It’s vital for customers to enjoy a perfect dining experience when visiting a restaurant. This should begin from the moment they look at the exterior of the building and, indeed, it should last until they pay their bill and leave!
The importance of a restaurant’s exterior can’t be over-emphasised, as it could mean the difference between potential customers walking in, or people walking past because they don’t like the way it looks. This is why many restaurant owners are choosing curtain walling to enhance their premises.
Curtain walling for a restaurant not only attracts diners, but it also enhances their overall experience by creating a pleasant window view.
How important is a restaurant’s exterior?
Keeping your entrance well maintained and appealing is crucial. In fact, it should be a priority. Making sure there’s no litter outside is important, while dried-out plants in old pots is another turn-off. These things can give the wrong impression and suggest this is representative of the standards of your restaurant as a whole.
Although these may seem like relatively insignificant factors in comparison with the standard of your cuisine, after all, surely customers come to dine, not look at the exterior décor; your food might be amazing, but if your premises look tatty, you could be deterring people from coming in to try it.
A survey of 1,000 adults revealed 51% would be deterred from entering a restaurant with dirty glass and windows, fearing this could be a true reflection of the general standards. Even the most pristine kitchen can be perceived negatively due to other cleanliness factors, according to the poll by Cintas Food Service.
A report in The Guardian reported restaurant insolvencies in the UK had increased by 64% in one year. In 2021, there were 42,070 full-service restaurants in the UK. In 2022, the number had dropped to 35,129. The food and drink industry in Britain provides employment for 475,000 people.
The hospitality sector was hit hard by the Covid pandemic – and just as the green shoots of recovery were starting to sprout, the economic crisis kicked in, further denting their fortunes. This is why restaurateurs must use every weapon in their armoury to attract customers.
How can you make a restaurant look inviting?
Design is often referred to as a visual language. Your business can convey a lot of messages by the exterior design alone, aside from the name. Setting the right tone for the entrance is one of the most important factors in your success.
You can choose from numerous different exterior designs, but one of the most popular over the past few years is curtain walling, which can offer an insight into the restaurant before visiting, not only by presenting a clean, stylish exterior, but also by permitting potential customers to see inside. It also provides a window view for customers to enhance their dining experience.
What is curtain walling?
Curtain walling was first used in the 19th century, when large glass panels were developed. It became popular in the 1930s, when aluminium was more readily available in the construction industry.
Often associated with multi-storey buildings, they are external coverings for outer walls that are non-structural and are commonly made from aluminium and glass. Other possible infill panels include vision glass that can be double or triple glazed. It also has the potential for reflective coatings or low e-coatings and can include non-vision spandrel glass, vents or louvres.
Curtain walling installation differs from regular shop fronts, as the design can span several floors, compared with a regular shop front that tends to be just on the ground floor. Architectural engineers who design them are experts in their field, taking into consideration factors such as building sway, thermal expansion and water diversion.
Our professional curtain wall installers can create bespoke options, including low or high-rise capabilities, with either insulated powder-coated or anodised panels. Curtain walling is compatible with manual or automatic doors.
Curtain wall benefits
As well as the obvious benefits, such as enhancing your restaurant’s entrance to create a more professional appearance, curtain walling can also save you money through energy efficiency. We can incorporate energy-efficient solar shading and glass painted panels with low U-values.
Adding curtain walls boosts thermal efficiency and helps buildings to maintain comfortable, stable levels of ventilation and heat. This can reduce the carbon footprint of restaurants with curtain walls due to a reduced need for artificial cooling, heat and ventilation. They also maximise natural light and create a feeling of space, while still assuring safety and security.
If you rely on impulse visits and walk-ins, as well as bookings, installing a more visually attractive entrance will tend to entice customers to your restaurant, rather than the one at the other end of the street that has a dull entrance.