Restaurant Furniture Blog

Baby boomers are reputed to be the group with the highest disposable incomes and as times improve, the ones most likely to eat out. With that in mind, does your restaurant chairs layout cater for them? It could make a difference between keeping or losing their business.

You may ask, what is different with baby boomers compared to other groups? It’s a fair enough question. Think about the era that baby boomers grew up in. Baby boomers were born in the post war period between 1945 and 1955. With the war over, birth rates jumped to record rates. Many of these baby boomers were in their teens and early 20’s during the ’60’s. You know what they say about the ’60’s - if you can remember that period, you weren’t really there.

The ’60’s were a period of, let’s say, relaxed social interaction. Personal space diminished sharply for this group and that is one of the keys to a chairs layout in a restaurant - they don’t necessarily want to be sitting a mile away from each other. This is why booths were so popular during the ’50’s and ’60’s.

You can use this knowledge to your advantage. Changing your restaurant chairs layout so that, rather than sitting opposite, they are sitting as close as they desire. This can be achieved by using round tables rather than square. Watch your diners at round tables and see how many move their chairs around to a side rather than opposite their fellow diners.

In fact, with round tables you can often sit five or six closer together - and they will be quite comfortable. For other diners, five or six to a table may be too many - for baby boomers, they will feel right at home. Sometimes you need to consider who your diners are and where they have been in life when considering your restaurant chairs layout.