DESIGNING IN-HOUSE RESTAURANTS THE RIGHT WAY

Hotels are not only focusing on serving food to their guests but are also paying detailed attention to emerging interior design trends for their restaurant

- SAYLI MOHITE

The dining experience in hotels leaves a heartfelt impression on the guests. Customer loyalty, relationships and connection matter greatly in the world of hospitality. In today's age, guests are keener and tend to partake in bespoke experiences, and though most people do not know this, but the layout and design of an in-house restaurant play a key role in this. Sarika Shetty, Partner, SJK Architects, explains, "Spatial proportions, form, volume, materiality and natural and artificial Lighting play an essential role in enhancing the dining experience. For instance, at the Lotus Cafe we designed for the Dasavatara Hotel in Tirupati, India, a tessellated, multi-dimensional inner wooden ceiling is held up by Vshaped metal columns placed centrally, covered by a glazed façade on three sides. Further, the cafe is envisioned almost as an island, surrounded by the hotel's central water body. This not only opens up the cafe to unobstructed views of the water body but also enables a play of reflected and refracted light within the space, adding to the overall spatial experience." 

To crack the right service in hospitality, the restaurant's design layout and strategy should be accurate. From right when the guests enter to the F&B service, furniture design, and lighting layout, even the menu should be such that it communicates a powerful piece of labelling of the hotel, acquiring more visitors. On a technical note, Supriya Gupte, Project Head- Hospitality Interiors, Edifice Consultants, emphasises "The restaurant will not function properly without the back of the house support. The hospitality sector, however, is all about experience, and it clearly segregates the FOH and BOH circulation. It is crucial to camouflage the service entries and strategically locate the service stations. We try to integrate these service stations in design to make them look like an integral part of interiors."

THE RIGHT PLANNING