Survival of the prettiest: as eye-catching decor becomes more critical to success, investing in a sharp design makes good business sense

Nation's Restaurant News,  Jan 29, 2007  by Elizabeth Licata

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Life is too short to waste time in ugly restaurants.

That's the message operators say they are getting from today's busy consumers. People have a lot of dining choices, and they don't have a lot of time. So they are passing over restaurants that don't offer the full package--an experience that appeals to all five senses, employing not just the sight, smell and taste of the food, but also the look of the decor, the sounds of the dining room and the comfort of the furnishings.

Operators and designers say the only way to get consumers' attention is to tempt the eye as well as the palate with top-quality food served in an innovative setting. But as the interior design one-upmanship continues among competitive operators, creating a look that stands out gets more difficult and expensive even as it becomes more vital to a restaurant's future.

"[Design] is the truest complement to food and service," says Kevin Brown, president and chief executive of Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, parent of 31 restaurant concepts. "It continues with restaurants serving as entertainment. Food is still the driving force in our business, but the design enhances everything about the experience."

The look of a restaurant is like a business card, a magnet to draw customers through the front door. Many diners entering a restaurant for the first time, without knowing much about the food or service, are attracted by the look of a place. If executed well, the design instantly should give consumers a good idea of what the experience will be like, says restaurant designer Adam Tihany, the man behind the decor at such highly regarded restaurants as Le Cirque and Per Se in New York and Charlie Palmer's Aureole in Las Vegas.

"Design is something that can and will attract customers the first time around," Tihany says. "Very few people come back just for the design, but most people--most sophisticated and educated customers--come back for the experience. And the experience should be a comfortable balance of the three pillars: food, design and service."

Consumers' general attitude toward design has changed over the past 10 or 20 years, according to Tihany. Guests are becoming more sophisticated and are demanding a better ambience for their restaurant experiences across all menu and price categories, he says.

One of Tihany's recent openings is Cravings, the 580-seat, all-you-can-eat buffet at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas, which he describes as his most "democratic" project. "People were so thrilled," he says of guests who entered the 24,000-square-foot space to find 11 freestanding food stations, each representing a specific culinary region or style. Bronze, corrugated steel and zebrawood create an organic feel in the buffet space, while warm, colorful lighting adds to the visual appeal of five distinct seating areas.

"They're regular customers, older people who come to the buffet for their big Vegas dining experience," Tihany says, "and they really appreciated that they're in a place as well designed as one of the fine-dining places they could never get into. And you could see that people were really like, 'Wow!'"

Consumers have been exposed to higher levels of design in foodservice, and now they expect more when they dine out, says Bob Welty, director of integrated prototype solutions at WD Partners, a Columbus, Ohio-based design firm.

"The Paneras and the Starbucks of the world have definitely exposed the mass markets to a higher level," he says.

Accordingly, other fast-casual and even quick-service chains have been experimenting with more upscale prototypes to create the artful, sophisticated environments customers have come to expect.

Eye-catching accents can be expensive, but investment in interior design and architecture can lead to a significant sales increase, Welty says. He reports that unit sales increases of 20 percent to 30 percent are not uncommon for new prototypes.

"Now we have concepts where nothing else has been overhauled except the design, and you'll see a numbers bump for them," Welty says.

Some operators previously were concerned that guests who were too comfortable might monopolize a seat while nursing a cup of coffee for hours, but Welty says the fast-paced lifestyle of today's consumers keeps them moving. "Getting them out does not appear to be a problem," he says. "I'd say almost industrywide that the day of creating an uncomfortable chair to keep customers moving is a thing of the past."

Brown of LEYE cites uncomfortable surroundings as a hallmark of "over-designed" restaurants. "All of the things that make [interior design] successful can also make it unsuccessful if it is overdone," Brown says. "The most beautiful restaurant in the world--if it isn't comfortable, it isn't great design."

Designer and architect Tony Chi created a focal point with a sparkling tree branch sculpture that hangs from the ceiling of New York's 90-seat Asiate, which also features a towering, floor-to-ceiling wall of more than 1,300 wine bottles. Chi says he takes a holistic approach to interior design to create the most comfortable experience possible. "I like my restaurants to feel good, not just to look good," he says.