Your restaurant’s floor plan has to be both practical and profitable. Its capacity influences revenue and its fluidity affects customer experience. Therefore, the layout must reflect the work flow of your staff and not cramp your customers. Because each floor plan is different and based on the space that the restaurant occupies, I’d rather focus on some questions that should contribute to your decisions.

What space are you working with?

You shouldn’t sign a lease before you have some idea about what kind of floor plan you want. Some space, no matter how hard you try, cannot be divided up into a particularly natural floor plan that pleases the customers while accommodating the staff. And the belief that if you choose a space with extra room that you will be able to accomplish your goals can be a formula for disaster.

What is your business plan and revenue projections?

To develop an idea of what your restaurant’s floor plan requires, start with your business plan. What financial landmarks are you realistically hoping to hit? How many tables will you need to achieve that? You should set a range of scenarios (from worst to best) and see what they would mean for your restaurant. The realistic goal should be somewhat closer to the best case scenario as you want to give yourself a cushion should something happen. The different days of the week and the different demographics surely create lopsided traffic from day to day.

Who will dine at your restaurant and what do they want?

Next move on to your customers’ expectations. Before they see the interior of your restaurant and only vaguely know about it, what are they hoping for? Do they want privacy? Are they expecting a lively atmosphere?  As with many parts of the layout process, a tried and tested method is to check out the competitions’ layout and observes its successes and failures. There will need to be some compromises, and if you don’t feel you can manage this part, you should ask for assistance. Most good setups have some flexibility, but also there should be some difference in the various seats. You should be able to accommodate relative privacy, while also giving the customers the availability of different lighting. Restaurants with well-planned layouts afford customers choices, whether they can peek into the kitchen or see people enter the restaurant (a customer may want if he/she are waiting for someone). Also, customers should be spared clutter and have an ability to walk through the dining area without colliding with staff or other customers. Sometimes, restaurants are able to offer something extraordinary, like a view whether its into the street or out into the kitchen. If these opportunities are feasible, they may be worth the extra expense if it will not cripple your budget. The basics need to be given attention too, like the waiting area and bathrooms. Customers shouldn’t have to wait in the rain, nor should they have cramped bathrooms (especially considering the handicapped).

What areas are needed so your restaurant runs smoothly and efficiently?

Going through your restaurant from the perspective of servers, hosts, chefs and managers should follow your attention to customers. Speed matters, but not as much as safety. That means following zoning rules and the health code. You don’t want to have to make costly changes later on. After the dining area, I’d start with the kitchen, focusing on building work stations for different food preparation. Always have a little extra room to operate for times you may have to prepare food for people with allergies and dietary restrictions. The placement of supplies and equipment also affects injury, so don’t arrange some physical activity so that the average employee can perform it. When people have to move around too much, it’s slower, and it can cause accidents.

For the servers, just as important as work stations is the transitions, like from the kitchen to the dining room, from the bar to the dining room. Restaurants need to provide both visibility and room. In addition to avoiding collisions, walking paths speed up everything so on crowded nights you turnover tables as quickly as possible.  Servers need to be able to access the tables and scan the dining area. They should be able to communicate with the kitchen staff and quickly process orders in the POS system.

The hosts, which watch over guests and direct customers to tables, should not have to operate in an exceptionally small space. Restaurants that have crowded entrances don’t seem very appealing. With weather, room for waiting customers should not be sacrificed unless you have no options. At least, you should offer an awning to protect from the rain.

You need a functional office. Work discussions cannot happen on the floor. Every restaurant needs a place to keep your records, a place to take phone calls and a place to count monies. Even a break room would be desirable, but that tends to be the lowest priority. Of course, you cannot go without storage places for supplies.

A good layout is a balancing act, and when done correctly, you never even notice that its there. Contrastingly, a hastily or unprepared layout can slow and even hurt business. But some math and some imagination (walking out the different roles) can save you a lot of hassle and make your restaurant a well-oiled machine.