February 6th, 2010 by abboi
There are many things to think about when building or redesigning a bar, from colors, entertainment, to do you want a modern look or an old pub look. However there seems to be one part that either gets overlooked or at the least doesn’t get much attention, that is how will traffic flow through your establishment. In any establishment there are several main traffic areas that need to be looked at, from the front door to where the
bathrooms are.
Let’s take a look at those high traffic spots.
The Front Door - It seems that many people think the front door can be anywhere. I’ve been in bars where when you walked in the door you had to walk across the dance floor to get to the bar. This puts you in a position of having to worm your way through the people who are dancing, irritating both them and yourself. I’ve also been in one bar where they had setup the dart board so that the patrons throwing darts had to throw
across the front door, very dangerous. The front door needs to be in a spot where you have some space on the inside, especially if you want to charge cover tabs at times, and you don’t want it too close to the bar itself. When a patron is leaving, you want them to have to walk past a group of table to get to the front door, this gives the possibility to run into some friends and stay for more drinks.
The Bar - You need to be sure to have room around the bar for people to both sit at the bar and others to be able to get past. I’ve seen bars where when the patrons are sitting at the bar, their back is almost touching the wall, well if someone wants to get in or out, everyone had to get up to let people get past. You want to make sure the bar is centrally located, that there are easy paths to and from the bar to each part of your establishment.
The Bathrooms - Like the front door, you need to make sure you have room outside of the bathroom, for both people entering / exiting as well as anyone who may be standing in line. One of the last things you want, is a table right next to the bathrooms, no one is going to want to sit there while people are bumping into them going in and out. There a bar I go to often that the pool table is right next to the restroom, you have to wait for people to take their shot and move out of the way to get to the door. You really need to have good traffic flow to the restroom, especially if someone has had too much to drink.
Entertainment - There are many different forms of entertainment from bands, dance floor, darts, to pool tables and more, all of these need to have room so that can be enjoyed without interfering with the other patrons. It’s not good to have to walk across the dance floor or to have to dodge darts to get in, nor is it good to interfere with people playing other games or just having fun.
In the end, to have a good time you have to start with the beginning and take some time to think about your traffic flow. How will people enter your establishment, how do they get to the bar, how do they get to different parts of your establishment and then how do they leave. If you take time to think about this, you will find that your patrons will enjoy
your establishment more and come back.
Special Credit to Roger Elmore of Hospitality Management Schools for submitting this article.
