Restaurant Furniture Guide: How to Choose Commercial Outdoor Furniture
Your patio is an extension of your restaurant. The same care and consideration for designing your indoor dining space should also go into your outdoor dining area. While there is a lot of decision making required for an outdoor restaurant design, restaurant patio furniture should be your foremost consideration for your layout.
3 Tips for Choosing the Right Patio Furniture
People tend to judge furniture based on aesthetics. Understandably, they want outdoor restaurant furniture designed and fashioned to reflect their motif, brand and style the most. While the decorative aspect is important there are other crucial factors you shouldn’t discount:
1. Measure your patio space to see how much seating you can fit
Commercial patio furniture is meant to bring comfort and function to your outdoor dining area. However, furniture comes in many different configurations, styles, colors, materials, shapes, etc.
It’s important to measure the space you are planning to furnish before you decide which items to purchase and how many you need. Be aware of the same spacing and positioning constraints as you would for your indoor location.
Keep in mind that different styles of patio furniture will have different space requirements. You may want to mix and match between chairs, armchairs and bar stools to maximize seating space and comfort.
2. Choose commercial outdoor furniture in a style and type that will harmonize with your patio’s function
Do you plan to host outdoor events regularly and seat guests at a patio dining set with tables and patio arm chairs? Or do you want your patio space to be a social hangout with small tables for games and snacks along with a couple of restaurant patio chairs with seat cushions? Are you outfitting a hardwood deck, poolside, garden or a patio?
Different types of functions need different types of patio furnishings. Consider the function of your outdoor space, and then plan out the materials and styles. This will help you choose furniture that is the best match for your restaurant’s environment and surroundings.
3. Choose restaurant outdoor seating based on your available space, design and maintenance needs
Do you need commercial quality, weather resistance, strength, and easy storage? These considerations are important. Patio furniture is made out of resin, faux rattan, synthetic wicker, aluminum and synthetic teak – all of which are weather resistant with little maintenance required for upkeep.
While all materials mentioned above are weather resistant they have varied looks and require a slightly different maintenance. For example, faux rattan furniture has a more rustic look and is very easy to clean. Just wash with mild detergent, rinse and clean. Resin furniture can be made to look like practically any material from wood to stone and molded into various shapes. As part of the regular maintenance of resin patio furniture it is advisable to use cleaning agents that specifically prevent mildew. For more information about the various materials' look and maintenance we recommend reading our patio furniture guide.
As for available space, some commercial chairs are wider than others, especially those with arms and backwards slanted back rests. So if you are planning on having a spacious patio area with plenty of room between your outside table and chairs, chair width (including arms) is a crucial element you need to take into consideration.