Servu-Online Launches Furniture Design Tool

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the new furniture design tool on our website. The interactive furniture design tool allows you to create a customized seating layout for your restaurant or bar. The furniture design tool allows you to choose from various sizes and shapes of tables, booths and seating options. The furniture design tool will even give you the option to add vinyl colors to your design.

Where do you use aluminum in your restaurant? Perhaps aluminum foil seals your food, aluminum pots sit atop your range and aluminum pans occupy your oven, but have you considered incorporating aluminum furniture into your outdoor dining area? Aluminum should be the material of choice for your outdoor dining furniture because of its corrosion resistant properties and lightweight portability.

When aluminum patio furniture is exposed to the light and air of your patio, the metal creates a protective covering that will withstand sun, rain and wind. Because aluminum is so durable, this outdoor dining furniture needs minimal maintenance. Soap and water easily clean aluminum dining furniture.

Lightweight materials make it easy to transport your aluminum patio furniture. Aluminum furniture will resist scratches and your outdoor dining area can be rearranged frequently. Just as easily as you pull your aluminum sheet pans from the oven, you will be able pull your aluminum patio furniture out of storage for outdoor dining season!

Serv-U sells aluminum furniture in a variety of styles including aluminum side chairs, aluminum arm chairs, aluminum stools and aluminum tables. Some styles have the benefit of a durable aluminum base with the added comfort of a wicker seat. Not all aluminum furniture has the same look. Serv-U sells aluminum furniture with a finish that mimics bamboo.  Call a Serv-U sales representative today for help in designing your outdoor dining area!

Sunshine and warmer weather mean that, for much of the country, outdoor dining season is about to begin! If you provide outdoor dining to your patrons, now is the time to get the deck, sidewalk, or patio in condition. Buying appropriate supplies to utilize your space can vastly increase your restaurant’s seating space and, if the weather plays along, your income for the summer. Serv-U offers the equipment and furnishings you need to transform your outdoor space into a seasonal money-maker.

To get your deck a summertime atmosphere, you will need furniture that is durable while giving a seasonal vibe. Our inventory includes a wide selection of outdoor seating in a variety of textures and weather resistant materials such as teak wood, melamine, polypropylene, aluminum and resin. These pieces are specifically designed and constructed to withstand the damaging effects of sunlight and moisture. Another popular choice is our wrought iron collection which can easily transition from outdoor to indoor use thanks to its versatile design aesthetic.

To shield your customers from the hot summer rays, a market umbrella may be a wise investment. Portable patio fencing is another option to consider for customer comfort. Bordering your patio can create a more private and secure dining experience in the open air environment.

Flow pattern and space considerations that were important to the design of your indoor dining area are still important to outdoor areas, however you may have more flexibility to experiment. Use the spring season to figure out what works. Opening up your outdoor space early pays off when customers are seeking destinations to dine in the early spring sunshine!

Infants and restaurants don’t always mix, but by making your restaurant baby-friendly, you can please parents and their little ones. Having appropriate seating for the children visiting your establishment is crucial. In today’s economic environment, many families are less inclined to foot the bill for a babysitter, but you can still encourage customers to dine out. Increase your profits by being accommodating to patrons who are parents.

Whether it is a high chair, infant carrier stands, or booster seat, making your youngest customers comfortable will put parents at ease. Keeping the kids happy in their seats also has an added benefit—preventing them from roaming around the restaurant. Parents and other diners are sure to enjoy their visit more if children stay in their seats. Proper seating also benefits the wait staff, by allowing them to service a table more efficiently.

Without the availability of youth seating, parents are forced to place car seats on the floor which can block access to the table or aisle areas. One unsafe solution seen in some restaurants is placing infant carriers in overturned high chairs—this places your youngest customers in great danger! Instead, consider purchasing an infant carrier stand. Parents can place their infant seat on the secure base, rather than risking a wobbly high chair or cluttering the floor. The possibility of customers and staff tripping is eliminated.

Beyond efficiency and customer satisfaction, appropriate child seating also has the advantage of making the environment safer. Children are protected when strapped into suitable chairs, rather than balanced on adult seats.

Investing in a range of child seating will pay off when your customers come to recognize your restaurant as a kid-friendly environment. Families are sure to frequent any location that has a seat at the table for their toddler.

The bar stool has become an important element in many restaurants and the trend only seems to be growing. So how does one choose a bar stool that is right for their application? What features are important, what style of bar stool is best for a specific application, how many chairs are needed to fill a certain amount of space, is there care and maintenance required? These are the questions many restaurant owners ask themselves when trying to purchase bar stools for their restaurant

The classic bar stool is more a product of function than of style but a wide selection of wooden bar stools and metal bar stools are highly functional as well as stylish. Classic bar stools with a metal base, swivel seat and no seat back were primarily designed as functional bar seating with little consideration to style. However many of today’s wooden bar stool and metal bar stool are stylish piece of furniture in their own right that also fulfill the function of the classic bar stool. The swivel seat is an excellent feature on many bar stools, especially if they will be used in a tight space where having the customer sit and swivel into place will be much easier than trying to pull out a bar stool then shuffle it back into place once they are seated. Seat backs are also a good feature to consider as they are more comfortable to sit in for longer periods than a backless bar stool.

