09 Feb Things To Consider When Choosing Lighting for Your Restaurant

Choosing the perfect restaurant lighting is about more than deciding which bulbs fit with your current décor. You can have the world’s most beautiful fixtures, but if the lighting is ineffective and the shadows are unflattering, you’ll ruin the atmosphere you’re trying to create. Everything from the intensity of the bulbs, to the mood of your dining experience should factor into your lighting decisions.

• Functionality

The first thing to consider when choosing restaurant lighting is functionality. Your lights need to make important things visible. It’s one thing to dim the lights to create romance, and something else entirely to have your guests asking for flashlights just so that they can read the menu. Try to choose lights that can act as spotlights for your food, showing off the presentation of each meal and offer practicality without ruining the mood.

• The Atmosphere

While you want to ensure that your patrons have enough light to see, you also need to create a rich experience that compliments the food you’re serving. Romantic lighting wouldn’t fit within a fast-food restaurant, just as fluorescent lights would look strange in a fine-dining establishment. If you cater for diners throughout the day, you may benefit from having dimmer switches installed so that you can soften the light at night, and make it brighter during the day.

• Natural Lighting

The best lighting options combine artificial lighting with natural lighting. Think about when people will be visiting your restaurant, and the amount of light your windows will let in during that time.

• Flattery

Just as the right light can complement your food, it can also flatter your guests. For instance, direct overhead lighting can cast a shadow on the faces of your customers that makes them look weary, whereas the ideal lighting might play off someone’s face like candlelight. You can create flattery by choosing the right strength, and colour temperature of your bulbs. Warm hues are often more complimentary than cold ones.

• Design

Finally, although décor shouldn’t be your only concern – it still deserves a place on the list. The light fixtures that you choose to display will provide another opportunity for you to highlight the unique ambiance or theme of your restaurant. For instance, a chandelier might help to create an opulent dining experience, but it would look out of place in a steakhouse or vegan diner. In the same vein, neon lights can work well for a 50’s style diner, but they would look tacky in an Italian restaurant.