The 30 Best Café Furniture Ideas - Inspiration from the Experts
Furniture matters. Whether you’re setting up a café from scratch or refurnishing/refurbishing an existing one, furniture is important for a number of reasons. First, it sets the tone. Are you modernist, trendy industrial chic, traditional, or eclectic? Your furniture will convey a message about what kind of café you are.
Second, furniture plays a vital role in determining the “flow” of your customers and staff. And third, if your furniture is uncomfortable, your customers will not come back. So here are the very best 30 ideas from the experts to help you decide what kind of furniture to buy, and where to put it.
The 30 Best Café Furniture Ideas - Inspiration from the Experts – Tips 1 – 10:
Tip 1 - Know your customers.
If your café is in the heart of a traditional British market town, your customers will be more traditionally minded, which might mean tablecloths, cake stands, and furniture made from wood rather than metal. On the other hand, customers in an urban café might expect bare brickwork, reclaimed wood surfaces, metal chairs and concrete floors. Most cafés will cross over between different styles, but it’s important to think about the type of people your café attracts and to furnish accordingly.
Tip 2 - Look at your café through the eyes of your customers.
Try to take a step back and imagine you are a customer. What are your first impressions? Imagine you have been away for a long time and are coming back to you café. Does it look a bit tatty and threadbare? The things that you have got used to, the flaws and problems that you might overlook, are the things that your customers will notice immediately.
Tip 3 - Visit other cafés.
Take a notebook and make a note of what’s good, and what’s bad. Observe how customers move through the café and how they make their way to their tables. Check out the big high street chains such as Starbucks and Costa. They may be anonymous corporate behemoths, but they are successful for a reason.
Tip 4 - Think long and hard about “flow”.
This means planning the way your customers move through the café, and therefore where to place furniture. Think of your customers as traffic. When they come into the café, do they have space to pause, look around and think about what they want to order? Is there an easy route for them to get from the serving counter to a table? If staff are moving around, can they do so freely? A useful blog post from problem-solving consultants Hyde and Rugg looks taking a user-centred approach to the use of space. If you are setting up from scratch, there are useful tips in this article on customer flow, lighting, counter size and so on.
Tip 5 – It’s vital to ensure that your customers don’t feel crammed in.
It might be tempting to squeeze more tables into your café to maximise revenue, but this might deter customers. Ensure that there is plenty of space between chairs for customers and staff to move around.
Tip 6 - Bear in mind that customers will be coming into your café for different reasons, and furnish it accordingly.
Some will want a quick espresso or a cup of tea; if you have a long high counter, placing high stools alongside it will be an ideal space for these quick-fix customers. Poseur tables and high stools are also useful for this. Others might want to linger over food or a pot of tea and will want something cosier and more comfortable. Which brings us to...
Tip 7 - If you have space, think about installing a sofa or two.
These can go up against a wall with a low coffee table, and perhaps chairs opposite. Tired shoppers will relish the chance to sink into a deep, comfortable sofa. A sofa with cleanable surfaces, such as Trent Furniture’s Manhattan sofa in leather or faux leather, is best, to make it easier to mop up the inevitable spillages and general grime that accumulate from heavy usage.
Tip 8 - Your choice of furniture will depend on what you are serving.
If you are a coffee-and-cake type of establishment, smaller tables will be fine. But if you are serving hot dishes, soups and suchlike, you will need larger tables. Customers do not want an experience akin to that of an aeroplane meal; they want space to eat, reach out, sit back, stretch their elbows.
Tip 9 - Wall-mounted tables can reduce clutter and increase floor space.
They are widely available in a range of styles and finishes. Often used in a domestic context, they can also be useful in commercial environments.
Tip 10 - A long space next to a window or alongside a wall can be turned into a shelf-table, with stools underneath.
It should be solidly fixed – customers will need to feel absolutely confident that they can lean on it without fear of it collapsing or wobbling.
The 30 Best Café Furniture Ideas - Inspiration from the Experts – Tips 11 – 20:
Tip 11 - Speaking of which: make sure that your floor is level.
