Custom Restaurant Furniture: Is it worth the investment?

A suc­cess­ful restau­rant is so much more than sim­ply a place to eat; it’s a thought­ful­ly styled space that tells a dis­tinct design sto­ry and pro­vides an excep­tion­al expe­ri­ence for din­ers. And of the many design deci­sions you’ll need to make, one of the most crit­i­cal has to do with the fur­ni­ture you’ll select. Cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture is an essen­tial com­po­nent of a well-designed inte­ri­or and an effec­tive busi­ness plan, offer­ing a mul­ti­tude of ben­e­fits in both the short- and long-term.

With the right restau­rant fur­ni­ture, you can cre­ate a wel­com­ing, attrac­tive ambiance. But just as impor­tant­ly, you can pro­vide a well-equipped work­ing envi­ron­ment for staff — and above all, achieve your busi­ness goals for growth.

What is Custom Restaurant Furniture?

Although there are many options for mass-pro­duced restau­rant fur­ni­ture, opt­ing for cus­tom tables, seat­ing, and the like is quick­ly becom­ing the design norm. 

Cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture allows you to per­fect every last detail of a piece, choos­ing from var­i­ous fab­rics, wood types and fin­ish­es, sizes and shapes, and more. From select­ing a pre­mi­um leather in a par­tic­u­lar shade of cognac brown to round­ing table cor­ners to fit a spe­cif­ic booth, the pos­si­bil­i­ties of cus­tom fur­ni­ture are vir­tu­al­ly lim­it­less.

Rather than attempt­ing to “force” a mass-pro­duced piece to fit into your design vision, opt­ing for cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture means there’s no need to com­pro­mise. You may start the cus­tom design process with a clear idea in mind; or, you may sim­ply be work­ing from a loose idea of how you want your space to look and feel. But with the right man­u­fac­tur­er on your side, you’ll turn inspi­ra­tion into a ful­ly-installed real­i­ty.

How Can Custom Restaurant Furniture Help Grow Your Business?

From a design per­spec­tive, it’s easy to see the many advan­tages of cus­tom-designed fur­ni­ture. But what about when it comes to the dol­lars and cents of build­ing a prof­itable busi­ness?

As it turns out, cus­tom fur­ni­ture is one of the smartest invest­ments you could make for your restau­rant. Here’s why:

• Cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture helps cre­ate a unique, invit­ing atmos­phere that attracts cus­tomers and per­suades them to return time and time again. Your busi­ness will effort­less­ly draw new guests while con­sis­tent­ly main­tain­ing an enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly loy­al cus­tomer base.

• With cus­tom fur­ni­ture, you can strength­en your restaurant’s brand and build a rec­og­niz­able and dis­tinct pres­ence in the indus­try. The inte­ri­or of your restau­rant is one of the most effec­tive means of set­ting your­self apart from the com­pe­ti­tion.

• No mat­ter how large, small, or odd­ly-shaped your restaurant’s foot­print may be, cus­tom fur­ni­ture is made for a flaw­less fit. And when even a few inch­es can affect the func­tion­al­i­ty and effi­cien­cy of your space, noth­ing less than per­fec­tion will do.

• The qual­i­ty of cus­tom fur­ni­ture far sur­pass­es any mass-pro­duced option, pro­vid­ing an excep­tion­al lev­el of crafts­man­ship and dura­bil­i­ty. As a result, your cus­tom pieces will last much longer, so you won’t have to spend the mon­ey to replace them as often.

Reasons Why Customers Prefer Custom Restaurant Furniture

Now, you have a bet­ter under­stand­ing of how cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture ben­e­fits your busi­ness — but the advan­tages don’t end there. There are many rea­sons why your cus­tomers (and your staff) would opt for cus­tom fur­ni­ture, giv­en the choice.

• Com­fort.
  Whether your restau­rant fea­tures cus­tom booths, bar stools, or chairs — or a com­bi­na­tion of all three — your cus­tomers val­ue com­fort above all. Even the best menu will strug­gle to rem­e­dy an uncom­fort­able din­ing expe­ri­ence, which is why guest com­fort is a top pri­or­i­ty. Cus­tom design makes it pos­si­ble to cre­ate per­fect­ly plush booth seat­ing, sup­port­ive stools, and more.
  
