frequently asked questions about restaurant and cafe design and fitting out
- why should engage a professional designer for my restaurant, bar or cafe?
- why should I pay design fees for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- what are the benefits or engaging a professional project manager for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- how long will it take to refurbish my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- how much will it cost to refurbish my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- ok but what are some rough costs?
- how much do you charge to design my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- can I use my own builder, printer or other existing suppliers for my cafes, bar or restaurant?
- do you have your own contractors and suppliers who specialize in cafes, bars and restaurants?
- I have been offered a free restaurant design, what should I do?
- do you take responsibility if the builder or supplier you recommend fails to perform?
- will I have to close my cafe, bar or restaurant during refurbishment?
- what planning consents will I require for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- can you help us obtain planning consent for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- what other statutory obligations will I have to obtain for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- what other help will I need for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
- anything else?
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why should I engage a professional designer for my restaurant, bar or cafe?
A professional designer will know how to design so that your restaurant, bar or cafe will best appeal to your customers. Restaurants are known to be amongst the most technically difficult interiors to design. A trained restaurant designer will understand the technical matters but will also be trained in design history, science and about design tools (such as computers and complex software). They will have time to do your work thoroughly. An experienced designer will tell you honestly if your own ideas will work and if they will not they should not be afraid to tell you and explain why and to come up with other suggestions.
A professional designer will take time to learn about you and your business, where it is and what it is trying to achieve. They will help prepare a detailed design brief to record these things. This brief will help you to control and focus your ideas to stand the best chance of winning business from your competitors so that you are not just relying on your personal tastes and assumptions. For more information I have written a separate help sheet called How To Brief Us.
A professional designer will help you develop and build a strong, marketable brand with clear, focused objectives. They will work with you over the whole life of your business.
I am a member of the Chartered Society of Designers, who vet all their members for quality of work and, professional practice. You can download a copy of this Chartered Society of Designers Code of Professional Practice here http://www.csd.org.uk/about_us/csd_library.jsp
You can check if your designer is a member of the CSD here http://www.csd.org.uk/membership/mcsdfcsd_misuse.jsp
why should I pay design fees for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
All Chartered Designers are obliged to charge fees at normal professional rates but they can only earn money from commissions and recommendations if they tell you first. So that my advice is impartial I only charge fees and I do not earn any other money from commissions or other inducements or secret profits. These fees are an investment in the future success of your business.
To see some examples of how successful professional design is why not visit the Design Council web site www.designcouncil.org.uk where there are independent research data and well known examples? According to the Design Council
- 91% of rapidly growing UK businesses use design compared to 49% of average businesses
- 71% of fast growing companies see design as integral or significant. For static companies the figure is 20%
- 62% of static businesses see design as irrelevant. No rapidly growing company agrees.
what are the benefits or engaging a professional project manager for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
All construction projects are notorious for contract disputes usually involving money. Building or refurbishing a large restaurant is very complicated are there is often a temptation to rush to save time when the restaurant is closed. These things can make matters worse. When disputes arise they will often be complicated and cost enormous sums in legal fees before they are resolved. Win or lose the damage to your business is done.
A professional project manager will help you by making sure that all of the elements of the construction work are properly considered, drawn, detailed and priced before you sign a contract. They will be as clear as possible in advance, before you commit, about the true likely costs and the time the work will take; they will not give you false promises.
This information will help you raise finance. It will also help prevent disputes and make sure you open your business when planned.
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how long will it take to refurbish my cafe, bar or restaurant?
The shortest time for a minor project (up to £150k contract cost) is 16 weeks from starting design work to commencing trading but this depends on the availability of contractors and is best avoided since working so fast can add to costs. The chart shows a typical 26 week program which can be followed comfortably for the interior design and building of most minor projects. This program can only start once the design brief is ready and once all your branding and graphic design is designed (otherwise the interior and brand designs will not match up).
Larger projects costing over £500,000 usually take 9 months to a year or more to complete.
If we are managing a complete refurbishment we will act as quickly as we can. In the UK the slowest parts of the process are usually obtaining planning consent and building regulations approval from your council and obtaining tenders and quotations from builders and other suppliers.
how much will it cost to refurbish my cafe, bar or restaurant?
