unique recipes, untrivial names, and a slick social media account – and there you have it – one more promotional tool to attract photo lovers and those with an eye for an ambiance.
4. Bars bring customers off-hours. Their specials and ‘happy hours’ can provide a restaurant owner with clientele during slow seasons and at night.
5. Alcohol is not one of the most perishable foods; it is rather easy to stock and manage.

Alcohol at your restaurant – what to concern yourself with?

1.    Dry and semi-dry laws

Every country, region, or even state might have something specifically unique to say about alcohol at their restaurants. Some prohibitions will establish time (hours, seasons, or days) and age limits; the others dare dictate where and how much to serve, what containers to use, and where to import from.

Not to mention completely ‘dry’ areas – in 2022, there are still places on our planet where selling alcohol is absolutely forbidden: 9 southern US states with their 1 – 34 dry counties, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas; Australia has its dry places in the south with most of the states having various alcohol restrictions; and Saudi Arabia, UAE, Maldives, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Mauritania, Kuwait, Yemen, Libya, Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan have the strictest set of alcoholic laws possible.

Even if you think you know the area better than the palm of your hand, we advise checking all the laws and requirements once again.

2.    Does your brand need alcohol?

The formula here will include the venue type and overall style, target audience, and return on your investment. If you decide to have a bar at your venue, make sure it is well paired with the menu and doable for your staff. A customer will hardly have time or a craving for a decanted Barolo at a fast-food pizza place. Bar equipment and trained employees of age will be another article of expenses in your budget records.

Do your math and give it time to collect the data after adding alcoholic beverages to the menu. Is having a bar menu worth it, or does it give you more headache than profit?

3.    Can you handle skunks?

In addition to the most crucial rule of all – no underage (those over 21 or 18 in some countries) customers can be served alcohol – there are many more things to consider. Restaurant guests expect your staff to ensure a safe and positive dining experience, and you have to know how to deal with anyone who is likely to stand in the way of it.

Handling drunk guests is not only a matter of pleasing your customers but also your potential liability and an insurance issue.

Think of training your employees on how to be patient but firm with those who are already tipsy and what to do when a scandal can’t be avoided. Build relationships with taxi drivers to offer the guest fast and affordable rides home, add some mocktails and non-alcoholic beverages to your menu for drivers so that they could drive safely after the party and still have a good time with their friends at your place.

4.    Getting a Liquor License

The process is neither quick nor cheap. You will have to meet stringent criteria concerning bar hygiene, proper zoning and location (not in close proximity to a school or a college, for instance), etc. A venue can’t serve alcoholic drinks if the license is pending. Plus, the license is subject to renewals every once in 1 – 3 years, depending on the place.

Digital businesses like deliveries and online grocery services (just like online casinos and minimum deposit casino platforms in the gambling business that we started our article with) are sure to have those laws and regulations altered to suit the online world.

Summing it all up, we would like to say that, just like with Shakespear’s eternal questions, there is no single answer or piece of advice that every restaurant owner must follow to succeed. There are many factors to consider, and we have mentioned just the thickest brush strokes of the entire picture.

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The building must be connected to communications: sewage, water, heating, extraction, etc.

On average, the area of a small restaurant is about 100 to 250 square meters.

The next step in your journey will be to redesign the layout. Try to create as much coziness as possible, meaning the space should be segmented into seating for several people.

When planning, leave room for the kitchen, and there should be plenty of room for the staff to work comfortably. There are many rules that describe the requirements for restaurants, so, even at the design stage, it is worth seeking advice from an experienced architect. This will save you money in the future.

An important point! The place where you are going to open a restaurant – this is one of the “three whales” on which your business will be built, so treat this issue most carefully and try to choose the best proposal.

As a rule, premises for a restaurant are taken on lease, since buying is a more expensive and risky option. The lease agreement must be drawn up carefully, paying attention to all the clauses and requirements of the landlord. When drawing up the lease agreement, it is also worth spelling out the possible risks, in which the rent will be reduced.

Design

The design of the room is the basis of the restaurant concept. You need to pay attention to every detail: from the signage to the decorative items. First of all, study the trends that currently exist in room design. This will help to create a stylish and interesting interior that will attract your guests.

