Dining Space Design: Choosing the Ideal Banquette Seating for Your Restaurant

Choosing the right seating arrangement is essential in creating your ideal restaurant atmosphere. Your customers’ experience will be influenced by the choice of seating from the moment they walk into your business! Banquette seating provides a creative yet practical solution for restaurants to enhance the style and efficiency of their dining areas.

The right banquette design can improve the functionality and flow of your space, improving your diners’ experiences. However, not all banquette seats are appropriate for every restaurant. This article breaks down the ins and outs of banquette restaurant seating to help restaurant owners make informed decisions about their seating and pick the banquette seats that match their restaurant’s needs.

The Role of Banquette Seats in Restaurant Design

Banquettes were formerly staples of diner-style seating arrangements, but for decades, they’ve been used in restaurants of all styles. They provide an exclusive way for restaurant owners and designers to reconfigure dining areas of any size into ideal dining experiences.

When two banquettes are placed on either side of a table, the vibe is comfortable, romantic, and intimate. Customers can comfortably seat their entire families when a long banquette is placed along a wall. When banquettes are configured as islands in the center of the space, they can encourage a professional ambiance ideal for business meetings and luxury dining.

This multi-functionality is part of the core appeal of banquette seats. However, it’s also why restaurant owners must make informed decisions about the type and style of seating they choose. Banquette seats are essential for owners with small floor plans since conventional tables and chairs occupy more room and waste valuable wall space. Knowing how the banquettes can be adapted to your space is necessary to finding the ideal arrangement for your restaurant.

Important Factors to Consider When Choosing Custom Banquettes

When creating your ideal restaurant space, here are a few priorities to bear in mind. A custom furniture artisan can help you work through these factors to achieve your vision for your restaurant while prioritizing comfort, maximizing space, and choosing the right materials.

Prioritize Comfort

Comfort is essential when choosing restaurant seating. Since banquettes can’t move like traditional chairs, they need to be customized to a wide range of needs, using features such as:

• Custom backrests
• Supportive cushions
• Durable materials
• Ergonomic height and depth

If you already have tables in mind, the banquette’s design should be customized to match them. If you’re buying the tables later, remember to factor the design of your banquettes into your decision.

Maximize Space

Banquette seats can allow restaurants to maximize space by reducing the need for conventional chairs when properly arranged. Banquettes can be L-shaped to fit in specific spaces or squares to become the focal point of the dining area. They can be long, bench configurations set against the wall or curved to match your specific layout and promote foot traffic.

The style and arrangement of your banquettes are not the only factors that can save space in your dining area. Custom banquettes can be created with built-in storage to move linens and other items away from the customers’ view without using valuable room storage.

Choose the Right Materials

When crafting custom banquettes, restaurants should consider how the choice of material impacts their desired atmosphere. In addition to choosing wood for the banquettes, the seats can be upholstered in fabric, leather, vinyl, and more to create drastically different experiences.

Leather, for example, can communicate rustic comfort or luxury, but it’s comparatively difficult to repair. While upholstery can be cheaper, it is also more susceptible to stains. Customers with allergies may prefer synthetic materials such as vinyl.

Depending on the type of restaurant you own, you may prioritize ease of maintenance or luxury. The choice of material instantly communicates your intentions to your customers by giving them a window into your ideal dining experience.

Contact Sixth Avenue Custom to Create the Ideal Banquette Seating for Your Restaurant

Banquette seating provides a blank canvas for restaurant owners to design their ideal dining experience. Using the right materials, they can be upscaled for luxury dining venues or redesigned for functional, family-style comfort.

At Sixth Avenue Custom, our custom furniture artisans create designs to the exclusive possibilities and limitations of your space. We work with restaurant owners and designers to bring your ideal vision for your restaurant to life. Our goal is to give you stress-free access to the ideal custom seating arrangements for your space.

Contact our experienced team today to learn how simple banquettes can be customized to express your ideal customer experience in the arrangement that makes the most sense for your restaurant.