Our senses constantly look for new experiences, especially evident in our food dining choices. According to studies, the appearance of food affects how it tastes. Similarly, a recent Cornell University research found that restaurant lighting influences diners’ moods and food choices. It stimulates a person’s senses and heightens emotions, affecting their eating habits and flavor perception.
In a restaurant, the customer always comes first. For this reason, The cuisine, establishment, and surrounding visitors should make customers feel energetic, at ease, and thankful. Since lighting is crucial to the diner’s experience, you cannot overlook this design element anymore.
Here are the different ways that lighting affects your restaurant’s dining experience:
1. Good Lighting Sets the Mood
According to studies, clients want a unique culinary experience when they go out to eat. Customers search for a “time-consuming,” more emotional, communal eating experience rather than the in-and-out “fast-track” dining experience. Instead, dining out should appeal to all your senses, not just your palate.
An ideal lighting design can be done in several ways. You can try recessed lighting, pendant lights, wall lamps, or ceiling fans that bring vibrancy to your space. Installing large windows also brings natural light in, which is a cheaper and eco-friendlier option to add light to your dining space.
Lighting also establishes the mood in any environment, particularly where lighting fixtures are present. Underlighting, such as candles on a table, is more flattering than overlighting. Overhead lights can create shadows on your face and make you appear fatigued.
2. Proper Lighting Can Increase Sales
Lighting may boost restaurant sales just as it can set the mood. Lights encourage customers to eat longer, which hopefully leads to more orders. Customers that remain longer are more likely to spend more money. Proper lighting may also help sell things by making a meal more appealing. For optimal effect, lighting should be placed around bar and food items.
3. Kitchen Lighting Enhances Efficiency
Your kitchen staff needs proper lighting to prepare delicious food while also looking delectable quickly. In addition, maintaining good kitchen-area lighting is essential for both staff and food safety.
4. Proper Lighting Can Make a Difference in the Feel of a Space
Waiting rooms, dining sections, and bar areas are vital to a restaurant’s overall functioning and customer experience. Lighting should be unique and personalized for each room’s purpose while remaining practical. For instance, dining areas need to be cozy, while frontage needs to be bright so your restaurant can be seen even from afar. Lighting can also make spaces appear larger, more accommodating, and inviting.
5. Appropriate Lighting Enhances Safety and Security
Finally, lighting is vital for customer and employee safety. Restaurants may typically accommodate large groups, which might present issues in an emergency, where guests must quickly evacuate the building. In the case of a power outage, extra emergency lighting is necessary. Outdoor sensory lights may also help prevent late-night or early-morning intruders.
6. Good Lighting is Great for Social Sharing
Do not underestimate the power of user-generated content to boost brand visibility online. When your restaurant lighting and design is share-worthy, that’s extra advertising power you did not have to pay for. You let satisfied customers do the talking for you.
This is crucial because most buyers’ decisions are heavily influenced by peer reviews and recommendations from family and friends. So, if you think that lighting is just a fancy way of wasting money, you should shift your mindset and think about the demographic that comes to your restaurant. Unless you only cater to the older generations, make sure your entire restaurant’s look and lighting combine to be shareable on social media feeds.
Conclusion
With these points, it is clear how crucial lighting is for your restaurant’s overall look and feel. The current trend among consumers these days emphasizes UX or user experience, so make sure you have all elements of the dining experience shine and stand out, including your lighting design.
At PTY Custom Lighting, we are a decorative lighting manufacturer providing contract hotel lighting for the hospitality industry. Achieving custom lighting has been our goal since we first entered the lighting market 35 years ago when we founded Arc Lamps. Since we started in 2011, we have strived to fill the lack in custom lighting for the hospitality industry, developing, producing, and distributing domestic lights across the US. Request a quote today.