When trying to choose a style of bar stool look to the rest of the dining area for inspiration. Many manufactures offer the same style of furniture in both a bar stool and chair version, so coordinating the two in a new restaurant or during a remodeling project can be quite simple. If there comes a need to replace a bar stool during the restaurants design cycle because the old bar stools have become worn, then the best choice would be to match the new bar stool to the ones being replaced or trying to match the overall style present in the dining area to the new bar stools.

A common question people ask when looking to purchase a bar stool is; how many do I need? Just as restaurant owners avoid crowding their dinning room the same logic holds true for the bar area. Having too many bar stools crowded together can cause an uncomfortable experience for patrons. Luckily there is an industry standard for bar stool placement which is 26 to 30 inches distance as measured from the center of each bar stool. This provides enough room for dinners to eat and socialize without feeling as if they are sitting on top of each other. With this measurement in mind, a bar or restaurant owner can measure their allotted bar space and then determine how many bar stools they will need.

A bar stool can be a large investment, taking proper care of wood bar stools can greatly increase their life, be sure to read the manufacturer’s care instructions for in-depth information. Cleaning them on a regular basis with furniture polish will help protect them from wear and tear. Plus there are a few additional items to be aware of that can help extent the life of your wood bar stool. Clean spills immediately, this can be difficult in a busy bar environment but an upholstered bar stool can quickly become ruined if liquor or other items stain the seat area. The faster the spill is cleaned up, the less time the spill has to soak into the fabric. Try and avoid placing bar stools two close to the walls or other furniture items. Bar stools can easily cause damage to other furniture from rubbing back and forth on it or it can become damaged itself. Finally, try and encourage customers to not lean back on two legs. Not only can this be a injury claim waiting to happen if the customer falls, it also puts a large strain on the back pair of legs and the bar stool back which can cause either area to break under the strain.

Wooden bar stools, as with all wood furniture, should not be placed in a situation where it is subjected to extreme dry or humid conditions. Wooden bar stools are a living piece of furniture which will dissipate or absorb moisture depending on the environment conditions. As the bar stool absorbs moisture from the air around it in a humid environment it will swell just as it will shrink when exposed to an extremely dry environment. This is a natural cycle for all wood furniture but when taken to extremes it can cause the wood to crack, weaken, or split over time.

If you have additional questions regarding bar stools, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat.

So far in this eight part series on revamping the décor of your restaurant we’ve covered everything that goes on the table like linens, glassware, china, and flatware. So the next logical topic to cover is… you guessed it; the dining table.

Before we can talk specifics about table selection it is important to know what type of seating requirements are going to be needed for the dining area. There are several factors that have an influence on dining requirements, some that are controllable and some that are not.

One of the areas outside of management’s control is the influence of the economy and the changes in behavior it causes within patrons. Ask any restaurant owner how the economy has affected their business and I’m sure they’ll say the same basic thing; people are not dining out as much as they used to and are entertaining guests at home rather than going out for dinner. However, in recent months there as been a growing trend toward dining out in large parties for special occasions like a birthday or anniversary. This trend requires restaurants to be able to accommodate larger parties more frequently than they may have in the past and part of that accommodation is having the ability to arrange for a large enough table.

An example of an influence that is completely within the control of the restaurant is the menu selection. What does the menu have to do with seating you ask? Different types of menus require different types of table space. Take for example an ethnic menu that requires the use of several large platters along with a plate for each diner, a regular table for two might not be big enough and make the diner feel crowded and uncomfortable while dining. To ensure that the diner has a pleasant experience a larger table than normal is in order.

Now that we’ve covered some of the influences that need to be considered let’s look at some of the solutions. For restaurants that frequently have large parties it is somewhat impractical to rearrange the dining area by pushing together several table tops. Enter the drop leaf table, with the ability to be reconfigured for additional dinners. This table makes perfect sense for restaurants with the space and need for them. Throw a linen table cloth over the top and you’ve got a beautiful dining area that is a combination of form and function.

However, maybe pushing tables together for larger parties works for the dinning area in question; then perhaps a laminated tabletop with a wood edge should be considered. This type of table offers many benefits to the restaurant owner because it is easy to clean and durable to wear.

Finally, one simply can not talk about table tops without talking about the solid wood table top. With a natural finish and availability in many different sizes, this beauty works great in a range of applications from a contemporary setting to a steak house. Featuring an inch and a half thick ash wood construction, these tables are finished in a catalyzed commercial grade medium gloss sealant for a final product that can hold up to the wear and tear of a busy restaurant.

If you have questions regarding the different table options available here at Serv-U, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat and one of our customer support staff will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Next time we’re going to move on and start talking about chairs, so be sure to check back for the seventh installment of our series on revamping the décor of your restaurant.

Welcome back to the Serv-U eight part series on refreshing the décor of your restaurant. In part five, we’ll be covering linens. If you were to do an exit survey on your patrons, what do you think they would say was the most memorable aspect of their dining experience? It is a safe bet that not one single customer is going to say that it was the napkin. Linens are one of those items that nobody really pays attention to, but helps establish the ambience of the restaurant and can turn an ordinary dining experience into an extraordinary one.

