An outdoor patio is the perfect addition to just about any restaurant, bar, or pub. It can provide comfort for guests who prefer to sit outside and give them an incentive to return. In addition to expanding your dining area and taking the atmosphere of your establishment to a new level, outdoor patios also provide an opportunity to increase profits. There is much to gain by using these restaurant patio ideas from Enclosure Guy, a leading manufacturer of outdoor screens, curtains, and enclosures.
Choose Comfortable and Attractive Furniture
When selecting furniture, it’s important to ensure flexibility. Movable items allow you to reconfigure the space for small parties, groups, and private events. The right configuration can accommodate multiple small gatherings or even provide room for live music. It helps to have tables that can be moved together or separated depending on the arrangements needed.
Are you expecting weekend crowds or hosting a banquet or buffet-style event? This is important to consider when selecting furniture that can accommodate flexible arrangements.
Some types of furniture suited for an outdoor restaurant layout include:
- Round tables for two to provide a romantic atmosphere.
- Bar stools and seats for outdoor bar areas.
- Sectional furniture such as love seats, cushioned items with pillows, and chaise longues.
- Wooden tables/benches for families and larger gatherings.
Furniture materials include plastic, which comes in numerous designs and tolerates a range of weather conditions. Wood is light and natural-looking while weather-resistant. It can create a cozy atmosphere for your restaurant. If you’re going for a more contemporary vibe, metal will do the trick and lasts a long time.
Add Amenities Where Possible
Various outdoor restaurant design features can spruce up your space. Plants, including trees, vines, and hanging flower baskets, can make your restaurant seem like a park or oasis. You can also add curtains to divide up the area and add privacy for diners. Even add a water feature or separate your patio from a busy street or parking lot with wooden landscaping elements.
The amenities you choose can add comfort or convenience. For example, there are options for cooling systems that can make your patio seem unique, such as misting fans. These can provide a cooling mist that gives your patio its own microclimate while reducing the temperature by a few degrees. This is perfect for relief from the summer heat during the afternoon or even a muggy evening.
There are also outdoor heaters in different designs, for use in cooler weather. Heaters can allow a few more hours of outdoor dining in the fall and winter. If bugs are a problem, you can invest in insect zappers and fly traps. These come in various designs to match your decor and atmosphere.
Use Lighting to Set the Mood
Many restaurant owners don’t put enough thought into lighting design. An outdoor patio provides the opportunity to be creative here. You can use lighting to create a certain atmosphere at different times of the day. If people are dining out in the dark, you might want to make the space feel warm and sunny.
However, don’t just concentrate on indoor lighting. An attractive lighting scheme for the exterior can draw customers to your restaurant, especially if it has a street facade. More customers may come by even after the dinner rush. Decorative lighting can extend your patio hours and put your business on the map in terms of local nightlife. There are tons of options here, including:
- String lights
- Color-changing LEDs
- Unscented candles
- Tea lights
- Paper lanterns
- Tropical torches
- Lamp posts
- Sconces
- Spotlights for centerpieces
Make Your Restaurant Patio Pet Friendly
Allowing pets certainly expands the range of clientele you can accommodate. Not everyone will be receptive to others’ pets wandering about, but, if you do it right, this can be one of the most fun outdoor dining area ideas. You can set aside a pet-friendly area and use screens/curtains to divide it from other sections. If you have a small patio, scheduling pet-friendly days or hours can accommodate different patrons.
Add an Outdoor Enclosure
To attract people to your outdoor space, it’s important to provide shelter where they can seek relief from the heat, sun, or rain showers. Patio covers and enclosures are versatile and ensure your outdoor dining space is available every day. The weather doesn’t always follow the forecast, but if it starts raining, an outdoor covered seating area allows patrons to stay where they are and enjoy their meal. You can maintain full capacity in just about any kind of weather.
An outdoor enclosure is convenient because it allows guests to:
- Host events without disturbing other patrons.
- Sit outside and enjoy the view, whether it’s hot or cold.
- Be protected from rain, snow, or other bad weather.
- Not be bothered or bitten/stung by bugs.
- Enjoy a sense of privacy when patio curtains are closed.
- Have a clear view while being protected against the elements.
Why Enclosure Guy for My Restaurant?
We hope you find our covered outdoor seating area ideas helpful. At Enclosure Guy, we build clear commercial outdoor patio curtains that resist temperature extremes and winds up to 65 mph. All our products are available at factory direct pricing and are extremely durable. Made of marine-grade vinyl, they feature a welded bottom for reinforcement, an adjustable tie-down assembly, and a vertical zippered closure and weather flaps for connection to existing structures.
The inclusion of filler flaps with our restaurant patio enclosures helps compensate for dimensional changes with temperature. Therefore, they won’t crack, break, or wrinkle due to the weather or if the temperature varies from freezing outside to warm and toasty inside. Better yet, each curtain can be easily operated by one person using the welded stainless steel clip and D-ring. The curtain includes a pole hook for retracting and closing the zipper and a spring-loaded trigger snap to connect the tie-down web strap to the D-ring.
Each item is built in the USA and includes a 5-year warranty. Contact us to receive your instant quote or call 830-445-4500 to speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable representatives.