Refurbishing a cafe, bar or restaurant is never cheap. Restaurants and night clubs in particular can require very large investments. This is partly because of the need to keep up with your competition and partly to comply with all the rules and regulations that are getting more stringent every year. Also most good building and shop fitting firms are very busy and their prices reflect this. If you can find a builder who can act quickly and seems cheap then it is likely that they are not very good. Most good builders are booked well ahead.
No matter what you are told by others, it is impossible to say exactly how much your project will cost without preparing a design and having it properly priced. The only way to obtain an approximation is to find out what other similar, recent projects have cost. You may have been given a rough price or estimate but we advise you to be cautious of this unless it is based on a full set of detailed construction drawings and specifications and unless all government and local authority consents have been granted. We are contacted all the time by people who have engaged builders on flimsy agreements only to find that the price agreed did not cover even half of the work eventually needed.
ok but what are some rough costs?
Bearing in mind what I have written above here are some very rough example costs for complete refurbishments based on UK prices.
- A small cafe or wine bar of 20-50 covers started from scratch with new equipment will often cost about £75,000 to £150,000.
- A small restaurant of 50-70 covers, requiring an internal refurbishment but with an existing kitchen will often cost between £150,000 and £400,000.
- A medium-sized restaurant of 100 - 150 covers and a new rear building extension for kitchens or toilets usually costs at least £250,000 but can easily cost more than £500,000.
- large bar with a restaurant and function area for 300 users will often cost between £500,000 and £2.5M.
- Work in big city centre such as London often costs more than work in the provinces because of higher labour costs, difficult site access, parking and other restrictions
- Fitting out work in malls and other new developments often requires starting from scratch and working to high standards, especially in the Middle East. Construction industry surveys in the UK suggest an average UK cost of about £1419* per square meter excluding professional fees (at least 15%) and costs of direct supply plant and equipment. We find that this is generally much more than most inexperienced clients expect but that it accords with our own experience. Regional prices vary due to different labour and material rates but many fixtures and fittings are proprietary and so cost the same world over.
*Source, Building Magazine data http://www.building.co.uk
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how much do you charge to design my cafe, bar or restaurant?
We like to be transparent about our charges so we have produced a separate help sheet that is available on the help sheets page of our website. We do not add any hidden mark-ups or make any secret profits.
Appointing a professional designer and project manager may seem to be an added and unnecessary expense but lots of troubled people contact us too late when they have learned from bitter experience the cost of making wrong decisions. Whatever you spend on your project it will be a lot of money. For many it is the largest business investment they ever make. It is worth a small percentage of this to help make sure the rest of your money is spent wisely and helps you to build a strong business.
Finally, if you think professional design is expensive wait until you find out how much amateur design costs.
can I use my own builder, printer or other existing suppliers for my cafes, bar or restaurant?
We will work with any building contractors, printers and suppliers who are experienced, professional and capable of implementing our designs properly. You may know such people or firms or you may prefer us to make suggestions and recommendations from companies our other clients have used successfully. We will be pleased to work with you in either event. We refuse to work with unqualified people or anyone whose normal work is not refurbishing cafes, bars or restaurants.
do you have your own contractors and suppliers who specialize in cafes, bars and restaurants?
We are not contractors or suppliers but we will be happy to suggest and recommend builders and other suppliers we know if you require. We do not add any hidden mark-ups or make any secret profits from this. We charge for our time doing the work instead.
It is easier to attract a good builder to a series of big projects than it to a single small one. In Dubai for instance good builders are too busy to entertain small single projects but may do so for a client of a designer who has many other regular clients.
I have been offered a free restaurant design, what should I do?
There is no harm in seeing what you can get for free but in our experience there is always a price to pay in the end. People who offer free design are often just sophisticated printers, builders or middlemen, who present their proposals impressively and sometimes employ highly trained sales teams. It is unlikely they will have the best designers to produce a original design for you that suits your business or come up with any genuinely new designs. Often they just make proposals that are little different from many others they have made before and which are intended to maximise their profits. If you do go ahead with them the price you pay will have to cover all of their costs of preparing other failed, free proposals so in the end they can be a very expensive choice.
