A restaurant seating strategy is more than just where you seat your guests. It’s where you put the tables, what kinds of tables you use, and how many people you can fit in the dining space comfortably and safely without overdoing it.
It can also help your staff increase table turnovers. Taking orders and serving food quickly and efficiently increases the odds of seating a party at an open table more than once a night, not to mention increases customer satisfaction.
An effective, well-optimized restaurant seating strategy contributes to how well your restaurant operates, which improves your bottom line. Even if you think you’ve got an effective strategy, a few tweaks could put it over the top. Here’s everything you need to know about creating a strategy that works.
Why You Should Strategize Your Restaurant Seating Arrangement
Implementing or overhauling your restaurant seating strategy allows you to utilize your space more effectively. A mix of seating options gives you a flexible space that adapts to changing demands, like seating small and big parties at the same time. It can also improve traffic flow, allowing servers, bussers, and patrons to move quickly and easily around the restaurant.
Your seating strategy can also improve the customer dining experience. When you can turn tables over in a reasonable time and accurately forecast when a table will free up, customers are less likely to leave poor reviews or complain about the long wait time or lack of organization. Appropriately spaced tables contribute to the ambiance — diners don’t feel cramped or like the next table can hear everything they’re saying.
How to Plan and Optimize Your Restaurant Seating Strategy
An effective restaurant seating strategy starts with evaluating your current layout (or the plan for a new restaurant). Optimizing your strategy is the ongoing evaluation of what you implement and a willingness to change it if something isn’t working.
Evaluate Your Restaurant Seating Options
Take stock of your existing layout and evaluate your current seating options. If this is a new restaurant, it’s a great time to experiment with different layouts to get a feel for what does and doesn’t work. You may have:
- Booth seating
- Bench seating
- Communal seating
- Outdoor seating
- Poseur or bar seating (where someone stands by a table)
- High top seating
- Loose (flexible table and chairs that can be rearranged to accommodate large parties)
- Banquette seating
Some establishments can get away with using a single type of seating, say poseur seating, with a few restaurant bar stools in a bar. However, most restaurants offer different seating arrangements and options throughout the main dining area. This allows you to rearrange tables to accommodate larger parties and cater to guests’ preferences when they prefer a booth or a high-top table.
Vary Table Size
Using the same-size table throughout your restaurant seems like an easy way to maximize your restaurant seating. For example, if you choose a table that seats four people, you know precisely how much space each table and chair takes up, making it easy to space them evenly throughout the dining area.
However, not every party is a party of four. Some groups will only have two people, and seating two people at a four-top means you’re missing out on seating a party of four. Much like integrating different seating options in your plan, using multiple table sizes gives you the flexibility to seat different size parties and maximize your seating capacity without wasting tables or space.
Accessibility
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sets rules and regulations for accessibility in all public spaces, including restaurants. As an example, the ADA states that the top of a “dining surface” has to be at least 28 inches but no more than 34 inches from the ground, and a different regulation describes how wide an aisle must be to accommodate a wheelchair or scooter.
While it’s best to consult with an attorney about what you have to do, keeping the ADA guidelines in mind as you plan your restaurant seating can help you accommodate customers with different needs and can improve their overall dining experience.
What About Your Layout?
Your seating layout can also impact your strategy. Movement and flow throughout the dining area can speed things up or create bottlenecks and can create a pleasant or unpleasant dining experience.
For example, you want to space tables close together to maximize seating capacity, but you don’t want diners to feel like they’re sitting on each other’s lap. And they need to be able to place their chairs at just the right distance from the table so they can eat comfortably without feeling like they’re in the middle of an aisle.
Likewise, the layout should help employees do their jobs effectively. Aisles need to be wide enough so servers can carry a heavy tray of food and put it down without blocking the aisle, but not so wide you make poor use of the space. Also, consider how to accommodate table-side services, like making a salad or boning a fish. There should be enough room for the server to do what they need to while a busser clears the next table or a patron goes to the bathroom.
Dining Room Size
Larger restaurants can fit more tables in the dining room. But just because you can fit a lot of tables in the space doesn’t mean you should. Optimizing a restaurant’s seating strategy means using it as effectively and efficiently as possible.
For example, you may want to designate certain sections for large parties, like an area that’s out of the way and has tables you can push together. This gives you the flexibility to rearrange your seating options to accommodate a large group without blocking aisles and interrupting traffic flow.
Table Management and Tracking
Table management and tracking is a crucial but somewhat underrated element of a successful and efficient restaurant seating strategy.
Whether on paper or electronically, the host station needs a system to track which tables were just seated and which are close to finishing. This helps the host seat people with reservations more effectively, give walk-ins more accurate wait times, and know when they can seat a large or small party.
Let Guests Pre-Select Tables
Consider letting guests pre-select their table when they make online reservations. While you may not want to let them choose the exact location, allowing them to select a booth or outdoor seating helps the host plan the entire night’s seating arrangement, maximizing who is seated where and when. It also allows you to balance reservations and walk-ins since you’ll have a good idea of how many and what types of tables are reserved and when.
Send Reservation Reminders
Sending reservation reminders is another underrated part of a restaurant seating strategy.
Sending a follow-up reminder about a reservation and asking for a confirmation improves the odds that the party shows up or cancels if they can’t make it anymore. Holding a table for a group that “might” show up means lost revenue and disappointed customers.
Evaluate and Train Staff
Assessing your staff’s performance can also maximize your seating strategy. Start by auditing their tables and measuring how long it’s taking them to turn each table. If they’re doing it quickly or at least on par with other servers during the same shift, fantastic. But if they’re slower than others or slow in general, dig into that data.
It’s possible that the person needs more training. They may not be working efficiently at getting and serving drinks or knowing when their orders are ready. However, it’s possible the issue is the current seating arrangement. Maybe the layout makes it difficult for them to get from their section to the kitchen and back again, or the point-of-sale (POS) system isn’t located in a central area, so it takes them longer to place orders.
Also, make sure all staff know how to appropriately seat guests. For example, make it clear that they shouldn’t seat a party of two at a table for four unless there are no other options.
Ask Diners What They Think
One way to ensure your seating strategy works is to ask customers what they think. Many people are more than willing to fill out an online survey — especially if you offer an incentive — and let you know what they think.
As part of that survey, ask diners how they felt about their dining experience. Were they comfortable? How was the ambiance? Was the restaurant too loud? Too quiet? You can even ask how they felt about where they were seated. These answers will let you know if the new strategy is working.
Change Things Up
Consistency is crucial in many industries, and the restaurant industry is no exception. However, you may discover that your restaurant seating strategy isn’t as efficient as it could be. Or what worked before isn’t working anymore.
Trying a new seating layout or strategy may be crucial to your success. It could result in faster table turnover, increasing revenue. Even adding a new technology, like tracking tables using a POS system, could be just the edge you need.
Put Your Strategy in Motion
An efficient restaurant seating strategy will help you maximize space, utilize the dining area, and ensure there are no empty tables during peak times. You may need to test and iterate, but ultimately the best strategy will improve operations and boost your bottom line.
If you’re looking for a new strategy, want to optimize the unused or available space in your restaurant, or think it’s time for an overhaul, Kezner Consulting can help. Our valuable insights and expertise can help you optimize and maximize your seating arrangements, no matter your concept. Contact us today for a free consultation.
