Restaurant Design
Restaurant Designers

RESTAURANT DESIGNERS

Combining creative flair with commercial sense, we have a distinctly detail-oriented approach to everything we do. Our restaurant and bar design services include interior design, fit-out and branding, as well as bespoke furniture and lighting production.

We believe unequivocally in the power of ‘brand’, combining well-considered design with a strategic, story-led approach.

Unlike the majority of designers & agencies who design for the trends, we design for your business goals. We possess a large amount of cross-sector knowledge which we use to elevate and position your brand exactly where you wish it to be. In this respect, we consider ourselves consultants before designers.

Restaurants, Bars, Lounges;  Multi-faceted brand spaces where you can see, feel, smell and taste. Every aspect of these spaces needs to sit in perfect harmony with one another. Our pedigree in brand synergy and focus on a ‘brand whole’ makes us the perfect collaborator for your hospitality brand.

Restaurant Design by Aylott + Van Tromp

WHO WE ARE

We’re a group of like-minded individuals who love to wear other people's coats, metaphorically speaking of course. We are design chameleons, there are no egos here. We take on your brand as if it were our own.

Directors Nathan Aylott + James Van Tromp lead each and every project, supported by experts, artists, designers and contractors.

The experience of Aylott + Van Tromp's founders is unique. With a cross sector background in brand activation, retail, fashion, architecture, aeronautical + automotive design, we are able to predict the ebbs and flows of popular culture and the changing needs of the modern traveller.

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UNITED KINGDOM
STUDIO 2.3
24 GREVILLE STREET
LONDON
EC1N 8SS

PORTUGAL
ALAMEDA SALGUEIRO MAIA LOTE 4
1 ANDAR, GABINETE 6
2660 329
SANTO ANTONIO DOS CAVALEIROS
LOURES 

info@aylottandvantromp.com

+44 (0)20 3488 2310

Everyone loves a good restaurant, and around the world the restaurant industry at large continues to appeal to vast swathes of the population — even during periods of overall uncertainty and difficulty.

You could be forgiven for assuming, subconsciously, that a restaurant’s success and memorability is entirely down to the style and quality of its menu. In reality, though, the way that a restaurant is designed — and the visual elements it incorporates — plays a very significant role in the experience diners will have there, and in how they will remember the experience afterward. While good food is of course essential, good design comes in at a close second.

So, what sorts of things should you consider when designing a restaurant?

Here are some key questions to consider.

1. What first impressions are you making?

First impressions matter a lot — not only with regards to interpersonal meetings between different individuals, but also when it comes to the experience of an establishment like a restaurant. If a diner’s first experience when entering your restaurant was to see a rat running around, it’s unlikely that any amount of delicious food would get them to leave with a glowing review of the place for friends and family. Everything the customer comes into contact with when entering the establishment, right up until the point they are seated, will be very significant. Your signage should, of course, be well-designed and well-maintained. The lighting in your restaurant’s entranceway should set the right mood and tone. The design of the front counter should convey the core motif you are going for. Even the path to the diner’s table should be designed and arranged to be as welcoming as possible.

2. How are you conveying your brand story?

Every good brand has a distinct story that helps to make the company in question more personal, and to humanise its founders and employees, in addition to helping it to stand out from the competition. The design of your restaurant should always serve to tell your brand story in some key way. This could involve particular slogans and visual motifs that resonate with your core brand social mission. “Creating great moments for families,” or “thank you for saving the planet,” for example. You could even write the basic outline of the “founding story” of the restaurant on the wall, and could base the interior design aesthetic around the country or locale that its founder is from. Whatever the case, your restaurant’s design should do an effective job of conveying your brand story in one way or another. Everyone who comes into your restaurant should not only leave knowing that you have delicious food and great customer service, but they should also leave knowing something about what your company really is on a more intimate level.

3. What is your core interior concept?

Restaurants tend to do very well being based around particular motifs and concepts — and they tend to be more memorable and aesthetically pleasing when there is a unifying theme at play, too. When you are in the process of designing your restaurant, ask yourself “what is our interior concept?” If you are offering a certain take on a regional cuisine, then motifs from that region will likely do well. Or maybe you’d like to primarily structure your interior concept around a social campaign or message — such as promoting plant-based eating and safeguarding the environment and the natural world. It’s generally a good idea to avoid too much variety and overlapping when it comes to the motifs you display in your restaurant. Develop things around a core interior concept.

4. How are you managing space and spacing?

Good space management always needs to be one of the top design considerations for any space — and this applies particularly to restaurants. Striking the right balance between a sense of spaciousness and a sense of intimacy is vital in any restaurant, and will require you to carefully consider things like how many tables you will include — and how many customers you will accept at any one time. Space management is no less important when it comes to an aesthetic and symmetrical arrangement of furniture and other design features.

5. Is your furniture up to standard?

The furniture in your restaurant not only needs to look a certain way, and to seat a certain number of diners, but it also needs to be comfortable and robust enough for the job. The best-designed spaces are both highly aesthetically pleasing and highly functional. Certain restaurants, unfortunately, fall afoul of this balance and create dining environments that may look stunning — and may be very “on brand” — but which are nonetheless not very comfortable or functional for diners. Take steps to ensure that the furniture in your restaurant is up to standard and strikes the right balance between serving the overall aesthetic of the place on the one hand, and serving the comfort and ease of access of your diners on the other.

6. What will be memorable about the visitor’s experience?

Restaurants — like all other businesses — benefit greatly from being memorable, and design choices will naturally impact how memorable these spaces are, to a very substantial degree. Consider what you are doing in terms of your design choices to make the experience of visiting your restaurant memorable for diners. Are there interactive design features that stand out from the norm? Is there something about the core design concept you are employing that approaches things from a different angle than your competition? Strive to leave a lasting impression through your design.

7. Where is it best to innovate, and where is it best to match existing expectations?

When it comes to restaurant design, innovation and pushing the envelope will sometimes be much appreciated and rewarded by customers — and sometimes simply matching existing expectations will be best. When individuals are visiting an up-market Latin American restaurant for a fine dining experience, for example, they will tend to expect things like understated and sophisticated design elements that have been carefully selected — and that fit within a black tie context. They will likely not appreciate something like a giant plastic Aztec pyramid in the middle of the room. Consider the balance between innovation and meeting expectations, when designing a restaurant.

Restaurant Design by Aylott + Van Tromp