benefits of fixed seating

Whether you own or manage a restaurant, pub, café, or hotel, you likely grapple with a question that plagues many within the hospitality industry—which type of seating will best fill the needs of my business? It’s a common question and an important one to ask because the seating you choose not only affects the ambiance of your business, but it also determines the comfort of your guests…and that can directly affect your long-term revenue.

This also makes it easy to understand why choosing the right seating can be overwhelming. After all, you have to choose seating that looks good, feels better, and comes in at or under budget.

Whew. That’s a lot to ask.

As you consider all those variables, we’d like to throw one more into the mix: whether to opt for loose or fixed furniture.

As you may have guessed, loose furniture describes seating and tables that can be moved around your space. Fixed furniture, on the other hand, is permanently attached to the wall or floor. If at the mention of fixed furniture, your mind instantly recalls images of retro diner booths, you’re not alone. But rest assured, modern-day fixed seating offers a variety of options in a myriad of styles that will complement any décor.

Although many in the hospitality industry assume loose seating is the best choice, we’d like to make our case with a list of 3 benefits of fixed seating…and some of these just might surprise you.

1. Can Add Much Needed Variety to your Space

Let’s face it—the dining area of your restaurant can look a bit lackluster when guests scan the floor and see only a sea of white tablecloths on four-top tables. And, if you are in the hotel business, having a host of tables and chairs in your establishment can make it feel more like a classroom than a place of respite.

Adding fixed seating along the perimeter of your space can add much-needed variety to the room. Remember, this is not an either/or situation—there’s no reason you can’t have standard, loose tables and fixed seating.

2. Offers Elevated Privacy

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and, as the host guided you to a table, noticed a large, high-backed, curved banquette tucked into the back corner of the room with a group of friends relaxing and enjoying drinks and eats around the table? They seemed to be enjoying their own little private area and it likely caused you to sigh and think, If only we were lucky enough to snag that table?

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Fixed seating can create little pockets of elevated privacy in the midst of a busy restaurant. But they are equally excellent for use in hotel lobbies where people are often conducting business meetings and appreciate the extra privacy that comes with booth seating. In fact, you need only step into the lobby of the Ovolo Woolloomooloo Hotel in Sydney to see lobby privacy taken to the next level. In what the hotel calls “kissing booths”, guests can enjoy the coziness of booth seating and, if they need even more privacy, can pull down a shade, virtually cutting themselves off from the rest of the world.

3. Maximises Capacity

No surprise here—having fixed seating lining the walls of your establishment allows you to maximise the number of guests you can accommodate at one time. On average, a booth takes up less than 2 square meters of floor space compared to the more than 3 square meters required to fit a table and four chairs. While this may not sound like a tremendous difference for a single booth, when you factor in the collective difference over an entire floor, you realise fixed seating is quite a significant space saver.

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And, once again, this doesn’t mean you need to line your restaurant floor with booths. Let go of either/or thinking and embrace a both/and mentality. You can certainly enjoy both tables and booth seating in your space. In fact, placing banquette seating along one wall and combining it with loose tables and chairs is a perfect way to combine both loose and fixed furniture in a way that is effortless and chic. It also makes the perfect place to seat large parties without losing a ton of real estate in the middle of your dining area.

If you are ready to change up the look of your restaurant, pub, or hotel lobby and would like to see what modern fixed furniture looks like, we hope you’ll contact us at Have a Seat. Whether you choose to visit our showroom or to shop online from the comfort of your own home, we think you’ll find the fixed furniture that will compliment your décor and elevate your space.

Thanks for reading,
Have a Seat
1300 715 937

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