 When you set out to develop a restaurant prototype you do a lot of
talking about the vision. Once you have built the restaurant, the
vision should do the talking for you. In other words, your goal should
be to build the marketing into your restaurant design.
Building the restaurant marketing into your design multiplies the value
of your interior investment because it communicates your message while
guests are waiting in the lobby, on their way to the restrooms, during
the meal, and as they pay the bill. Building the marketing into your
restaurant design is not merely a matter of tossing up some signage
with clever messages here and there; rather, it requires a top to
bottom approach that includes relevant messaging in relevant places.
Building the marketing into your restaurant design begins as soon as
guests walk in the door. The lobby can speak volumes about the
experience awaiting them in the dining room. Is the lobby seating
rugged or posh? Is the hostess station a simple podium or does it have
a concierge, full-service feel? Do the restrooms offer comfort with
accessories appropriate to the theme of your eatery? Building the
marketing into your restaurant design is as much about subliminal cues
as it is about blatant messaging.
Leaving guests with an unforgettable experience is one way to build the
marketing into your restaurant design. That’s just what Señor Frog’s
did at its first U.S. location in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The restaurant set
out on a re-branding strategy as it developed a restaurant prototype.
That prototype centered on a beach theme through and through. But
building the marketing into the restaurant design meant more than just
laying tile to create the look of water and sand on the floor.
Señor Frog’s Cancun built the marketing into its restaurant design by
incorporating unforgettable elements that would send guests away with a
good word in their mouths, along with good food in their bellies. Señor
Frog’s boasts miniature put-put with a $100 bar tab prize, inner tubes
in the ceiling, a hot tub in the middle of the restaurant, and a slide
that dumps people into the lagoon outside.
Of course, building the marketing into your restaurant design does not
require such extravagant measures. Restaurant owners can also explore
other strategies, such as the concept of color marketing. Miami-based
smoothie concept Fruition built marketing into its restaurant design by
playing off the color palette of its exotic fruit. Every aspect of the
restaurant design communicates freshness and health.
Building the marketing into your restaurant design is a fun challenge
to overcome – and one that can ultimately help justify the cost of
restaurant renovations or extra comforts in a restaurant prototype.
Building the marketing into your restaurant design demands a restaurant
designer with a strong background in marketing and branding because
flooding the guests with too many overt messages could make them feel
uncomfortable. The experienced restaurant designer’s goal is to build
the marketing into the design and let the vision speak for itself.
Want to see samples of our restaurant design work?
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