At the high-end scale of restaurants, linen is a staple and almost demanded. However, at the mid-level where patrons don’t expect to find linen it helps to move the patron’s opinion of the establishment up a peg. It’s one of those finer touches that they’ll remember, but doesn’t take center stage.

Normally, when one thinks of restaurant linens they immediately see crisp white napkins and tablecloths. However, many interior decorators are shifting to an unobtrusive color palette that matches and enhances the décor of the entire restaurant. Now it should be noted that the crisp white linens could be just the thing to enhance the overall décor but if it is not, there is a wide range of color choices to choose from.

With all the color choices available the desire to mix several different colors of table linen can start to creep into the mind. While it may sound like a good idea to jazz up the look of a dinning area, it is generally not as the space becomes too busy. A better approach to establishing contrast would be to use one color of table linen and a different color napkin or use the color in your china to establish contrast.

An alternate option to linen table clothes would be a vinyl table cloth. While a vinyl table cloth doesn’t have quite the same level of refinement as a linen one, it can still be a quick way to refresh your restaurant. The same rules for color and style that apply to linen also apply for the vinyl counterpart.

Look around the linens and vinyl tablecloth sections of Serv-U and you’ll be sure to find the perfect thing to refresh your restaurant’s décor. If you have addition questions, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat.

Now that we’ve touched on the linens, next time we’ll cover tables.

With the slumping economy and people being more careful with how they spend their money restaurants are having to come up with innovative ways to bring in customers. One method being tried out across the country is to gear the theme of their restaurant toward their target audience.

An article earlier this month in The Dallas Morning News discussed a local restaurant that had changed its theme to one that catered to people (mainly men) who wanted to relax and have a good time with their friends.

The restaurant in the article had a lodge-type feel, which was accomplished by putting animals on the walls and serving a heavily meat themed menu. The owner also put television sets all around the restaurant to broadcast games and other big events on, which he believed would help to draw in men during busy sport seasons.

Other restaurant owners follow the same pattern when trying to draw in their target audience. Whether it is a seafood restaurant with fish nets on the wall or an Italian restaurant with red and white tablecloths, restaurant owners know that the looks of their business are important to their customers and can help bring them in again and again.

It’s easy to cater to your target demographic if you have the right furniture, decorations, table settings, and menu items. If you think your business could use an update to help get your target audience call your Serv-U representative today. They can help you get everything you need to have the restaurant you want.   

How about some news you can use?

The National Restaurant Association has released its 2007/2008 Restaurant Industry Operations Report and the Examiner.com had the opportunity to interview Hudson Riehle (the NRA’s senior VP of research and information services).  You can see the article here, but the main ideas were that a tough economy is forcing ingenuity in the restaurant business.  Namely increasing food and energy costs are putting the squeeze on many restaurateurs and some suggestions for pulling in more profits include wireless ordering systems and advertising online and through cell phones.

The good news?  Restaurant sales volume finally increased in March—for the first time since December.

More news...
 

Remember my recent blog post about celebrity chefs coming to the NRA Show in May?  Well, if you are looking for your fifteen minutes of fame—and the chance to stand side by side with those celebrity chefs—your opportunity has come.  The National Restaurant Association recently announced a YouTube-based competition called the “Hot Chef” Challenge.  Basically, all you have to do is make a great 2 minute video of yourself making a trendy dish and alcoholic beverage.  Submit it to the appropriate YouTube channel by May 7^th and tell your friends to vote for you.  Get all the details from the NRA.

It has been a long, cold season and even though spring officially began some time ago, the chill of winter has remained.  Until today.  The cold broke—and is allowing us Midwesterners a few days’ respite.  The first thing we all want to do is get outside.  We wait, bide our time until the end of the workday and try to find excuses to spend time in the out-of-doors.  On days like this, I can’t pass up the temptation of a nice café or restaurant with an outdoor patio.

Apparently, I’m not alone in this.  Fast Casual’s site is featuring an article about the phenomenon of outdoor eating, and it’s a good read.  The fact is that when the weather warms up, an outdoor eating area is a great asset for any restaurant or bar.  It’s a low-cost way to add space to your existing establishment, and even if the weather gets a bit chilly after dark, there are ways to remedy the situation.  In fact, Serv-U currently offers a few outdoor patio heaters and we will soon be adopting more models for you to choose from.

Besides warmth, the only major requirement for outdoor eating is outdoor furniture.  Serv-U carries a wide variety of styles at every price point: aluminum, teak, wrought iron, resin, and more.  Outdoor furniture is built to resist the weather (be it rain or shine).  To better protect your guests in the heat of midsummer, stock up on attractive table umbrellas, and to clearly mark off dining space, use portable patio fencing.

Dining al fresco appeals to winter-fatigued patrons for the fresh air, the cool European café vibe, and last—but not least—it appeals to smokers.  With smoking bans becoming commonplace, it’s never too early to welcome this group of eaters to a comfortable outdoor smoking area.

Welcome, Spring!

 (photo courtesy of LukeGordon1 on Flickr)