  And because the size and shape of cus­tom fur­ni­ture is also pre­cise­ly designed, every­thing fits togeth­er exact­ly as it should. That means no awk­ward spac­ing, no chairs that are too short or too tall, and no tables that are crowd­ed too close­ly.

• Orig­i­nal­i­ty.
  One of the biggest chal­lenges for any restau­rant is the strug­gle to stand out in a high­ly com­pet­i­tive indus­try. When cus­tomers are decid­ing where they want to eat, you want your restau­rant to be top of mind. And one of the most effec­tive ways to do that is with a unique design.
  
  Even for cus­tomers that don’t con­sid­er them­selves par­tic­u­lar­ly design-savvy, an aes­thet­i­cal­ly orig­i­nal restau­rant inevitably makes an impres­sion. In con­trast, the estab­lish­ments that rely on gener­ic, mass-pro­duced fur­ni­ture and bland decor can eas­i­ly fade into the back­ground — nev­er to be vis­it­ed again.
  
  Now more than ever, your cus­tomers expect a mem­o­rable din­ing expe­ri­ence. This goes beyond the food, drinks, and ser­vice, and extends to the actu­al design of your space — does yours mea­sure up?

• Func­tion­al­i­ty.
  The over­all flow of a restau­rant makes a world of dif­fer­ence for both cus­tomers and employ­ees. Your staff needs to be able to eas­i­ly move through­out the space, par­tic­u­lar­ly when their hands are full with heavy trays. And for your cus­tomers, nav­i­gat­ing your restau­rant should be sim­ple and stress-free.
  
  So, there should be a clear path for the flow of foot traf­fic, and not a sin­gle piece of fur­ni­ture should impede that walk­way. And because cus­tom fur­ni­ture gives you com­plete con­trol over the size and shape of every table, chair, and booth, you can ensure an opti­mal lay­out.
  
  Addi­tion­al­ly, your restau­rant needs to be equipped to host a wide vari­ety of gath­er­ings. From a casu­al week­end lunch to an impromp­tu busi­ness meet­ing, an inti­mate din­ner, or a large birth­day cel­e­bra­tion, it is imper­a­tive for your space to be able to do it all. The flex­i­bil­i­ty of cus­tom fur­ni­ture makes it eas­i­er to design mul­ti-func­tion­al spaces, so that your restau­rant is ready for what­ev­er may come.

And for you? As a busi­ness own­er, your top pri­or­i­ty is sat­is­fy­ing your cus­tomers. How­ev­er, your expe­ri­ence mat­ters too, and cus­tom-designed restau­rant fur­ni­ture doesn’t dis­ap­point. 

You may be sur­prised to dis­cov­er that the price of cus­tom fur­ni­ture is impres­sive­ly com­pet­i­tive, espe­cial­ly when you con­sid­er the high­er stan­dards of qual­i­ty. What’s more, an excel­lent man­u­fac­tur­er will pro­vide an out­stand­ing cus­tomer ser­vice expe­ri­ence, min­i­miz­ing stress con­sid­er­ably. You’ll have the peace of mind of know­ing that you are in excel­lent hands, and that your restau­rant is going to be exact­ly what you’ve always hoped it would be.

Choosing a Reputable Custom Restaurant Furniture Manufacturer

Once you’ve made the deci­sion to out­fit your restau­rant with cus­tom fur­ni­ture, you still have a cru­cial choice to make: who is the best fur­ni­ture man­u­fac­tur­er for your project?

Select­ing the right man­u­fac­tur­er is essen­tial both to the out­come of your project and the design process itself. Here are a few key con­sid­er­a­tions to keep in mind dur­ing your search.

The best custom furniture manufacturers deliver a balance of quality and affordability.

