The entire restaurant industry has shifted because of COVID-19 and the effects that that’s had on the global economy, consumer preferences and the marketplace as a whole.

1. What Will Restaurant Design
Look Like After COVID-19?
The entire restaurant industry has shifted because of COVID-19 and the
effects that that’s had on the global economy, consumer preferences and the
marketplace as a whole. These industry developments have had far-reaching
consequences, even affecting adjacent businesses who rely on restaurants as
clientele. One of the many things that will have to change because of
COVID-19, and how it’s likely altered the entire course of the industry moving
forward, is restaurant design.
It seems almost inconsequential; as restaurants more thoroughly concern
themselves with how to alter their business strategy to bring in customers
and pay their employees while also saving enough money to last until the
end of these turbulent times, they’re not as focused on reinventing their
entire physical layout right now, although it would significantly benefit them
in the long run.
This poses a problem for designers. They’ve had to change how they
approach business too, because previously, restaurant design maximized
capacity, profit and atmosphere—all considerations which are now either
illegal or unethical to prioritize over safety. So much of restaurant design
before now has been about cultivating environments where people want to
hang out; gathering places for all different clientele to invite their friends and
linger over drinks and food. Now, everyone wants the exact opposite. Crowds
are suddenly lethal.

2. Restaurant designers knew they were in for trouble when most of their client
base fell victim to the first wave of shutdowns back in March. Like nearly every
small business, they had to rethink their approach and usher in the new era of
restaurant design—and fast, before they went under too. One company,
Goodrich, decided to do some work pro bono so as to draw their clients in all
over again and hopefully start to make a profit.
Everyone was low on funds and terrified of the future. Now, restaurant
designers are adapting; they’re focused on finding solutions for the new
problems that suddenly plague society, and the food service industry in
particular.
Redesigning Space
The most obvious way to adjust a restaurant’s design for COVID-19 is to
physically rearrange the space to accommodate social distance and other
health expert recommendations. This is typically the first move restaurants
make: Add room between furniture by shifting, closing down or removing
tables to put the necessary amount of distance between guests. Of course
this leaves restaurants at very limited capacity and doesn’t fully assuage
customers’ fears about catching COVID-19, thus some have taken more
radical approaches.
A lot of businesses took service outside over the past couple of months, more
confident in the safety of al fresco dining and with way more space to work
with, so they can accommodate more customers than reduced indoor
capacity allows. When they have it, restaurants are also using patio space
every hour they can; others have taken advantage of new permits which allow
them to close down sidewalks, public streets and their own parking lots. With
the right design team, it can even look nice done up with furniture, paint and

3. a canopy for the weather; though there are downsides to this endeavor if it’s
undertaken too hastily. One critic, witnessing this trend spread throughout
San Francisco, thinks that eventually the newness of the design, thrill of
dining out, and relief at some sort of solution will wear out and customers will
feel that a lot of these outdoor spaces look cluttered and unappealing, not
really suitable as a long-term solution.
Open kitchens and service stations are also becoming more popular. They
allow staff to avoid too much close contact with one another, especially if they
change shifts from day to day and interact with each other and customers
close up on a daily or near-daily basis.
More temporary and flexible solutions are also on the rise. For example, many
added removable screens in their dining areas, putting glass, plexiglass or
something similar between booths and banquettes so as to reduce the
spread of germs between parties. Removability is good, not just so
restaurants can revert back to normal someday when it’s safe, but because it’s
easier to clean the partitions periodically too. Some food service
establishments have taken the idea of a barrier a step further and also
installed them at the counter, if they have a checkout area with a cashier, to
prevent contact between customers and staff. This is all done on top of other
internal measures that restaurants are taking.
Changes like these are gaining traction because they’re temporary enough
that restaurants don’t have to invest in permanent installations, but secure
enough to add a layer of protection which restaurants can keep for as long as
it’s necessary.
Restaurants are also investing in changes that do away with dine-in service
entirely, either because they have to from a business standpoint or because

4. they live in an area with legal restrictions on sit-down service. Drive-thrus,
designated pickup areas, and curbside ordering are all on the rise across the
country. There’s also been increased flexibility with takeout and delivery
systems, as restaurants find ways to make interactions and service completely
contactless. Not having face-to-face conversations, when customer
experience is such an ingrained part of food service, would have been
unthinkable six months ago but it’s now preferred.
For restaurants that do offer dine-in services, plenty of them have taken steps
to introduce hands-free hardware so as to reduce the amount of shared
surfaces customers might touch during their visit. For example, more
restaurants than ever have started putting in foot pedals instead of door
handles, and contact-free hand sanitizer stations are popping up all over their
floor plans.
Restaurants need to find designs that prioritize safety, distance and health in
a way that best protects their customers, avoids long-term commitments,
and remains relatively inexpensive at a time when they’re more financially
insecure than ever. It’s a tough line to walk.
Enter Technology
Unfortunately physical accommodations are insufficient to properly ensure
the total safety of customers and staff at your place of business; interaction is
so ingrained in every aspect of our society that we tend to overlap in places
where we might not think about it. That’s why more aggressive solutions are
needed; we have to turn to advanced technology to help us out.
There are a lot of different contact-free solutions available for restaurants of
any size who want to prioritize health and safety. Mobile ordering is one huge

5. trend that’s taken off since COVID-19 changed how we think about food
service; contactless ordering and payment have become prioritized as a way
for businesses to ensure added safety for customers while also keeping lines
moving. A lot of them are using QR codes so customers can view the menu,
order and pay all from their own smartphone.
There’s also higher-grade tech available for restaurants which are a fairly low
investment, considering all the ROI. For example some really automated
restaurants implemented self-order kiosks which can sense heat from inches
away, making it unnecessary to touch the screens at all.
Others have taken a more low-tech approach and simply accept payment
which doesn’t require anything to physically change hands, nor the use of
machines which a lot of customers share throughout the day. Banning
physical cash and only accepting services like Venmo, Paypal or credit cards
that allow you to hover near the checkout machine all add a layer of
protection that restaurants can integrate at a very low operational cost.
The Future of Restaurant Design
Right now, nothing is for certain—or for long. It can be difficult to make
long-term plans regarding your restaurant and business operations because
protocols are constantly changing as laws surrounding COVID-19 go into and
out of effect with various levels of enforcement. Statistics change so rapidly
and health regulations are unclear and insufficient even when they are up to
date; recommendations for best practices aren’t uniform or enforced across
different states. All of this makes it difficult to plan from a data-driven
mindset, which design inarguably is. Concrete decisions and inflexibility just
don’t work anymore.

6. On top of lax regulations and no long-term plan of action, consumer behavior
and priorities are shifting. What they’re comfortable with one week might not
stay stable the next as news about the virus evolves.
One thing is for sure: The COVID-19 pandemic will radically change the
trajectory of customers’ habits, preferences and opinions. The future will be
marked by distance and safety where it never was before; conviviality has
given way to caution. Thus it’s more beneficial to focus on new strategies that
maximize flexibility, adaptability and temporality rather than investing in
entirely new design schemas that might have be torn down and redone if the
virus were to become manageable within the year; or even next week if
scientists discovered more information that changed the way we handle
crowds, again.
With so much uncertainty, restaurants should focus on one thing they can
control: Branding. Become a brand known for positive atmosphere and
congenial vibes which make customers forget about how uncomfortable it
might be to wear a mask; let the elegance of the setup offset the additional
safety measures. Restaurants who make customers feel welcome, normal and
safe will strengthen their customer relationships and ensure positive
experiences that have them returning again and again—no matter what your
setup looks like next week.