Designing Fast Food Retail Interiors
There was a time when quick meals was all about being quick and low-cost. It was a brand new sufficient idea and so handy. So handy in truth that quick meals retailers constructed their total outlet, shopping for expertise, service ranges and meals requirements to fulfill the ‘quick’ and ‘low-cost’ wants of consumers. And it labored! Fast ahead a couple of years and improved schooling about vitamin, the necessity to eat wholesome meals and in addition the huge quantity of competitors out there has meant that quick meals chains should fully change their method to adapt to the brand new wants of the twenty first century client.
The focus is now on delivering a stronger model to succeed in a broader base of consumers that they need to linger round and make the outlet a part of their weekly or each day routine. So, what does the brand new model focus require? Well it must display freshness, good high quality elements, an improved shopping for expertise, a nicer seating atmosphere, higher consolation, extra visibility of meals preparation areas and improved conveniences.
While the elements and the standard of meals are clearly a key and important element of the model, this text focuses on the architectural and inside design of the outlet and the way the varied parts of the inside design influence the model and subsequently elevate the client expertise for contemporary quick meals chains.
Before we take into account the design of quick meals chains, it’s value how luxurious items retailers and automobile showrooms have approached outlet or retailer design to ship their model. Luxury manufacturers for instance have all the time designed shops to captivate distinct segments of the market, but maintained a way of delivering individuality. Luxury shops virtually distinctly seem like missing within the quantity of merchandise that’s displayed and in some circumstances preserve plain colors and easy tender furnishings to make prospects really feel relaxed. Vehicle showrooms are a longtime instance for retailing as they’ve mastered the shopping for and ongoing servicing wants of consumers in a single outlet. The method that showrooms are designed, permits automobile producers to supply an setting which permits them to handle the movement or ‘journey’ from shopping for a brand new automobile, arranging finance, servicing and purchasing for components, whereas having nice and properly stocked ready areas. Both are examples of constructing retailers that handle distinct wants, encourage loyalty and supply a clean journey from the preliminary need to buy to sealing the deal.
For architects and inside retail designers, quick meals retail design poses numerous challenges that must be addressed with the intention to reinforce the brand new model challenges that retailers are confronted with.
The following gives a abstract of a few of these challenges:
Food Preparation – Providing extra visibility of meals preparation areas, together with open plan kitchen areas. This requires a sensible but additionally visibly extra nice meals space which is properly lit, properly organised and environment friendly. Specialist kitchen design that takes under consideration the meals cooking and preparation course of is known as for, requiring designers and designers to work intently with a retailer to create kitchen structure plans that permit the meals preparation course of to stay environment friendly whereas remaining visibly pleasing and nice for buyer to see.
The Eating in Experience – The want to supply an environment friendly seating association, with snug seats, whereas additionally paying shut consideration to retail lighting plans and retail flooring plans is so essential because it permits prospects to really feel that they will keep for whereas, that is in sharp distinction to early quick meals eating places the place seating was designed to turn into uncomfortable after fifteen minutes, encouraging individuals to depart the outlet.
Fixture and Fitting Selection – Interior retail designers additionally must give attention to different client wants corresponding to energy factors, interactive units for youngsters and including paintings that reinforces the message in regards to the ‘contemporary meals aspect’ – all essential parts that the model is attempting to ship.
Interactive Ordering Solutions – Retailers are additionally incorporating digital ordering stations into their layouts to permit prospects to pick and pay for his or her order with out chatting with a member of workers. This requires much less workers in fact nevertheless it additionally requires the necessity to design a retail structure that permits for interactive kiosks which are strategically positioned inside the design of the outlet.
Improved Washroom Facilities – Retail designs and designers should design washroom amenities that meet model expectations. The amenities that they specify have to bolster the model whereas sustaining a excessive diploma of cleanliness and even ‘self-cleaning’ amenities. The retail design drawings that they create for plumbing and waste should bear in mind at this time’s environmentally.
Back of House and Waste – Customers will not be blissful sufficient with the expertise that they will see and really feel, in addition they need to know the way quick meals chains are managing their workers amenities, their meals storage and their waste, together with the client’s personal packaging waste. A retailer design shouldn’t be full with out consideration to how these points are added to the design of the outlet and the way they’re managed effectively and pretty and subsequently they’re additionally an essential a part of the design crew’s obligations.
The designers problem is subsequently huge and reasonably than permitting for the manufacturing of the design utilizing conventional 2D plans and elevations. The solely method to handle and talk the design course of in addition to handle adjustments requested by stakeholders all through the method, is to make use of fashionable design instruments corresponding to Revit Architecture to create retail BIM fashions in order that they will create a design that’s simply changeable and manageable. Retail BIM modelling additionally permits for the use and re-usability of Revit households and fashions that can be utilized for subsequent shops and subsequently guarantee some model consistency in addition to design effectivity. Once created, these retail BIM fashions can even permit the creation of 3d retail photos and 3d rendered perspective for retail interiors in addition to retail exteriors. These are an essential and efficient method of speaking the shop or outlet design in the course of the numerous design levels {that a} designer is chargeable for.
Whilst the problem for quick meals retail is to supply meals faster and cheaper than different choices, there’s good motive to raise the significance of the shop design and the way that may have an effect on and in the end promote the general model expertise for quick meals retail now and properly into the long run. Managing that design course of and the multitude of design inputs is a collaborative and concerned course of and is one that’s served by a designer that’s ready to make use of CAD and BIM know-how because the spine for delivering a design answer that’s simple to create, handle, share and talk.