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Did you know Pizza and Italian Style Restaurants are among the most popular types of restaurants in the United Kingdom? Even though thereÂ’s a huge difference between the pizza restaurant market and pizza delivery, itÂ’s still one of the most profitable businesses in the industry.
Adopting an Italian restaurant concept business is an important step towards successful management. You have to pick one that will serve its purpose to your target audience, staff, and even operations.
Do you use Italian-themed decor in your business? Are you considering ways to improve your current interior design? You may want to consider using Italian-style decors to completely impress your guests. Follow along to find out the basics and some tips you can use.
Italian Restaurant Design and Decor Ideas
Designing a restaurant involves two critical elements. The first is the vision and narrative that inspired the design. A strong narrative should connect all the details of the design, making sure that each detail serves its purpose without being excessive.
Another critical part of a restaurant’s design is its operation, which is the most critical part of any restaurant. What is the procedure for guests arriving at the restaurant? From the kitchen to the dining hall, how does the food travel?
The operational layout of the restaurant must be seamless and as effortless as possible for the operators to ensure dining is an excellent experience. The process should be carefully considered for both fine dining and quick-service restaurants, so the restaurant runs smoothly.
Offering wine, pasta, and pizza on your menu is not enough to make your business Italian. It also has to look, and if possible, speak Italian to your customers. There are many unique ways to incorporate the rich Italian culture into your design, depending on who you are targeting and what you are looking for in terms of your guests’ comfort, relaxation, and enjoyment.
The way you choose the food, how well you create an atmosphere for your restaurant, and the design of the interior can elevate your dream restaurant into something truly magical.
Italian Restaurant Interior: Must-Haves
In addition to the stereotype of checkered tablecloths, grapevine statues, and images of the main tourist attractions in Italy, Italian restaurants can also feature other décor styles. Depending on the menu, origin, and customer base, an Italian restaurant’s interior design will differ.
If you aren’t presented with a variety of design possibilities for your restaurant, decorating may be a difficult chore. However, as a restaurant owner, your only limitation is your creativity.
You can use the following methods for interior decorating an Italian-themed restaurant:
Decorations Variations
If you use a bit of decorative finesse, you can make an Italian restaurant look intimate and cozy or expansive, depending on the mood you want to create. With the Italian traditional style, there are so many variations that you can express yourself in whichever way you want.
A rustic décor, comfortable wood chairs, and an open kitchen create an inviting ambiance at some Italian restaurants. Decor like this emphasizes the quality of life and happiness.
It is common to find vintage fixtures, traditional chairs, and tables as well as soft lighting in more formal Italian restaurants. Fine wallpaper and carpeting in these restaurants are also common.
The dark wood floors and decorative wall items will contrast well with the elegant tablecloths. As well as the backlit wine shelves, you can put plain walls and mirrors along with a sleek seating arrangement.
When you run a family restaurant, as most Italian ones do, you can use decorations that tell your family story. These decors will allow you and your family members to work together in providing the best feeling of home to the guests.
The environment you provide is important so that your customers can come back again and perhaps bring their friends with them. Creating a family-friendly atmosphere will help your brand broaden your customer base.
The concept for an Italian restaurant
The modern era has seen a revival of family-style dining, which offers moderately priced dishes with a variety of toppings, sauces, dips, and other toppings from different cuisines.
Different styles of family restaurants exist, such as Asian, Mediterranean, and European. The food is moderately priced and provided with reusable dinnerware and tableside service.
Italian family restaurants have a cozy atmosphere that makes them more popular due to their friendly and relaxing atmosphere.
Italian-themed design trends and ideas
Italian restaurants are known for their special charm that attracts modern diners. Due to the popularity of Italian-style restaurants, you have a wide range of ideas on how you can incorporate modern restaurant decor ideas into your restaurant. It is common for these ideas to be versatile and show the uniqueness of Italian cuisine.
Using natural materials for the counters, furniture, decorations, floors, and walls will help make your restaurant have an Italian-themed décor. It is ideal to choose earth tones and gold shades when selecting the colors for the motif.