Restau­rant fur­ni­ture is one of the most sig­nif­i­cant invest­ments you will make for your busi­ness, and you can’t afford to be dis­ap­point­ed by a sub­stan­dard lev­el of qual­i­ty. A reli­able man­u­fac­tur­er will take pride in the qual­i­ty and reli­a­bil­i­ty of their pieces, which should boast a lev­el of dura­bil­i­ty that pro­vides good val­ue for your mon­ey.

Remem­ber that (in your cus­tomers’ eyes) poor-qual­i­ty fur­ni­ture will reflect bad­ly on your restau­rant, not the sup­pli­er. Your cus­tomers will blame you and your busi­ness for the short­com­ing. Con­verse­ly, high-qual­i­ty pieces will con­tribute to a good rep­u­ta­tion for your busi­ness, so choose wise­ly.

As is often true, the old adage that “you get what you pay for” can cer­tain­ly apply to cus­tom fur­ni­ture for restau­rants. That being said, you can absolute­ly find excel­lent qual­i­ty fur­ni­ture for a fair, afford­able price — you sim­ply need to locate the right man­u­fac­tur­er.

For exam­ple, at Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture, we take a high­ly col­lab­o­ra­tive approach to the design process. As a result, both your goals and your bud­get remain a top pri­or­i­ty from the ini­tial con­cept to the final instal­la­tion. And because our sales team pos­sess­es exten­sive expe­ri­ence and skill, they excel at devel­op­ing cre­ative solu­tions that are equal parts beau­ti­ful and well-priced.

Clear communication and excellent service is a must.

When you’re exe­cut­ing a restau­rant design project, the last thing you need is a fur­ni­ture man­u­fac­tur­er that proves impos­si­ble to com­mu­ni­cate with. It is cru­cial that you are able to get in touch with your man­u­fac­tur­er, espe­cial­ly if unex­pect­ed issues arise. Also, you should be able to expect reg­u­lar updates, so that you are always aware of exact­ly when you can expect a final prod­uct.

Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture has built our busi­ness on the prin­ci­ples of unpar­al­leled cus­tomer ser­vice, so you can be con­fi­dent that you’ll have an excel­lent expe­ri­ence. Even after your cus­tom fur­ni­ture has been com­plet­ed and installed, we are here to help. Our friend­ly and respon­sive team con­sid­ers each and every new client as a part of the extend­ed Old Domin­ion fam­i­ly.

Look for a company with an established history of quality craftsmanship.

While there are plen­ty of new­ly-debuted cus­tom fur­ni­ture brands out there, your best bet is gen­er­al­ly to trust a rep­utable man­u­fac­tur­er with the expe­ri­ence and know-how to serve your needs. Often­times, a so-called “cus­tom” fur­ni­ture man­u­fac­tur­er is actu­al­ly only offer­ing mass-pro­duced fur­ni­ture with a few vary­ing options. Or, they may out­source the pro­duc­tion process, mak­ing it impos­si­ble to mon­i­tor qual­i­ty.

It is a far bet­ter choice to part­ner with a well-known name that has proven their com­mit­ment to excel­lence time and time again.

Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture has been an indus­try leader for 40-plus years, and we are proud to have built count­less long-last­ing rela­tion­ships with clients over those decades. All of our Amer­i­can-made fur­ni­ture is cre­at­ed by our in-house crafts­men, specif­i­cal­ly made to order accord­ing to your spec­i­fi­ca­tions. From select­ing pre­mi­um mate­ri­als to adher­ing to strict time­lines, we under­stand how to pro­vide the best-pos­si­ble prod­ucts and ser­vice to our cus­tomers.

What are the Benefits of Custom Restaurant Furniture?

We have cov­ered so many of the ways that cus­tom fur­ni­ture can sup­port your restaurant’s suc­cess — but let’s revis­it some of the “big pic­ture” ben­e­fits of cus­tomiz­ing restau­rant fur­ni­ture for your space.

Create the perfect atmosphere for your restaurant.

• With cus­tom fur­ni­ture, you can per­fect how your restau­rant looks and feels, shap­ing an ide­al atmos­phere that seam­less­ly suits your brand.

