How To Design A Bar Floor Plan
There are several vital characteristics to keep in mind when you’re designing a floor plan for a bar. Accessibility to the bar, exits, and restrooms are arguably the most important parts of a great layout. The bar itself should be easily accessible and allow your staff to have an unobstructed view of potential customers.
What’s a Bar Floor Plan?
A bar floor plan is the design for the entire establishment where your bar will be. From the dining area to bathrooms, a proper design should act as a map for the interior of your bar. Commonly overlooked areas are storage spaces, refrigerators, kitchen area, and other prep stations for your kitchen and bar. Do you have a proper place for alcohol storage? Do you have adequate refrigeration for kegs? Is your kitchen layout setup to ensure quality, freshness, and follow health codes? All of these characteristics should be considered when you’re designing your bar’s floor plan.
Your full bar should be the focal point of your interior. Having ease of access to and from the bar will guarantee top notch service for your customers while complimenting the ambience for your restaurant. Functional registers and POS stations will help to limit waiting times for customers as leaving patrons pay for their orders. A bar floor plan will also show various exits, restrooms, entertainment areas, and provide accurate specs for your bar so that all space can be utilized efficiently.
What gets overlooked?
Some of the more common areas that are overlooked are the wet bar and kitchen. Many aspiring restaurateurs will design their bar’s floor plan with entertainment and dining in mind. It makes sense, you want your customers to have a positive and entertaining experience. By planning your design with your bar manager, bartenders, kitchen manager, and chefs, you’ll be setting your bar up for success. Many bartenders know the necessary spatial requirements for a bar to run smoothly. Having adequate area for storage and shelving will help to keep the process moving efficiently.
Kitchen managers and staff understand how much space is needed for prep, storage, cooking, washing, and storing dishes. Designating work stations for all of your kitchen staff will also help to keep wait times down for customers. Blueprints and floor plans should follow local health requirements and building codes. An experienced interior designer with restaurant design experience can help you keep your bar floor plans up to code.
According to the ADA, at least 5% of dining surfaces should be wheelchair accessible. Even further, a portion of the bar should be no higher than 34” to remain ADA compliant. These surfaces should be unobstructed, meaning that they shouldn’t be used as a workstation by staff or utilized in any other way than as a wheelchair accessible bar space. A restaurant designer can also help you to set up seating so that there’s enough room in an aisle for a wheelchair to pass through easily. Offering different types of seating like booths or tables where the chairs can be removed can open up more ADA compliant seating. The magic of interior design is to have a floor plan that’s ambient and stylish while also catering to accessibility and health, building, and fire code standards.
Restrooms will ultimately be the deciding factor for many patrons on whether or not they’ll return to a bar or restaurant. There have been surveys conducted that suggest a majority of customers prefer paper towels or hand towels to air dryers. Other surveys suggest that 86% of customers would be deterred from visiting a restaurant if they encountered a clogged toilet at the restaurant. A proper design won’t prevent the odd toilet clog, but having designated storage closets that are properly stocked can help your staff tackle these emergency problems and keep your bathrooms clean.
Crafting the right design
There’s a lot that goes into creating the perfect floor plan for a bar or restaurant. Restaurant and bar designers can offer creative solutions for compliance while keeping your space stylish, elegant, and ambient. Involve your bartenders and kitchen staff in the design process. Their experience is valuable in running a smooth operation. Check with local and state health guidelines so that when you submit your blueprints, they’ll be up to code. Research ADA guidelines so that you can keep your bar wheelchair accessible. And lastly, have fun with it!
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