21 Restaurant Design and Decor Ideas to Inspire You in 2024

Selecting an aesthetic for your enterprise will be overwhelming, and with so many restaurant design and decor concepts on the market, it’s exhausting to know the place to start. As you open your new restaurant, you’ll have a number of selections to make: from selecting your restaurant POS to choosing the right napkins and every thing in-between.

To assist slim down your choices, we’ve compiled an inventory of 12 restaurant design concepts, together with tips from HGTV’s Taniya Nayak that can assist you determine which look is true on your menu, location, and goal clients.

12 restaurant design and decor concepts

1. Typography
2. Support local artists
3. Murals and wall art
4. Go green
5. Open up the space
6. Pick a theme
7. Modern minimalism
8. Embrace the classics
9. Community-centered design
10. Location-based design
11. Be mindful of lighting
12. Functionality is key

1. Typography

When performed proper, incorporating typography into your decor is usually a success. Daring graphics, marquee letters, diagrams and charts are all enjoyable (and informative) methods so as to add particulars to your design scheme. Old-school neon signs are a giant hit proper now, too—strive getting one custom-made with a quote or phrase that displays the vibe of your restaurant.

2. Help native artists

In case you have a big, open wall house that you simply need to design on a funds, attain out to native expertise for assist. By making a gallery-style wall that includes a brand new artist or group of artists both month-to-month or quarterly, you get a rotating assortment of distinctive decor, and native artists get their work seen and doubtlessly offered.

3. Murals and wall artwork

Apart from a gallery wall, one other glorious possibility for showcasing native expertise is to rent an artist to create a mural or graffiti-style wall artwork. Creating an Instagram-worthy backdrop encourages friends to snap photographs and selfies in your venue, supplying you with added publicity within the type of user-generated content. No room inside for mural-sized artwork? Put a mural in your constructing’s exterior as a substitute!

4. Go inexperienced

Embellish your house with numerous greenery by together with indoor crops in your venue decor. Not solely are crops stunning and enjoyable, however many assist purify the air. Additionally they make a visible connection for friends concerning the freshness of your elements.

5. Open up the house

Make the kitchen a part of the decor, particularly you probably have a singular point of interest like a wood-burning oven for pizza. If opening up the kitchen isn’t a risk, take into account an uncovered wine cellar, whiskey tunnel, or one other distinctive house to offer friends a glimpse of the again of home (BOH). Inviting folks to stand up near your merchandise sparks their curiosity and will get them speaking. The extra they be taught, the extra they have a tendency to spend.

6. Choose a theme

Themed eating places have a popularity for being a bit overboard, however they don’t must be. If you happen to assume a theme will work properly on your restaurant design, attempt to choose one which isn’t too fashionable as it would look dated in a couple of years. As a substitute, choose one thing that displays your menu or model and incorporate your theme in a contemporary method, like Ladybird’s Nineteen Seventies-style summer season camp theme.

7. Trendy minimalism

If you happen to’re searching for a less-is-more vibe, go together with a minimalist look. Assume clear traces, pure supplies and a easy coloration scheme. Keep in mind that a easy strategy can generally be tougher as a result of each little element issues and shall be seen.

8. Embrace the classics

Sure appears to be like are classics for a purpose, so long as it really works together with your restaurant’s menu. French bistros, fities-style diners, or a basic pizzeria-inspired look can all lend a way of nostalgia whereas nonetheless having a contemporary twist.

9. Neighborhood-centered design

Meals is a good equalizer, and eating places can deliver a neighborhood collectively. To create a community-centered expertise in your restaurant, strive including a communal desk, eradicating TVs, or providing board video games for friends to play whereas they wait.

10. Location-based design

Typically your decor will determine itself. A seafood restaurant on the water will name for blues and whites, mild wooden, and tasteful nautical touches, whereas a BBQ joint in Texas goes to set a wholly completely different set of expectations. Have a look round you and take into consideration what clients will count on when strolling into your restaurant.

11. Be aware of lighting

Good lighting creates ambiance on your friends. Take the time to consider what sort of surroundings you need to create and the way you need your friends to really feel in your restaurant. Apart from the texture of the restaurant, different issues to contemplate when selecting your lighting embrace power effectivity, employees security and whether or not you need clients to get shot of their plate for social media.

12. Performance is vital

Perform will be far much less enjoyable to implement than design, however a well-functioning restaurant could make a major affect in your backside line. Rent an expert designer to plan your format and maximize perform. A small house doesn’t essentially must really feel crowded or cramped!

Restaurant design ideas from HGTV’s Taniya Nayak

From acoustics so unhealthy you would like earplugs have been on the menu to clichéd decor, hackneyed—or simply plain unhealthy—restaurant design can go away a foul style in a visitor’s mouth. Relating to eating out, the atmosphere will be as necessary because the delicacies, and unpalatable design ought to by no means compromise the expertise. 

We tapped award-winning Boston-based designer Taniya Nayak—who has lent her refined eye to hub hotspots like Lower Mills Tavern and starred on the Meals Community’s Restaurant: Impossible together with a number of HGTV shows—to highschool us on a few of her go-to professional ideas for clever restaurant design.

Sit

“The most effective ideas I can provide is to take a seat in each seat [in the restaurant]. Typically this must be performed mentally as you’re employed off of your drawings. Make certain that each visitor in each seat is one thing good!”

Vibrant lights, massive downside

“Vibrant lights are for cafeterias. Ambient lighting is every thing in the case of a correct eating expertise. Set the temper with lighting that’s dimmable and regulate it accordingly all through the day. Depart the fluorescent lights within the kitchen.”

Don’t cover the host

“I usually see a number stand arrange in an space the place they can’t see the friends—or the friends can’t see them—as they enter. A heat whats up and welcome greeting is the friends’ very first impression of the place. This could by no means be neglected or deemed unimportant.”

Take into account sound and supplies

“Tile and wooden look nice collectively, however they usually ship sound waves bouncing off the partitions. You’ll want to incorporate some sort of sentimental seating (upholstered banquettes, bar stools or eating chairs), acoustical ceiling tiles, and even gentle material to assist soak up the noise. Plus, it appears to be like nice!”

Learn between the traces

“If you happen to’re designing a restaurant, don’t neglect to learn the menu or chat with the chef! The design [of the space] ought to all the time have a tie to the meals that’s being served. Let’s face it: consuming sushi in a rustic kitchen may appear a bit odd.”

Let historical past repeat itself

“I all the time attempt to seize maintain of a chunk of historical past of that house or the world. Locals and vacationers all the time appear to understand story. My husband and I simply opened up Yellow Door Taqueria in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It was an iconic vintage retailer for over 20 years—a favourite nook store within the neighborhood. In developing with the design idea, we needed to carry on to the historical past by designing a taqueria that has the appear and feel of an previous vintage store. The place turned out nice, and, extra importantly, the friends appear to actually recognize that we went in that route.”

Don’t neglect the place you got here from

“Begin out with a very sturdy idea board. Typically issues shift and get sidetracked through the course of as a result of some materials are not out there or the funds constraints require discovering options. It’s all the time good to test again to the unique intent.”

Designing and beginning a restaurant is a giant endeavor. Fortunately, there’s software program that may make your day-to-day operations a lot simpler and environment friendly. Chat with one of our restaurant experts to learn the way Lightspeed can provide the instruments your restaurant must thrive and develop.