8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN
REFURBISHING YOUR RESTAURANT
Experts in Design
TM
8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN
REFURBISHING YOUR RESTAURANT
Published by Faber Design & Architecture
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Designed by: Faber Studio
www.faber.design
Experts in Design
TM
Nothing is more frustrating than wasted potential. We see it often; a
hugely talented individual, in so many ways, loses the plot when it comes
to something as important and costly as refurbishing a restaurant or
creating a new one.
Our mission at Faber is simple;
to make good design available
Over the years, we’ve seen it go wrong in so many different ways; this
guide covers those we see the most. We understand why; often with the
best of intentions, there are so many pitfalls it’s inevitable that without the
right advice there’s a good chance you’ll have problems.
to every client, regardless of
project size, value or location.
TONY MATTERS
It doesn’t have to be this way. Our mission at Faber is simple; to make the
best design available to every client, regardless of project size, value or
location. We hope you will find this guide useful, and it takes you one step
closer to achieving your potential.
FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR
To your future success,
Tony Matters
Experts in Design
01
TM
1
Ultimately, your goal is to
have customers who love
what you do, tell their friends
and keep coming back.
Design it for your customers, not
your own personal taste.
We see this all the time. It’s easily done; you have an interest in the subject, you see lots of
amazing restaurants, so it’s only natural you have preferences and aspirations.
All of this is healthy; it’s just that it needs to be pointed in the right direction. You need to harness
your passion and apply it in a more structured way, to fulfil the wants and aspirations of your target
customer.
So, the first step, in fact, is to understand who your customer is.
Where do they shop? What kind of music do they listen to? What brand of coffee do they drink (or
do they prefer a smoothie)? By thinking about your ideal customer in a lateral way, you’ll start to
build a picture of what makes them tick.
Ultimately, your goal is to have customers who love what you do, tell their friends and keep
coming back. In this way, you’re connecting with your customers on an emotional level. The more
you understand about your ideal customer, the easier it will be to find their emotional triggers.
It’s not about you, it’s about them.
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2
Having a cost target that’s
based on nothing more than
either how much money you
Figure out your budget.
No, I mean really figure it out.
Budget blindness is the most common cause of project pain and failure.
We all recognise the symptoms, we’ve seen the programs on TV. That is, until it’s you and your
project. Suddenly, you develop this massive dose of over-optimism. Scientists should study this
phenomenon as it makes otherwise sane and sensible people become crazy fools!
have, or how much you think it
The reality is, it will cost more than you think.
should cost, will just not cut it.
The sooner you deal with this, the sooner you can start on the road to success. Having a cost
target that’s based on nothing more than either how much money you have, or how much you
think it should cost, will just not cut it.
Instead, write a list of every single thing you can think of, in as much detail as you can manage.
So rather than ‘new lighting’ you should write ‘ten downlights over the bar, six in the entrance’ and
so on.
Armed with this list (which should be quite long), start figuring out how much each item will cost.
How much is a singe light? How long will it take to install? What is a typical labour rate? Most of
the answers to these questions can be found by simply getting on Google.
Once you’ve done this, factor in other costs such as professional fees, statutory fees and so on.
You also need to keep in mind that a main contractor will apply a mark-up on these costs (known
as main contractors overhead and profit or MCOP).
At the end of this exercise, which will take some time, you’ll have a realistic target budget.
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3
You need to take a
longer-term view; the fact
of the matter is the more
‘trendy’ the trend the quicker
the world will move on.
Don’t follow trends.
It’s tempting, I know.
Gold faux leather sofas may be the most exciting thing you’ve seen this year but trust me, give
it another year and the world will have moved on. Apart from you that is; you’ll have to live with
these for at least three years until you finally decide to admit defeat and get rid. This may be an
extreme example but trust me, it happens.
You need to disconnect your emotions from the decision-making process. It’s as simple as that. In
fact, for that matter, you should already know that your emotions have little to do with what fabric
you choose (if you’ve read point No 1)!
This is a business, after all. You need to take a longer-term view; the fact of the matter is the more
‘trendy’ the trend the quicker the world will move on.
Designing a restaurant that emotionally connects with your clientele does not mean finding the
things that they love now (and will not love in a years’ time). You need to dig a bit deeper.
If you do this well, your restaurant will look as good in five years’ time as it does on day one.