You should always be very wary of construction design and build companies who do not provide a full set of detailed drawings and specifications and a proper, fixed-price, building contract before asking you to commit. Even for small projects these documents can run to hundreds or pages but we have seen contracts based on one sheet of drawings and a few pages of written documents, this is inadequate to protect you from cowboys.
do you take responsibility if the builder or supplier you recommend fails to perform?
We are responsible for making sure, so far as our specific terms of engagement permit, that the builders and suppliers for your project are engaged on clear terms with detailed, written agreements signed by all parties. If necessary, we will take legal advice when necessary to make sure we do this work properly.
In the unlikely event that things do not work out properly you will then be protected and compensated as far as the law allows and we will advise you how to deal with such problems. However, ultimately we don’t guarantee anyone else’s obligations, responsibilities or work, we guarantee our own and we have professional liability insurance for this.
will I have to close my cafe, bar or restaurant during refurbishment?
It is almost impossible to refurbish a trading cafe, bar or restaurant without closing safely and efficiently unless it is large enough so that the work can be phased. Even then the disruption to trade is so significant that it is often better to close temporarily and get the work over and done with sooner rather than later. You can then have an exciting launch event when the work is finished and often this will more than make up for the lost business.
We will plan all building works so that as much as possible is done off site beforehand and the closed time is minimized.
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what planning consents will I require for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
(most of the following advice is for the UK only - different laws apply elsewhere and you should obtain local assistance)
If you have a restaurant, pub or bar or takeaway you will require premises with A3, A4 or A5 use classification. Some sandwich bars can be operated in premises with A1 use classification, usually when there is no primary food preparation or cooking on the premises but this is not always clear in the planning policies so we advise you to check with your local council’s planning department.
Normally, consent is easily obtained to convert an A5, A4, A3 or A2 premises to A1, but it is much more difficult to convert an A1 or A2 premises to A3, A4 or A5 or an A1 premises to A2. For a small fee we can check the council policies in your area.
In addition, you will require planning permission for almost all external alterations to your premises including the installation of new shop fronts, building extensions, fume extraction, air-handing plant, ductwork and new signs.
can you help us obtain planning consent for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
Certainly, we have prepared hundreds of successful planning applications. We are especially experienced in dealing with planning applications for changes of use to A3, A4 or A5 use, small building additions, new shop fronts and signs.
If we consider that the help you require is beyond our knowledge we can introduce you to expert town planning consultants who advise us and who can run appeals in the event of refusal.
Due to government policy changes over the last few years all councils have become very much more demanding about the quality of detail they require before considering planning applications. This is particularly true of changes of use to A3, A4 and A5, which are considered in great detail. As a consequence, it is now very difficult to manage these matters without specialist professional help and we advise you to speak with a chartered town-planning consultant or us at an early stage.
what other statutory obligations will I have to obtain for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
If you are a tenant you will require the consent of your landlord before you alter the premises. Your solicitor will deal with this and we can provide them with any drawings they require; again good drawings will speed the process.
what other help will I need for my cafe, bar or restaurant?
It is helpful to obtain a full structure and condition survey of any buildings you are planning to convert to a cafe, bar or restaurant. We will carry out a laser survey when we start our work for you and we will not rely on anyone else’s drawings. It is often advisable to have soil contamination, electrical, plumbing and drainage surveys - especially if the building is old. These can help us specify appropriate remedial works and protect you from the costs of any damage caused by your builders.
If your project requires structural building alterations or inspections you will require a Structural Engineer.
If your project is large or complicated you may require a professional Mechanical and Electrical (M and E) consultant. This consultant will deal with all of the service installations, including heating, air handling, lighting, and fire services.
If you require we can recommend suitable consultants and engineers that we have worked successfully with before.
When you market the project you may require a public relations consultant, marketing materials, advertising and a web site. We can provide you with all of these services as part of our design service (for an additional fee).
anything else?
Just call to let me know if there is any more I can add or send an email if you think of a question I have forgotten and I will add the answer to this help sheet.