Pizza parlors and pizza shops are everywhere. You often see several of them in every town, seemingly on every corner. This popularity comes not only from the convenience of picking up a few pizzas 10 minutes after you order or having it delivered right to your door in 30 minutes, but also from the decreased cost of feeding the typical family of four with one large pie. For pizza shop owners, this presents one heck of a challenge of how to pull customers into to their shop and away from the competition.
I’m sure you’re thinking of the more obvious ways to pull customers in; coupons, discount prices, increased advertising, refining your recipes, and/or offering more menu selection. Those are all great ways to increase customer sales. But, let’s step out of the “pizza box” and look at something a little less obvious; your pizza parlor seating. Yes, we said seating and we are referring to just what you thought… chairs, bar stools, and booths…or a mixture of all three. Who doesn’t love a comfortable seat while enjoying a scrumptious slice of pizza with their favorite toppings? Nobody, that’s who!
Depending on your vision and the design you want to implement in your pizza parlor, there are many different seating suggestions that you can choose from and that we’d like to recommend.
Traditional Pizza Parlor Seating Ideas
When you think of an Italian restaurant or pizza parlor, there are probably various visions that engulf your mind. One of those mental pictures may include a more traditional style hosting tables covered with red and white checkered table cloths, matching linens, and a candle in a wine bottle as the table’s centerpiece all accompanied by wood chairs. Decorating the room are grapevines and other plants in conjunction with photos of major attractions in Italy or family pictures on every wall.
If you’re sticking with a traditional style, we recommend both commercial grade wood seating and cozy booth seating. Wood chairs and bar stools offer your customers an environment of warmth, an important element in the traditional style. And, choosing items that are commercial grade which are designed for the constant use and abuse of restaurant seating will save you money in the long run. Wood seating can come with many options including various stains, type of seat, back style, and even different frame styles. You’ll see stain options in natural, cherry, mahogany or walnut, seat options in vinyl, plywood, or solid wood, and back style in ladder back, cross back, vertical back, or full vertical back. Some back styles may even mix wood with metal or host a unique shape or cut-out in the back to add a little more to the design of the chair. Booths are also great for the traditional pizza parlor design. They offer comfort and privacy and unconsciously invite your customers to stay a while. Booths come in different sizes with many design options as well, all of which can be tailored to your own design plans. You’ll see size options in single, double, and deuce. You’ll also see design options in vinyl, fabric upholstery, plastic or laminate, as well as wood. For the traditional feel, we recommend a nice wood booth or a cozy vinyl booth or a mix of both. The wood will lend to the warmth of the environment and the vinyl will lend to the increased comfort your customers will enjoy. If you can mix that option by choosing a vinyl booth with wood trim or a wood back and a vinyl seat, you’ll offer your customers the best of both worlds.
Modern Pizza Parlor Seating Ideas
Maybe your vision of a pizza parlor is less traditional and more modern. If so, your thoughts may bring you to an atmosphere with metal chairs and bar stools surrounding wood table tops, tiled floors, and walls of sporadic shelves filled with wine bottles. Add to that a few rustic influences throughout with minimal extra design elements to complete your modern vision.
For the more modern style, we recommend commercial grade metal restaurant chairs with solid or reclaimed wood table tops. The newest trend is modern design for the restaurant industry is rustic-industrial design. This style hosts natural elements like wood or other organic materials and pairs it with metals and shiny finishes to complete the look. Offering a solid wood table top with a metal chair or a reclaimed wood table top with a metal bar stool that hosts a reclaimed wood seat would both be great ways to follow through with this design. Wood table tops come in different stains like natural, cherry, mahogany, or walnut and made of different types of wood with popular choices being oak and beech wood. A reclaimed wood top is one that is made out of salvaged wood from old barns, factories, and warehouses hosting a weathered look and a charm that no other table top can offer. You can also get the look of a wood table with table tops that are less expensive but made of laminate, plywood, or resin. And, don’t forget the chairs. Metal chairs should be commercial grade and add to the look and feel that you so desire. Think about a black or silver powder coated metal chair, steel chairs, or a metal chair with a wood slat in the seat back to compliment the wood table tops. There are so many metal chair designs out there. You just need to select the one that is just right for your pizza parlor.
Economical Pizza Parlor Seating Ideas
If neither of these are your vision, you may be envisioning a more simplistic, cost effective, setting. Your visions may be a pizza parlor with wood booths lining one wall, a row of tables with wood chairs down the center, and an ordering station on the other side of the room. All of this complete with a menu board on the wall and the fast food feel.
There are many pizza parlor owners who just want to keep it simple when it comes to design. For a simplistic shop set up, we recommend plastic or laminate booths with laminate or resin table tops and a basic wood or metal chair. Plastic or laminate booths might not be as cozy as their vinyl counterparts, but they do offer booth seating for a far cheaper price. They also fit in with a clean line look without all of the “fluff.” To add to the booth seating, try laminate or resin table tops with a basic wood chair. When we say basic, we mean without all of the design elements that some chairs offer. You can also opt to select a basic metal chair without all of the bells and whistles especially when budget is a concern.
Whatever design you go with or even if you come up with a whole new pizza parlor look of your own, making the right choice with seating is an important piece of the “pie.” That piece will affect the look and feel of your shop as well as the comfort of your customers. Customers want to eat great food with great customer service and have a comfortable place to eat it. When all of that happens, pies will surely fly out of your ovens!