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4
A great restaurant is not a
collection of objects; it’s a
carefully curated vision, borne
out of a deep understanding
of your customers’ needs
and aspirations.
Do not rely on your suppliers to
design your restaurant for you.
This is a classic. The ultimate cheap-skate mindset, a symptom of not understanding how critical
good design is to enable you to connect with your customers.
It goes like this; a supplier, let’s say of restaurant furniture, has been involved in lots of projects.
Some of them pretty amazing. So, you think ‘hey, hang on a minute … all of these companies do
great products, from chairs to signs to light fittings. Why don’t I just tell them my ideas and they
can suggest things that fit with that. They could maybe even help me choose a colour.’
Sadly, what you failed to appreciate is that without an over-arching creative vision, all of these
things are just that; things. A great restaurant is not a collection of objects; it’s a carefully curated
vision, borne out of a deep understanding of your customers needs and aspirations.
You can tell when a restaurant is created this way; it seems to tick the right boxes but somehow
just doesn’t ‘click’. There’s no connection, no soul.
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5
Do not design by committee.
The solution that navigates
Everyone has their own axe to grind.
everyone’s opinions will be
Get your key employees views, but do not under any circumstances set up a situation where
every decision must be unanimously agreed by your team. The solution that navigates everyone’s
opinions will be bland and meaningless. You need a single-minded vision. Sure, you need to get
operational feedback and buy in, but this is different.
bland and meaningless.
In the ideal client team, in my view, is one person who is given the role of project lead. This person
obtains the views of partners and colleagues, and shares the vision. But ultimately, they have the
final say.
It’s about trust. Appoint a project lead and give her your trust; appoint external professionals and
give them your trust.
As with most things, there’s more than one right answer. It’s about finding the answers that are
right for your project; you won’t always make the right decisions, but if you make more good ones
than bad you’ll be fine.
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6
Ultimately, this will save you
a ton of money, heartache
and broken friendships.
Do not use your friend the
builder (or someone else’s
friend for that matter).
Nothing has more potential to ruin a good friendship and nothing has more potential to de-rail a
refurbishment project than a contractor who is a personal friend.
We understand why you want to, of course. He’s a nice guy (well he should be, he’s your friend),
you trust him, he must be good at his job because I like him (this one, of course, makes no sense
at all).
The reality is, any refurbishment project is complex. Restaurants even more so; carefully
balancing tricky technical requirements such as ventilation and extraction with the need to make it
look beautiful.
And just as with any refurbishment project, there’s potential for things to go wrong. In fact, if at
least one thing doesn’t go wrong, something is wrong (hopefully a very small thing).
Having your friend as the contractor makes it very hard to deal with problems. Sometimes, you
have to be tough, which is not that easy when he’s your friend. There’s also this big underlying
issue; you hired him for the wrong reasons.
You need to hire a contractor that has prior experience, good references, has dealt with projects
with similar challenges. You need to undertake a professionally managed and competitive
procurement process; ultimately, this will save you a ton of money, heartache and broken
friendships.
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7
This is where the stories ar
told, the character is built and
the personality shines through.
See it through. To the end.
As hard and long a road this can be, as much money as you need to invest in this process to
truly succeed, as close as you think you are to the finish line; you are not there until, well, you are
there.
More often than not, it’s the last 10% of the project that makes the biggest impact on your
customers. The final layer of ‘stuff’; whatever that is, from planting to artwork to decorative objects,
is the thing that communicates with your customer in a human and intimate way.
This is where the stories are told, the character is built and the personality shines through. This is
where all of the hard work, all of the endless thinking and asking and talking comes to fruition, this
is the pay-off you need and the emotional connection everyone is hoping for.
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8
The outcome of this is as simple
as it gets; good restaurant
design will save you money
and make you money.
Use an expert.
OK, I’ll come clean. In case you haven’t noticed, we design restaurants. In fact, I would go as far
as to say that we are experts.
Having said this, this final point genuinely is not a sales pitch. Our mission at Faber is to make
good design available to every client, regardless of project size, value or location. Not just the big
boys, or those with endless budgets.
And as we are a company of real people, engaged in work with real clients, we cannot work for
every single client who wants to work with us. It’s a shame, but it’s an undeniable reality.
So, our plea to you is this; if you don’t work with Faber, at the very least use a professional,
someone with a proven track record in designing great restaurants. Because the outcome of this
is as simple as it gets; good restaurant design will save you money and make you money.
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Experts in Design
TM