Where Design Begins

The restaurant can be compared to any complex system that depends on all its parts to function correctly. Metaphorically speaking, it is like a desktop computer. What people see are the monitor, keyboard, and CPU box, along with peripherals such as printers and scanners. The keyboard is a simple input device, while the monitor and printer are output devices. What makes the computer work is the seamless, complex interaction of the internal hardware components of the CPU and the software—both the operating system and the various programs. If any of the hardware or software components fails to work properly, the computer crashes.

The same holds true for the individual parts of a restaurant. The front and back of the house are meaningless without one another. All spaces in the restaurant should be considered not only on their own terms but also with respect to how well they perform in relation to the whole. This means that the front and the back of the house (even if they are designed by different parties) must work together seamlessly.

All too often, however, the two halves of the restaurant are designed by separate people looking at the space from different doors: the foodservice consultant from the back door and the interior designer or architect from the front. Each ends his involvement at the swinging door between the two spaces.

The fact is that both sides of the door are influenced by the restaurant concept and by one another. If the front of the house is not designed to support the back of the house, or the back of the house is not designed to carry out the concept expressed in the front of the house, then the operation suffers. For instance, picture a classical kitchen with a full battery of ranges, ovens, steamers, broilers, and so on, all geared to produce a comprehensive menu for a gourmet restaurant. A typical fast-food interior design scheme would be an obvious mismatch with this classical kitchen and would result in financial disaster for the restaurant.

Another mismatch example is the inclusion of a bank of deep-fat fryers in the kitchen of a cafe serving spa cuisine. The deep-fat fryers are a costly and space-wasting mistake because fried foods are infrequently found on this type of menu.
Unfortunately, mismatches occur often because the restaurant concept and the menu are not fully developed prior to design programming. The secret to a good relationship of concept, menu, and design is to conduct a careful market study and menu analysis before determining specific design elements in either the kitchen or the dining area.
Successful restaurant design should be based on a complete feasibility study that covers the following ten areas:
•type of restaurant
•the market
•concept development
•menu
•style of service
•speed of service
•the per-customer check average
•general ambience
•management philosophy
•budget

This will help achieve an integrative design process that results in a good match of front and back of the house. These points should be considered at the start of a project, before arriving at layouts and specifications

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