Because of its functional nature, relatively simple restaurant furniture is often very effective at doing its job - for example, a rectangular dining table and straight-backed chairs can seat diners in comfort, without needing too much innovation compared with the classic design of restaurant chairs and tables.
Newly published research from Budapest in Hungary shows how this can have even further advantages, and could allow restaurants that typically only see peak customer numbers during their evening service to attract more daytime trade as well.
The study is published in the 2017 book Driving Tourism through Creative Destinations and Activities, and in particular looks at the creative synergy between gastronomy and literature, in the context of KonyvBar in Hungary's capital city.
Budapest plays a hugely important role in Hungary's tourist economy, accounting for 60% of overnight stays by international visitors and 70% of international tourist revenue, and KonyvBar is located on the edge of the so-called 'ruin pub' scene, where old buildings are sympathetically refurbished to create nightspots.
In the case of KonyvBar, relatively simple restaurant furniture in light colours is combined with bookcases that reach the full height of the surrounding walls, not only creating an eye-catching visual effect, but also giving customers easy access to reading material.
The furniture - including the bookshelves and the restaurant chairs and tables - is all part of the 'servicescape', the overall ambiance of the venue which also includes its temperature, layout, noise levels and signage, and the article's author Tamara Ratz of Kodolanyi Janos University of Applied Sciences suggests that this could easily be replicated elsewhere.
She writes that "in the restaurant industry, where most companies are small businesses, firms searching for ways to add value and become more competitive often choose an imitation strategy over innovation", and that if restaurants outside of Hungary were to copy KonyvBar's approach, it would not harm the Budapest restaurant's market share.
To do just that, in principle all you need are airy interiors with simple restaurant furniture in fresh colour schemes, and a good supply of books, and you could soon have a whole new daytime trade not from people coming directly to dine, but by engaging with the literary-minded tourism market.