Whether you’re looking to start a cafe business from scratch or seeking to revamp an existing space, you’ll need to undertake a fit out to achieve this. Small cafes offering seating for ten or fewer patrons are gaining popularity amongst both first-time and existing shop owners. These spaces have been gaining traction in the shopfitting world. They allow clients to bring their business dreams to life and open cafes while also sticking to more realistic budgets. Read on to find out how a small cafe can offer huge benefits and low budgets if done right.
This not only ensures a comfortable ambience but also enhances the overall experience of the customers.
Here are the cafe ideas:
Design of a living room
Cafes are congested, and that is why there has been a rise in the popularity of the living room design. In this case, the café will resemble the space as it is in a residential living room. There would be comfortable sofas, warm and cozy booths, and quite a considerable amount of place for sitting, as it is usually in a living room.
To keep the look unfinished
This look is very catchy and a new rising trend too. It is extremely easy as far as maintenance is concerned, and the look brings about a touch of professionalism as well as an industrial feel. This is sometimes also referred to as the “exposed look”. The best part about this unfinished look is if anytime it goes out of fashion, then the look can be completed just to compete.
The plan of an open kitchen
Entrepreneurs and interior designers feel that an open kitchen brings about a trendy and unique look and involves the customers more, gets them engrossed in the way the food is prepared, gives them the option of modifying their dishes and enhances the customer’s experience.
Mixing textures
Instead of having a particular theme, mixing them up also brings about a new look. For example, the floors can be concrete, and the tables can be recycled ones, there can be marble benchtops, copper fixtures and iron bars etc. All of these together can create a clash of textures and provide a unique look. This also gives an inviting industrial, and warm look for a café fit out.
Use of Flora
Flowers and plants have an aura of their own and bring about a lot of colours, and gives the “spring” feeling to any café. The front doorways, the service counters and the table tops can be decorated with curated plants. This also makes the customers and employees feel very fresh, active, lively and jolly while present in the café. Some entrepreneurs also add a leafy feature wall or vertical herb gardens to give their café a feeling of an oasis of greenery.
Unconventional seating plan
Plastic chairs are absolutely “in” these days. They have rapidly replaced the antique cushions, padded milk crates, long benches, mismatched seats and bar stools. In today’s world, cafes try many things to stand out in the competition and somehow, these non-conventional ideas are an absolute hit.
The raw look
Using stone or wood, or for that matter, a conduit lighting style is one trend that has an upward trend too. It promotes a relaxed and casual vibe.
Modern Minimalism
If you’re looking for a less-is-more vibe, go with a minimalist look; think clean lines, natural materials, and a simple colour scheme. Remember that going simple can sometimes be more difficult because every little detail matters and will be noticed.
Be Mindful of Lighting
Good lighting creates an ambience for your guests. Think about what type of environment you want to create and how you want your guests to feel in your restaurant. Besides the feel of the restaurant, other things to consider when choosing your lighting are energy efficiency, staff safety, and whether you want customers to get a good shot of their plate for the ‘gram.
What to Consider in Cafe Fit Out Ideas?
Like anything, it’s all about getting started. Grab some paper, take out your pen and begin making notes and lists that you can later organize into a master business plan. Here are the key areas anyone looking to fit out a cafe should consider:
Researching your cafe fit out
If you listen to the naysayers, you’ll already have been warned how most cafes fail. Okay, this might be true, but there’s no reason why your new cafe will. This is where the research phase comes in handy. The truth is, you want to find out as many problems before the cafe opens as possible. Because when you know the problems, you can plan ways to avoid them.
Conduct as much research as you can, from the point of view of your cafe manager (which might be you) to customers, other cafes in the area and direct competitors.
You’ll want to find out your potential customer footfall, which is the number of customers who could walk by at any moment. Remember this could change between weekdays and weekends, mornings and afternoons and even seasonally or at different points of the month.
Visit as many competitor cafes as possible and sink as much information as you can. How do they greet you? What do you think of the menu choices? Is the timing right between courses? Every tiny element contributes to the overall customer experience, so no part is too small.
When you know your market inside out or fat-crust thin, it’ll be much easier for you to nestle your business right in there.
Equipment for a cafe fit out
What many don’t realize is that food safety begins from the point of fit out. You want a set up that is clean, easy to use and easy to maintain (especially on those busy Saturday nights). Most retail fitters or tradesmen can advise you on the best space set up or the equipment you might need to consider to keep your cafe running.
Floor plans
There are two key floorplan areas to a cafe fit out. First is the health and safety one. To prevent food contamination and sickly patrons, you need to work out a flow of food that moves in a single direction.
This means working out where food travels from the point it arrives in the cafe through to it being stored, prepared, plated, served to customers and eventually disposed of.
This flow must travel in one direction to prevent any contamination, and this will likely give you the design of your kitchen and preparation area.
Secondly, is your diner floorplan. This means working out the number of square metres you have available for dining and how many people can fit into that space.
Communication
A customer can go anywhere and grab food. The choices are endless, from gas stations to food trucks, airport lounges, and even pop-ups in retail stores.
When a diner chooses your cafe, the food will consider but so will their feeling towards you as a brand.
Brand themes
Over 90 per cent of information processed by the brain is visual. How many cafes make the most of this to entice more people in? The rise of Instagram means that choosing “instagrammable features” within the cafe fit out could drive traffic alone, regardless of what’s on the menu.
Choosing an aesthetic for your business can be overwhelming – there is a lot of cafe design and decor ideas out there! To help you narrow down your options, we’ve compiled a list of design ideas for cafes to help you decide which look is right for your menu, location, and target customers.