Restaurant Furniture Blog

It’s a little like the ‘which comes first; the chicken or the egg’ story when it comes to new trends in restaurant furniture. Do you, the restaurant owner, have a say in setting new trends, or is it the designers who dictate the new trends? Believe it or not, it is you the restaurant owner that dictates the trends - or rather, owners.

There is a very simple way to look at it. Designers do what they do best - design restaurant furniture. Manufacturers do what they do best - and, you guessed it, they make the furniture. However, you as a restaurant owner decide which furniture you like. If a lot of owners like a particular style, that becomes the trend.

Of course, nothing is quite that simple because your decision is not always based on what you like. Your decision is going to be affected by what your customers are going to accept and that can sometimes be effected by what they have read from restaurant critics.

New trends in restaurant furniture then is not something that be controlled by you. You cannot, for example, decide to use a particular style or new material with the intention of setting a trend. Of course, if everyone likes it and other copy, it could well become a trend.

There is one thing I do know; trends come and go and as a restaurant owner you need to select furniture that is right for your restaurant - not necessarily what is trendy today. In fact, over the years the trend has been not to follow trends. Or to put it another way, the trend has been to be yourself.

Being unique can be one of the most important aspects of your restaurant. Rather than trying to follow new trends in restaurant furniture, be unique. Provide comfortable restaurant chairs with suitable tables then concentrate on what a restaurant is all about - food. Your furniture should be almost invisible - allow your customers to enjoy the food, not spend their time admiring what was trendy yesterday.