A new coat of paint can enhance the look of your restaurant and is a less expensive way to do it.
Colors that create an illusion of space, such as blue, green, and purple, create an intimate feeling, while dark, warm colors make the atmosphere feel more spacious.
The Art of Decorating an Italian-themed Restaurant
If you are in the process of designing or decorating your establishment, here are a few things you can do to help contribute to the overall look of your restaurant.
You can make your restaurant look Italian by decorating it in the following ways:
Wall Renovations
Use simple decorations to transform the appearance of your Italian restaurant, like a framed model of the restaurant’s menu, or choose to display a poster advertising Italian bread, wine, or olive oil.
You can create a complete wall scene by framing an Italian family member, an Italian famous legend, or a vintage interior of an Italian restaurant. The restaurant’s walls can also be updated with handwritten words, for example, “cenare” – “dining”, or “ristorante” – restaurant in Italian, on one side.
To do this, project the word on the wall using a projector and trace it on the chalkboard with a brush. You can also paint over it with latex paint. Before tracing each letter on the page, make sure the bottom is aligned with a laser level.
Showcase wooden Italian kitchen tools on the wall, such as polenta paddles, cutting boards, and ravioli rollers. They can be displayed on shelves or a bookcase or displayed among spice tins.
Decorative surfaces and finishes
You can use yellow and orange paint on the walls if you would like a similar look to stucco, without any plaster or stucco. Then, mix a clear glaze with yellow or orange latex to finish off the walls. Rub out most of the glaze with a rag after brushing it on.
Add faux finishes and murals to completely change the look of the restaurant.
When working with the glaze, work in small areas at a time to prevent it from drying out. If you want to colorize your projected image properly, you can also trace it on the wall with chalk and fill in the design with the colors you want. The mural can be painted by a professional if you are not very art savvy.
Upgrades should be quick and simple
A red-checkered tablecloth will evoke a look of a casual Italian restaurant. As an alternative to the formal option, place simple white linens on the tables.
You can cover the tables in the restaurant’s outdoor and bar areas with the traditional checkered tablecloths commonly associated with Italian dining. A simple centerpiece can add to the romantic and warm atmosphere youÂ’re aiming for.
Take some bottles without labels and spray paint half of each of the red, white, or green to represent the Italian flag in a modernized way. It’s possible to mask the top halves of the bottles before painting them to protect them from the paint.
How To Create A Complete Italian-Style Ambiance
Normally, dining at a restaurant was only reserved for special occasions in the past, but recently dining out has become part of the lifestyle of consumers. You have the opportunity to make a lot of customers and generate income from this.
Italian setting is not just about food, but it is a rich tradition centered in a family environment. Restaurant themes and styles can also be woven around this family mindset.
Italian restaurants are known for their authentic atmosphere and excellent service.
Operation and Customer Service
Food is never an issue at great restaurants. The key to making dining a wonderful experience is to have excellent service provided by a professional and courteous team. Each table that the staff is assigned to serve should be treated with consideration, attentiveness, and punctuality.
The customer will not be pleased and may not return to the restaurant if the waitstaff forgets to bring their food as soon as it is ready or if they bring food that they did not order. Also, a serving staff should demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for the menu and make suggestions on it honestly.
You will find that customers expect more than just delicious food when it comes to the restaurant industry. A great dining experience extends more than what you put on the table of your customers, outstanding service is what makes it complete and more memorable.
Dining Ambience
Your guests must have a good time dining with your restaurant. For Italian-styled establishments, the atmosphere is one that always seals the deal. You may serve the most authentic Italian dish, but the experience will not be complete if your customers donÂ’t feel enough authenticity with the environment you prepare for them.
Just in case you missed it, Italian culture is a family-centered one. This is one of the main reasons why there are plenty of family-style Italian restaurants. Also, guests will expect a lively, warm, and cheerful atmosphere once theyÂ’re inside an Italian-styled establishment.
Therefore, your Italian restaurant should be able to relate to this kind of view on life. It would have been better if you had set up a quaint setting to match your authentic Italian food.