• By tak­ing advan­tage of the unique and cre­ative designs avail­able, you can devel­op one-of-a-kind seat­ing plans, booth lay­outs, and more. In turn, these details can con­tribute to the over­all cus­tomer expe­ri­ence in exact­ly the way you would like.

• Cus­tom fur­ni­ture can help you cre­ate the per­fect atmos­phere for your restau­rant by pro­vid­ing unique and cre­ative prod­uct designs, restau­rant booth lay­outs, and seat­ing plans.

• With the abil­i­ty to choose uphol­stery, fin­ish­es, and vir­tu­al­ly every oth­er detail, you can have fur­ni­ture that match­es your decor, col­ors, and over­all ambiance.

You can save money in the long run.

• Cus­tom fur­ni­ture is built to last far longer than mass-pro­duced fur­ni­ture.

• The high-qual­i­ty mate­ri­als and crafts­man­ship used for cus­tom fur­ni­ture are specif­i­cal­ly intend­ed to stand the test of time

• At Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture, our crafts­men have over a cen­tu­ry of com­bined expe­ri­ence build­ing fur­ni­ture. So, you can rest assured that your cus­tom fur­ni­ture will be craft­ed by the very best in the busi­ness.

• Cus­tom fur­ni­ture can be made to exact spec­i­fi­ca­tions, so you get exact­ly what you want. So, you won’t find your­self in need of a redesign in a few short years.

Custom furniture helps you stand out from the competition.

• There’s no ques­tion that the restau­rant indus­try is high­ly com­pet­i­tive, and find­ing ways to dis­tin­guish your brand is key. With cus­tom fur­ni­ture, you can achieve an atten­tion-grab­bing design that ensures that your busi­ness will be one that cus­tomers remem­ber.

• Aes­thet­ic design is just as impor­tant to the cus­tomer expe­ri­ence as the menu. And yet, so many restau­rants fall short. With unique­ly craft­ed cus­tom fur­ni­ture, you can be con­fi­dent that your style is mak­ing the right kind of state­ment.

What Types of Furniture are Available?

Your selec­tion and options for cus­tom restau­rant fur­ni­ture will large­ly depend on your select­ed man­u­fac­tur­er. Some com­pa­nies have strict lim­i­ta­tions on their cus­tom design process, while oth­ers allow far more free­dom.

At Old Domin­ion Fur­ni­ture Com­pa­ny, we con­sid­er every design vision with­in reach. Our ful­ly-cus­tom designs range from a sin­gle piece to a com­plete fur­ni­ture pack­age, tai­lored accord­ing to your needs. 

The avail­able selec­tion of base styles fea­tures table tops, table bases, com­mer­cial restau­rant booths, bar stools, chairs, and even essen­tials such as high­chairs and tray stands.

If you’re start­ing with a base style, your options for cus­tomiza­tion include:

• Size
• Shape
• Mate­r­i­al (wood type, lam­i­nate, etc.)
• Uphol­stery
• Fin­ish
• Col­or
• Upgrades and add-ons

For many of our cus­tomers, our sig­na­ture styles serve as a help­ful jump­ing-off point for the cus­tom design process. A clas­sic shape could inspire an entire series of cus­tom fur­ni­ture designs, and we’re hap­py to accom­pa­ny you on your cre­ative jour­ney.

For exam­ple, the clean lines and mid cen­tu­ry-mod­ern aes­thet­ic of our Miller Chair could be the per­fect blank can­vas for an uphol­stered seat in a vibrant shade of blue or green. Or, the famil­iar shape of our Park Booth might lead to a new direc­tion for your design, com­plete with booth seat­ing paint­ed in a cus­tom shade.

Our goal is to make the cus­tom design process as easy as pos­si­ble. So, each one of our sta­ple designs comes in a vari­ety of fin­ish and/or uphol­stery options, and you can choose from sev­er­al sug­gest­ed upgrades or add-ons. Of course, we can always start from scratch to cre­ate some­thing entire­ly dif­fer­ent as well — it’s com­plete­ly up to you.