Times have been tough for the hospitality industry in the last two years, for obvious reasons. In fact, a throwaway sentence like that doesn’t quite elucidate the challenges and struggles  that all manner of restaurants, hotels, cafes and event spaces have had to suffer in this time, and for that, it’s quite understandable to see how these businesses are looking for anything worthwhile that can generate the revenue they’ve missed out on.

While there are many potential solutions for restaurants looking to renew their customer confidence and appeal to more people than ever, increasing potential capacity is a good way to try and make up for revenue lost.

As the world slowly but surely returns back to a state of normal, it’s important to consider what implements, upgrades and considerations we can make without nullifying the strength of our original concept. After all, restaurants don’t get to implement a ‘work from home’ option and ensure that capacity is met all the same. In this post, then, we’ll discuss how restaurants should think about increasing potential capacity to provide more options going forward. Without further ado, let’s begin:

An External Seating Area

You’d be surprised how much utility an external seating area can bring to a space. If you need to renovate your exterior to add safe seating room into a parking space, or rent space as part of a city planning builds, then that can be worth the investment. With a few solid tables, benches, and the use of many an outdoor umbrella, expanding capacity in this way is not only stylish – but serves as a great marketing tactic.

Food Delivery Services

Once, food delivery services were considered mostly a place for takeout venues to deliver too, with certain restaurants like pizzerias delivering their own. But now with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Deliveroo and more, even acclaimed restaurants are expanding their capacity by taking remote orders and assigning drivers to come pick that up. It might be that figuring out how to properly plate and package meals safely can help you deliver food appropriately, even if you’re having a quiet night inside, and even if Covid restrictions have curbed your prior capacity expectations.

Expanding Utilities

Of course, when expanding the capacity of your restaurant, it’s important to consider what obligations you need to fulfill. Ensuring that you have the appropriate amount of bathroom space per amount of seated guests is essential, and this number can differ depending on how many people you plan to use the space at one time. It might be that integrating a queueing system for the bathroom extending the cubicle toilets, or adding a baby changing room is key to providing the essential facilities guests both expect and are legally entitled to at the same time. In that way, you can think of expanding capacity as not only a boon for your business, but a responsibility too.

With this advice, we believe that any restaurant increasing potential capacity will do so with the correct mindset and priorities.

Image source: Pexels.com