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BASICS OF FOOD FACILITY DESIGN: MODULE 1
DETERMINING YOUR
FACILITY’S SPACE NEEDS

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HOW BIG?
• For restaurants, driven by # seats needed (typically)
• For retail food operations, driven by breadth and type of
offerings
• Drivers:
– Seating type envisioned
– Offering complexity
– Style of service
– Operating hours
– Financial goals and limitations
– Space available (if you have a site in mind)

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CONNECTS TO FEASIBILITY
• Are these seat counts realistic for the
experience you are trying to create with your
concept?
• KEY CONCEPT: Being slightly
undersized is better than being too big

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ALLOCATING FRONT OF HOUSE SQUARE FEET (SF)
• Fast food seating: 10 -13 SF/seat
• Casual dining: 14-17 SF/seat
• Fine dining: 18+ SF/seat
• Tableside service: 22+ SF/seat
• Bar seating areas: 14 – 22+ SF/seat
• For counter service and line up space: For each counter
service worker, allocate 60-80 SF

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ASK YOURSELF:
• What square feet per seat value would you pick
for this restaurant?

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FROM SEATING TO TOTAL SPACE*
• Full service:
– Start with # seats x SF/seat
– Add on 5-10% for circulation
– Add 50-60 SF per bartender for FOH bar
– Add 2-3 SF/seat for restrooms
– Add 1 SF/seat for host/waiting
– Generally FOH represents 50-70% of the total space
• Limited service:
– Start with # seats x SF/seat
– Add on 15-25% for circulation
– Add on 2 SF/seat for restrooms
– Generally FOH represents 50% or less of the total space
* YMMV a lot, depending on concept

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SOME TYPICAL VALUES
Restaurant Type
Dining Space
ft2/dining seat
Bar Seating
area
ft2/bar seat
Restroom
area
ft2 /total
seats
Gross
kitchen
ft2/total
seats
Total ft2 of
building/total
seats
Casual Dining 15.86 19.39 2.09 11.59 35.049
Fine Dining 17.36 13.89 1.89 8.75 39.13
Quick Service 12.27 N/A 3.23 26.7 57.04
Overall Mean Ft2 15.98 19.39 2.37 16.29 42.10

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FROM COUNTER AREA TO TOTAL SPACE
• Retail service with no seating:
– Start with # counter positions x 60-80 SF
– Then double this number to include FOH
circulation for your customers (more if you
plan on having self-service shelving as well)
– Generally FOH represents 50% or less of the
total space you need for your operation

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TYPICAL BOH PROPORTIONS
• Limited Service: 50% - 85% of total space
– 25-30% of this is storage
• Casual Dining: 30 – 50% of total space
– 25-35% of this is storage
• Retail Food Shop: 50 - 75% of total space
– 40-50% of this is storage

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