People love spending time outdoors when their plans allow for it. Maybe it’s the vista that brings them out or maybe it’s the weather. The fact is that plenty of commercial locations could be taking advantage of entirely unused outdoor areas. If you run a restaurant or a bar, consider expanding outwards. You could welcome a lot more foot traffic and add a certain appeal that your competitors might not share. Naturally, taking the business outdoors comes with its own challenges as well. Prepare the environment so it makes it more manageable for you and much more pleasant for customers.
Make sure the location is worth the effort
Having the right real estate is crucial. If you’re opening a new business and you have an outdoor area in mind, then choose carefully. The first thing you might think about is the vista on offer. Does it offer a great view of a city, of the coast, or any other picturesque surroundings? If so, then that’s a quality reason to invest in taking your venue outdoors. But it’s not just about the visuals of the surroundings. If your business is going to primarily be used in the day, then think about how the sun gets involved, too. For instance, if your outdoor area is going to spend most of the time shaded by surrounding buildings or by your own property then it might not exactly be fit for an outdoors summer hangout spot. The area needs to have enough value to justify investing in expanding out to it.
Get extra involved in the safety of it
The safety of your staff and your customers is always paramount. When it comes to dealing with the safety of an interior, it can be a lot safer. You’re working with a mostly controlled environment and the risks are all fairly easy to expect. However, the same can’t always be said of the exterior. You have to think about risks that you might never have considered before. For instance, a lot of cafes, restaurants, and bars open rooftop areas. If you’re going that, then height should be your primary concern. Fitting a guardrail system and limiting the risk around any rooftop edges should be priority number one. Then you have to think about risks of the environment involving the weather. You might still be making use of your outdoor areas in colder weather, so you need to take care of ice and frost that can prove a slipping hazard.
Be prepared for the elements
Indeed, plenty of outdoor venues will continue to operate across a broad range of weather conditions. Your ability to do so could improve the value of that investment, allowing you more space to welcome customers into no matter the time of year. It’s not just about their safety, it’s about their comfort in different conditions as well. For instance, make use of effective space heaters so that customers can enjoy the view even when it’s cold. Have awnings and canopies fitted and ready to erect whenever rain shows a chance of spoiling the customers’ day. Leave an area too open to the elements and customers will use it much less often. It will also be a lot harder to maintain.
Keep the experience relaxed
All of the points above have been most relevant to businesses that want to provide leisure above all else. To that end, creating a relaxing and pleasing outdoor environment is the goal. There are a lot of little concerns that can get in the way of that you could prepare against. For instance, providing ashtrays per each table as well as convenient bins will stop people littering and spoiling the atmosphere. Setting up comfortable furniture even for non-customers creates a relaxed environment. Extending the mood of the restaurant with music can make an outdoor area feel even more in-line and central to the theme and brand of the establishment.
If you run a business where leisure is the aim, then an outdoor area might just give you an edge. Hopefully, the tips above give you a few ideas on how to make the best use of any exteriors you got for your coffee shop, restaurant or bar business. When used right, they give customers another reason to enjoy a location and can add a whole new vibe that becomes central to the brand. Keep the area safe. Keep it comfortable. Keep it enjoyable. Most importantly, make sure that the location is actually worth the effort. It might not be if the exterior of your property doesn’t offer a view or much space.