There are few things more irritating than sitting at a wobbly table.
Tip 12 - Cushions will add comfort and colour to a café interior.
Scatter them at intervals along a bench-seat or banquette. Larger cushions can be placed up against a wall where there’s a bench or banquette. They can also be scattered across sofas.
Tip 13 - A rug or carpet can create a homely environment and reduce noise.
Modern cafés and restaurants can be exceedingly noisy places with their hard, reflective surfaces. If you have a large table, a rug placed under it will “centre” it in the room.
Tip 14 - Think about having a big communal table.
Today’s younger customers are friendlier and more gregarious than previous generations. They’re often happy to sit at a large table surrounded by strangers rather than sitting at small tables on their own or as small groups. A communal table is also good for large groups of family or friends.
Tip 15 - Window seats are an effective use of space.
Converting a deep, low window ledge into a seat with cushions adds space and makes a place seem warmer and homelier.
Tip 16 - Don’t arrange your chairs and tables in strict rows so that it looks like a chess tournament or a prison visiting room.
A mix of table sizes and seating arrangements makes for a more “organic” and visually interesting environment. And there’s no reason not to rearrange things periodically.
Tip 17 - If you want your furniture arrangement to be flexible, ensure that your furniture is light enough to be moved around.
Tip 18 - If you need to clear a space regularly for functions or dancing, or even just for cleaning, think about buying stacking chairs, which are available in a range of designs and styles.
Tip 19 - If you have space, think about installing booths.
These offer privacy and comfort. Customers will relish the intimacy and the chance to talk in private that they offer. They don’t have to be as large as restaurant booths; a rule of thumb is that the more expensive the menu, the more space the customer will expect. But booths take up no more space – and sometimes less – than a regular tables-and-chairs arrangement.
Tip 20 - If you have an outdoor space at the back of your café, think about making a feature of it.
When the warmer months come around, you could turn it into a “secret garden” with quirky weatherproof furniture, plants in containers, perhaps space heaters, and fairy lights.
The 30 Best Café Furniture Ideas - Inspiration from the Experts – Tips 21 – 30:
Tip 21 - Remember that children are people too.
Have a supply of high chairs handy, as well as booster cushions. And if you have space, include one or two deep supportive armchairs in your layout for breastfeeding.
Tip 22 - Remember that your furniture does not all have to match.
An arrangement featuring a mix of styles and colours will give your café a more natural, homely atmosphere. However, colours should match or that complement each other. If you think that your colours might clash, get a second opinion.
Tip 23 - Small stools and low tables can fill up awkward corners and spaces.
Trent Furniture’s Triangle Chester Stool is ideal for these situations.
Tip 24 - Spend time on the Pinterest website.
This is a rich – and free – store of inspiration and ideas from around the world.
Tip 25 - Remember that trends in furnishing and interior design come and go quickly.
If your café interior is totally “on trend” now, the chances are that it will look old-fashioned within a few years. For instance, suspended filament light bulbs are now beginning to look a little dated.
Tip 26 - Think carefully about customers with disabilities: can a wheelchair get through the spaces between tables? Are your menus and signs readable?
This list of suggestions for Disabled Access Day will give you some ideas.
Tip 27 - Remember that an increasing number of British people are freelance workers.
Often they work from home on laptops, but coming to a café offers a change of scene and a chance to drink and eat while catching up on work. So make sure there are spaces on tables for customers to set out their laptops and that there are plenty of sockets for recharging. It goes without saying that Wi-Fi is essential.
Tip 28 - Always buy commercial furniture.
Unlike domestic furniture, this is built to withstand the frequent and heavy use it will undergo in a commercial environment.
Tip 29 - Does your café have pavement space at the front? Are you able to use it?
Today’s outdoor furniture is attractive and durable, and with some choice chairs and tables outside, you could expand your capacity. Also, customers sitting outside your front door will act as a kind of living advert for your café.
Tip 30 - Remember to have fun.
A café that is furnished and decorated with a sense of enjoyment will have individuality and charm. Customers like to see a human touch behind the things that they buy. So don’t be afraid to express yourself.