When you open up a restaurant, you have a lot of admin to get out of the way first. As well as registering your business, you also need to look into the different licenses you need, such as a license to serve food, drinks, and even to play music in some cases.
All of this allows you to get to the point where you can legally sell food and serve customers, but it won’t necessarily make your restaurant dreams come real. You also need to put your restaurant together, and this includes theming your restaurant.
Why Theming Matters
People like to have some idea of what they’re buying when they get any product or service, including the restaurant experience. A strong theme can inform everything about your restaurant, and it will appeal to specific customers.
The theme of your restaurant can be something very niche, like a 1950’s diner theme. Or it can be something a bit more generic, like an Italian restaurant. You can keep it relatively neutral while still having a theme. A completely themeless restaurant won’t appeal to anyone.
Your theme will also make it easier to brand your restaurant. Business branding is what gets your name out there and can inform your marketing and advertising strategies, so it will help you win over more customers.
The Menu
As a restaurant owner, the main service you provide will be cooking and serving food. When coming up with a menu, it’s helpful to have a theme already in mind.
For example, a Chinese restaurant will primarily focus on Chinese food. If your theme is authentic Chinese food from specific regions or in a certain style (like a dim sum restaurant), you might use a very different menu from another Chinese restaurant that has a more westernized approach.
Ideally, you want a relatively limited menu. An enormous menu can confuse the theme of your restaurant and, even worse, confuse the customers. Give enough options for people to be able to make choices, but don’t drown them in choice.
Furnishing and Decorating Your Restaurant
If you want to communicate a theme really well, you need to make sure that your furniture is on theme. Tables and chairs can be quite neutral, but you can find styles that work better with your theme, such as food service booth seating for diner-style restaurants or places that cater to groups of people.
You can then use decorative pieces to complete the theme, especially if your furniture is more generic. Use wall art, table settings, light fixtures, and other decorative pieces to bring things together.
Creating an Atmosphere
One of the best things you can do is to create an atmosphere to complete the theming. This might include playing suitable background music for your restaurant. You can also make sure that the theme is translated into your employee uniforms and, to a certain extent, the ways that they greet and speak to customers.
All of this will make the restaurant experience more unique and enjoyable.
