Tips for getting the right floor plan at your clubhouse restaurant

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Basically, a restaurant floor plan is a map of the physical space of your club restaurant. When designed properly, it can boost profits by creating ease of movement, enhancing your customer experience, increasing efficiency, and securing the safety of your staff and customers.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurant layouts have had to change to adjust to the so-called new normality and accommodate physical distancing and limits on venue capacity. So getting the floor plan right at your clubhouse restaurant is more important than ever, to find the proper balance between aesthetics and flow.

Once you get an optimized layout for your restaurant, the food quality will combine with a pleasant atmosphere. Comfortable guests spend more money, so let’s review some tips for your floor plan.

Before the tips

In case you do not know what should be included in a good floor plan, is more than the seat distribution. A well-designed floor plan must include a blueprint that depicts closets and storage spaces; interior features such as fixed shelving, counter space, bars, etc.; restrooms; set fixtures and appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, water heaters, etc.; the purpose of each room/space; walls and hallways; windows and doors; and other important items in your restaurant’s space.

It is also important that the plan have details about the operational flow: all the foot traffic, including where deliveries are picked up; how chefs move around the kitchen area; where servers pick up orders, and more. This helps you to prevent bottlenecks or overcrowding, as well as accommodating physical distancing and new limits on capacity due to the COVID-19 danger.

Tips for getting the best floor plan possible

Reopening after the pandemic: the physical space

In order to comply with the health recommendations and to keep social distancing —customers at least six feet apart from staff and each other—, you will need to include major changes on your floor plan. Those include:

  • Assigning differentiated entrances and exits, in order to limit face-to-face exposure.
  • Leave the waiting area outside of the restaurant to prevent overcrowding
  • Block every other table or install plexiglass partitions between tables
  • Move the pickup area for takeout and delivery far from the dining room
  • Install hand sanitizing stations near entrances and bathrooms
  • Arrange furniture in a way that it is easy for staff to sanitize
  • Move tables further apart and away from high-traffic areas
  • Remove unnecessary decor and tabletop items
  • Remove bar seating or create a physical barrier between costumers
  • Remove buffets and other communal food stations
  • Use floor markers to set expectations and direct the flow of foot traffic

Offer a variety of experiences

Your clients are looking forward to enjoying your restaurant in more than one way. So offering different dining spaces such as grab ‘n’ go food stops on the course, multiple bars, open dining rooms, patios, poolside snack bars, or private rooms will maximize the consumption.

The variety of spaces also allows accommodating groups of different sizes, as well as organizing events like corporate meetings, leagues, tournaments, weddings, etc. When designing your floor plan, take also into account the level of privacy they require to accommodate any need.

Think carefully the interior design and decoration

You are going to need a cohesive and on-brand interior design to create value for your guests. So, selecting good art, fixtures, furniture, and lighting is a must.

Always keep in mind that the atmosphere of your restaurant contributes to the gastronomical experiences. Lighting needs to make the food look appealing; bathrooms should be quiet and separated from the dining room; the entrance should not disturb the clients seated next to it, and so on: every detail should be carefully analyzed in order to make your customers relaxed.

In terms of design, each clubhouse benefits from a theme. Once it is selected, every decoration element should reinforce the atmosphere created by the theme. It is always a good idea to leave the interior design to professionals, so do not hesitate to hire outside help to cover this aspect of your floor plan.

Make a good seating plan layout

In a restaurant, there are always good and bad seats. The worst places are the ones by the door, while the best’s spots are the ones that allow seeing the golf course. Therefore, a good floor plan should convert bad seats into good ones.

The easiest way to achieve that is to center the seating layout on your central theme. Maybe you cannot place all the seats to see the course, but you need to give those customers something interesting to see. A well-designed bar space with television or even some theme-appropriate art on the walls can do the trick. But it is important to analyze each seat from the customer’s point of view and try to improve the less desirable seating locations.

Ensure a proper workflow

If the restaurant staff is bumping into tables, running around, and stressed customers will note it and get frustrated as well.

A good floor plan can minimize that bad experience and optimizes staff workflow by clearing tables from the kitchen doors, making the aisles for staff to deliver food larger of defining zones within the POS system. Keep in mind that self-order POS systems may cut down on order time, so think about introducing it to provide a professional service.

Make a good impression

The first impression always counts, so try that when the client enters into the clubhouse restaurant the first thing he notes is inviting colors and tasty smells. The floor plan must include a well-thought-out waiting and reception area, and even a bar for customers to have an appetizer while waiting for their table.

Those areas should be in synchrony with your restaurant theme and your clubhouse brand, to start preparing your client for a wonderful experience.

Finding the perfect floor plan

There is a pretty good chance that you won’t get the optimum floor plan at first. So don’t be afraid to try several times until you reach a perfect disposition for your unique clubhouse. Don’t worry: after several iterations, you will learn from your mistakes and get the perfect mix on your restaurant floor.

The important thing is fulfilling the unique needs of your customers, so listen to their opinions and act accordingly rethinking your layout. Feedback is crucial for designing a positive experience and giving your golf clubhouse the best restaurant possible.

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