Impact of restaurant's interiors on customers' satisfaction

Living in a world in which consumers began to focus not only on what they eat but also on where they eat, the restaurants and cafes industry started thinking about new ways to attract customers by providing them with space for Instagrammable photos in addition to great food and service. In London, where thousands of restaurants attract pedestrians with their unique style, this phenomenon could be readily observed. Thus, to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of customers, many restaurants have begun to personalise the comfort of the eating place with an emphasis on the spiritual satisfaction and experience of customers during the eating process.

The introduction of a significant number of restaurants into the market has resulted in theme restaurants becoming a business trend able to solve many issues. As the restaurant is considered a commercial space, its interior design has a significant impact on attracting consumer spending. It is crucial for owners, investors and designers to style a commercial space that would be prioritised by the target consumer market in terms of safety and comfort.

The importance of restaurant interiors to the advertising strategy cannot be mitigated. How a restaurant appears, influences how consumers perceive the restaurant's notion and whether they consider it a suitable place to eat. The design of a restaurant affects not only how the establishment is interpreted, but also how much consumers are ready to order and pay. Furthermore, interior design has become the restaurant's passive sales representative in the age of social media. Everyone wants to post where they've been, so if the restaurant image is Instagrammable, it will appear in the consumers' feed and arouse curiosity among their friends. Besides that, many restaurant owners have implemented an open-kitchen idea, especially seafood and steakhouses for their venues in order to make the customer more involved in the entire process and enhance the dining experience. Even though these people want to see how their meal is prepared, they do not want to be exposed to a variety of smells, which makes the air conditioning system essential.

Depending on the trend or culture, a colour palette can tend to fluctuate. Nevertheless, it is well-known that such colours as red and yellow can increase appetites, as their impacts include a raised heart rate and a desire to consume extra. As it can overload the sensory experiences, red should be utilised sparingly. Even though blue has been shown to decrease customer appetite, it is frequently used in fancy restaurants due to its calming effects on customers.

Restaurants' acoustics that allows guests to converse without being interrupted, would also attract the attention of consumers. We can also include music in this category, as it has a significant impact on a restaurant's atmosphere. Additionally, studies have shown that it affects our eating habits. For instance, an increase in the volume of music can have a negative impact on business by reducing meal duration and customer tendency to spend money.

According to a study on the factors influencing restaurant customers' satisfaction, the participants also emphasised the significance of venue size, material for hard furniture impacting their seating comfort, as well as the location of tables, lighting, and design of glasses/plates. Despite the fact that the purpose of the study was to determine the importance of a restaurant's physical aspects, it was discovered that customer preferences are also a significant factor in restaurant branding; therefore, it is crucial to take consumers' opinions into account.

Written by Cristina Gore, Market Research Associate