Design Ideas to Make Your Café Stand Out

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world – locals and visitors will always take delight in a new café opening. But with so much competition out there in the café and tea room market, with businesses boasting everything from high end coffee brands to homemade cakes and more, finding a way to stand out is often the key to success.

Before we get into some of the top design ideas which will help your café to stand out, let’s consider the importance of design in bringing your café to life.

The importance of interior design in the café business

Guests may enter your business premises looking for coffee or a snack, but they will stay and even become repeat customers based on the atmosphere, the ambience, and the experience that you provide. Relaxing with a cup of coffee, over a book or accompanied by a chat with friends, means that the space needs to be aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and welcoming, and memorable.

Beyond that, there is a lot to be said for having a unique selling point or something memorable about your décor and the experience you present. After all, if guests can remember your café or coffee shop as somewhere interesting that they enjoyed visiting, your chances of seeing them return are high.

How to make your café stand out

Designing a café means identifying your target audience and bringing the space to life in a way that will appeal to them. Not only do you need to entice these customers through the door, but you need to give them enough of a welcoming and comfortable environment that they decide to stay.

Some ideas for achieving this include:

• Understanding the demographic of your target audience and catering to their specific needs in terms of seating and chairs. A young audience might prefer something unique like bean bags and sofas, while older customers might like traditional tables and chairs, and something unique like a themed café should play into its theme throughout the furnishings.
• If you’re creating a working café for professionals, install charging points and put a focus on the provision of quiet working spaces and small tables for individual customers.
• Your demographic and target audience might even translate into other areas of the business, including the deals and packages you sell as part of your business plan. Whatever these are, be sure to spotlight them in the design and marketing of your café.

Once you’ve got your target audience in sight, it’s time to bring your concept to life.

Designing your Café

Time to flesh out the concept of your café – starting with the colour scheme and the layout. Colour should be chosen for the walls and the flooring, as well as the furnishings, as all of these touchpoints have an impact on the presentation of the space and how it is received.

Lighting should also be considered as a core part of the design, helping you to create a bright and productive atmosphere, or a cosy and more intimate setting. If you are lucky enough to have plenty of natural light in and around your café space then use it – if you need to rely on manmade and electrical lights, consider if you would rather give each table its own light or create a broad ambience across the entire environment.

Then it’s time to consider the details and the parts of your café design which create that unique and lasting experience for guests. From the design of the menu to the décor on your walls, the way you create and navigate the customer journey through your café, and the integration of technology, small details can add that something special that helps your cafe stand out. These should relate back to your theme and/or concept and be selected and positioned in such a way that they enhance the guest experience rather than inhibit it.

How to use professional services effectively

When it comes to creating and finessing your café, professional interior design companies can not only help you in sourcing and installing different elements and aspects of the space – they can also provide advice and support in selecting the best materials and installations for your café.

Here at Team Build Joinery & Interiors, we specialise in all things indoor – from bespoke joinery solutions to all those details and added extras which elevate your business from good to great. For more information on how we could support you in bringing your café to life, get in touch with us today.