Original Italian Cuisine
YouÂ’re still running a food establishment. Your customers will be expecting authentic and unique flavors that reflect your concept. Italian cuisine is known for its aromatic and powerful flavors.
Should you decide to stick to this concept, ensure that your kitchen staff can prepare the said cuisine with finesse and efficiency. If youÂ’re unsure if you can provide authentic Italian flavors, worry not, as modern fusion is also a hit today.
To accommodate the wide range of tastes of guests, providing a variety of menus is vital. Try out the growing trend of utilizing organic and locally sourced ingredients. Offering vegetarian and vegan options might work for you as well.
When preparing authentic Italian dishes, you must use the highest quality ingredients that adhere to tradition so you can expect the same standard of food every day. If you want to retain your customers, you should serve them meals that taste the same no matter where they eat.
How to Enhance an Italian Dining Experience
A restaurant can display its Italian style in subtle and small ways, such as by hanging Italian wine bottles on a shelf or in less subtle ways, such as by using colors inspired by Tuscan painting styles throughout the entire establishment.
Whether you want an Italian flair for your home kitchen or want inspiration for your Italian restaurant, there are many different decorative ideas you can implement.
In terms of decorating, there are many options available. There is no right or wrong way to speak. Alternatively, Italian murals and Tuscany marble floors are a good option to emphasize the Italian touch on your restaurant.
Italian dining can be enhanced by the following decorating ideas:
Traditional and Classic Italian
Pasta, meatballs, spaghetti, and fettuccine alfredo, as well as olive, garlic, oregano, and basil, are all classic pasta dishes of old-school Italy. Classic Italian restaurants that serve these types of meals will always be designed with old-fashioned décor to match.
Tablecloths with white and red checkered patterns, lavish wooden chairs, and muted lighting were among the decor. Additionally, there will be hangings of cured meats, olive oil bottles, and tomato sauce cans throughout the restaurant.
There are also accessories like artificial or real grapevines, dried herbs, candlesticks made from wine bottles, and clusters of grapes hung or suspended from the ceiling.
Contemporary Italian
Various styles of décor are used in these establishments, from traditional to modern. The interior of this modern Italian restaurant is minimalistic with clean lines. Instead of deep hues like red and green, modern Italian restaurants employ more light-toned colors for their wallpapers and paints.
Modern lighting fixtures, framed prints, and contemporary paintings serve as accents to the clean walls. In modern Italian restaurants, fresh rosemary or oregano sprigs will be added to flower arrangements to add authenticity and freshness to the ambiance.
Themes and Concepts
The use of a certain theme or drawing inspiration from a specific location can also add to the décor of an Italian restaurant. It’s a wonderful opportunity to customize the restaurant according to where your family comes from. People with experience in Italy or family in Italy can find this particularly personal.
The most popular location-related theme would be Rome, Tuscany, and Venice style.
- Restaurants with a Roman theme might display images of the Colosseum, reproductions of statues of gods and goddesses, or prints of famous Italian artworks.
- Tuscan-themed restaurants can be embellished with stone columns and pillars on the entrance and murals depicting Italian landscapes. This style is characterized by earth tones, such as green, gold, and rust, as well as marble and tiled surfaces on the counters, floors, and tables.
- Murals depicting gondolas and canals could be displayed in a restaurant themed in Venice.
Remember that the best restaurant decor ideas are collaborative work from the entire restaurant team. While youÂ’ll always have the last say, you must know how your chosen design will work for your restaurant. Your design affects the entire operational procedure of your business.
Create an impressive concept board. There is a possibility that things will change and get diverted during the development process, either due to material shortages or budget constraints. Keeping an eye on the original objective is always important.
Make sure to talk with your entire restaurant team, especially your chef and kitchen staff. Know if they can provide the dish that will reflect your concept. Take a seat and ensure that the floor plan will help improve the teamÂ’s efficiency. Everything in your restaurant must work for you and contribute to its success.
Restaurants are made great by the little details, and while they may seem inconsequential, as you and your customers get closer and absorb your surroundings, they reveal themselves. It is this approach that makes the whole process and design experience exciting for both you and your diners.
