Today’s American custom restaurant booths have origins dating back to the Revolutionary era when the English incorporated their country’s fondness for “boxes” in churches and opera houses. These boxes surrounded seating areas to provide privacy and space for their occupants and they eventually found their way into American eating establishments, providing diners with an intimate setting.
As boxes evolved into booths, they faced opposition for being “too private” during the first part of the 20th Century but by the 1950’s they had become an iconic American symbol that still evokes fond memories and provides comfortable seating for today’s restaurant diners.
#1 Custom booth seating is preferred
The first question many restaurant customers ask when the host or hostess greets them is if there are any booths available? Customers seem to prefer booths and will often wait until one is open instead of receiving immediate seating at a table. The reasons customers prefer booths vary but their love of this type of custom booth seating makes them a worthwhile investment for restaurant owners. Knowing why customers prefer booths and what features appeal most to them can help a restaurant owner choose the right style, height, and color for their custom restaurant booths.
#2 Increased privacy of booths
Some customers prefer tables and chairs and others prefer booths, so a restaurant may need to provide a mixed selection of both to meet their maximum capacity comfortably. However, booths offer more privacy than tables and sometimes booth-only seating works fine for an establishment. The high back benches of custom restaurant booths prevent other diners from seeing people in the booth to a certain extent and help keep conversations confined to the booth while minimizing surrounding noise.
The intimacy of booths and their semi-secluded seating also makes it a safer spot for storing jackets and purses and keeps them out of the way of waitstaff.
# 3 Greater comfort
Custom restaurant booths builders can construct seating of specific fabrics, finishes, and colors to coordinate with the eating establishment and provide optimum comfort to diners. Restaurant chairs can be comfortable too but they don’t offer the coziness of sitting close to friends and family. Booths tend to be sturdier than chairs to ensure proper support of more than one person and the larger seating area allows people to spread out and relax.
The soft cushions of a booth enable diners to enjoy their meal without the discomfort of sitting on a chair that may have less padding.
#4 Improved traffic flow
Tables and chair arranged out on an open floor mean that the wait staff has to navigate a constantly changing landscape of diners complete with bulky coats, hanging purses and bags on floors. With custom restaurant booths set against the walls of the establishment, the wait staff can easily navigate the aisles while the diners can eat in peace without the disruption of people dragging coats over their heads or bumping their chairs.
#5 Cozier dining
Restaurant booths offer a cozier dining experience than tables and chairs and eliminate the exposed feeling of sitting out in the open. The people eating at the booth feel that they have a separate space in the restaurant and enjoy a more intimate dining experience. Friends and family can sit closer together to talk, laugh and create memories that harken back to the days of the iconic American diners filled with booths of happy patrons.
#6 Room to move and work
Although gatherings in a booth used to involve sharing a milkshake and plates of burgers and fries, in today’s busy world, many restaurant customers have to work during their lunch hour and appreciate the increased room of booth seating. The extra space on the booth seat gives them space to set down their jacket and bags while they set their laptop and papers on the table with enough room left to eat. Providing wifi in an establishment with custom restaurant booths can entice working customers inside for a change of scenery and great food while they remain productive.
#7 Choosing features for custom restaurant booths
The materials, design and shape of custom booth seating should coordinate with the style of the restaurant while providing optimum seating for customers. Sometimes a restaurant owner may not know how to utilize space and custom booth builders can help by taking precise measurements and building seating that works perfectly in the square footage. Large corner booths intermixed with traditional size booths and smaller, couple-size booths provide ideal seating for parties of all numbers while maintaining the coziness everyone loves.
The materials used for the booth seat should be durable, easy to clean, maintain and repair so the restaurant can operate at maximum capacity through their busiest hours.
Today’s custom restaurant booths can be reminiscent of the classic look from Happy Days or have a sophisticated elegant appearance without ever sacrificing comfort.