The main criteria for selecting the exterior and interior design of the restaurant:

• Color design – the color scheme should be completely consistent with the style. Loft – shades of oak, copper and brick, Provence – pastel tones and floral prints.
• Light – there must be a lot of it, regardless of the format of the restaurant. During the day it can be natural light from a panoramic window, and in the evening the fixtures around the room in the general style of the restaurant.
• Signage design is the first thing your potential guest will see. The signage should reflect the overall concept of the restaurant and be noticeable.
• Hall interior – it is important to create comfort in the hall so that guests will feel comfortable in your restaurant. Pay attention to the small details and decor of the hall.
• Bathroom Design – Often restaurants don’t pay attention to bathroom design. Don’t forget that the restroom is visited by almost every one of your guests. Yes, first and foremost, the bathroom should be clean and well-maintained. But it is also necessary to pay attention to the interior of the bathroom, it must be in the same style as the restaurant.

Furniture must be not only comfortable, but also fit the general concept. If you have a restaurant in the classic style, think of monochrome sofas or chairs in the English style. Save money on furniture is not worth it, cheap materials will wear out faster.

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Any self-respecting institution is famous not only for its good food and level of service: in it every detail should be thought out – from the color of the upholstery to the shape of the teapot. Everything should be combined and stylish, because it is these little things that will create the desired impression to the visitor, will emphasize the atmosphere, will make the visitor appreciate the prepared dishes.

In addition to the aesthetic component is important and functional. Furniture and tableware should be durable and long-lasting, meet all safety requirements.

If with the furniture and the client area all is more or less clear, the equipment for the kitchen invariably raises many questions. What is usually needed for the kitchen area of the restaurant or cafe?

• Heating equipment – this group includes items for thermal processing: combi steamers, ovens, stoves, frying surfaces and more;
• refrigeration equipment – freezers, cold rooms, ice generators;
• processing equipment – mixers, vegetable slicers, coffee machines, meat grinders and more;
• neutral equipment – cutting tables, exhaust hoods;
• dishwashers;
• scales.

Of course, this list will be reduced or supplemented depending on the format of the institution.

For the right choice of furniture and equipment, it is best to ask for help from professionals. When determining the style of dishes and furniture, the designer can solve problems, when equipping the kitchen – the advice of the chef and advice from manufacturers.

After the purchase will require the assembly of furniture and equipment installation, as well as its further maintenance. It should be remembered that poor quality installation can ruin the best equipment and bring to naught the durability of interior elements, so it is worth choosing a professional performers among specialized companies in the field of restaurant facilities.

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The choice of a chef is largely determined by the focus of the establishment. But some qualities should be inherent in him regardless of the main idea of the restaurant. For example, the chef should be able to cook both simple and complex dishes, handle modern kitchen equipment, and provide references on his work. The candidate’s leadership qualities are very important, as he or she will have to organize the work of the team of chefs, monitoring the quality of the prepared dishes.

Basic rules when selecting staff for a restaurant:

• The applicant for any position in the restaurant should be neat, because it shows how he will treat his workplace. If the applicant came in wrinkled clothes or dirty shoes, it means that he will work with incomplete dedication and untidiness.
• Waiters, hostesses, bartenders must be sociable, courteous and friendly.
• A good bonus would be knowing English to communicate with foreign visitors.
• Both senior and junior staff must first of all be patient and stress-resistant.
• Hostesses are chosen based on two criteria: appearance and foreign language skills.

Usually, in large establishments, a senior manager or manager is in charge of staff recruitment. In order to improve the skills of the staff, they need to be constantly trained and tested on their direct responsibilities.

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The main problem of food procurement is the instability of supply. At some point the necessary ingredients may not be available, which can certainly have a negative impact on the institution. In order to avoid such difficulties, it is necessary to find several substitute suppliers who could provide the restaurant with the necessary products.

The choice of companies engaged in supplying food for the catering establishment is based on the integrity of the supplier, its success in the market, the quality of the products provided and the lack of failures in the work. All these factors are the key to successful and long-term cooperation.

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