Restaurant

Restaurants serve as a public space for hospitality, reinterpreting the domestic dining room and introducing the family culture into a public setting. The experience restaurants offer is both a social and private endeavor, beginning with a greeting, offering a pleasant table experience, and departing with fond memories.

Communities gather in restaurants, relying on them for nourishment and shelter. As a result, these establishments have a commitment to their guests to facilitate comfortable and dependable service, ensuring there are no bad seats.

Spatial definition plays a large role in the comfort of guests, particularly in more congested areas. Establishing physical or implied perimeters between the seating arrangements reinforces the effect of personal space within the larger social space, introducing boundaries and respect between separate parties.

Lighting can be used to enhance the dining experience, rather than simply illuminate the room. Separate light fixtures for each table strengthen the sense of individuality and intimacy, differentiating tables from each other.

“Physical architecture is not the only salient feature of restaurants. Nor are restaurants only about the food or the service. Rather, they are about a broader experience of hospitality, that form of personal and professional conduct that binds all aspects of a restaurant together, from hello to goodbye and everything in between.”

- Bentel, 2018, pg. 5

Commercial Kitchens

Spatial needs are determined based on market surveys, assessing the expected demand for the facilities. Multiple factors are considered, including the size and features of the area to be served, the number of possible customers and their social characteristics, the types of meals required, and their frequency. General components of commercial kitchens include food preparation space, dishwashing areas, food storage, and garbage storage. The requirements for each of these areas varies depending on the user needs and adjacencies.

Food Storage

All food storage must have easy access to the entrance, with a table and weighing scales by either the entrance or storage space.

• Vegetable storage

• Direct access to receiving area and vegetable preparation area in kitchen

• Lighting should not produce strong shadows; 200 lux is adequate

• Shelving should be shallow and slightly sloped, with wire mesh racks or metal bins for loose produce

• Dried goods storage

• Bulk storage should be near receiving area

• Smaller storage to be adjacent to prep area

• Mobile racks for easy cleaning and transport

• Floor, walls, and ceiling to be damp-proofed

• Doors and ventilation should not permit steam from other areas to enter

• Water supply nearby

• Demountable shelving with a minimum of 8” above the ground

• Workbench with weighing scales

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Cold goods storage

• Chilled and deep freeze storage

• Separated by meat, fish, other, and frozen

• Adjacent to or in prep areas for daily storage

• Individual fridge, reach in cabinets, walk in cabinets, or cold rooms

• Easy access from receiving and preparation

• Not adjacent to warm equipment

• Stainless steel

• Demountable, lightweight shelves

Food Preparation

Food preparation spaces follow an essential flow route, minimizing congestion. A simple flow route begins with the goods entrance which leads to storage, then moving to preparation which transitions to cooking, followed by plating and finally serving. A secondary circulation of the wash station moved along to the initial flow route, starting with scraping, stacking, washing, draining, and finally stacking again. Prep areas are divided into vegetable, meat and fish, pastry, and general preparation areas.

• Aisle Spacing

• 3’ 2” - 3’ 6” minimum between back to back

• 4’ 6” - 5’ 0” minimum for equipment aisles

• 4’ 0” - 4’ 6” minimum near hot equipment

• Vegetable Preparation

• Activities include peeling, cleaning, and trimming, cutting, dicing, etc.

• Adjacent to vegetable storage and near garbage area

• Prep tables and benches, sinks, waste disposal, equipment for slicing

• Pastry Preparation

• Refrigerator

• Work tables, sinks, other equipment, ovens

• Meat and Fish Preparation

• Near cold storage and dry cooking area

• 4 main work tables

• Storage

• General Preparation

• Dish assembly