There’s more to a restaurant than meets the eye

Various researchers such as consumer psychologist Brian Wansink have shown that the food consumed by a person is strongly influenced by many factors. In his study, the professor of Cornell University showed that accessibility, how much food is put in front of a person, social influences like advertising, etc. are some factors that determine appetite (desire to eat food). Experts from the F&B industry, based in Chennai, share further inputs on what helps them determine the interiors of a restaurant or food they serve while keeping in mind factors which influence their diners.

The first thing that determines what a restaurant should look like, is the kind of food going to be served i.e. cuisine, and the duration of the meal. Manu Srinivasan and Sivaja Suresh, who are interior contractors, explain. “Step one is to determine if the space is going to be a quick serve, a takeaway or a fine-dining restaurant. While most food chains have functional kitchens and mass-produced furniture to ensure shorter turn-around-time (TAT), fine-dining outlets, where guests are served multiple courses over a longer time period will have a better ambiance,” says Manu.

For example, Saravana Bhavan or Adyar Ananda Bhavan doesn’t invest much on furniture or cutlery because their TAT is around 20 minutes. “But,” says Sivaja, “places like Wangs Kitchen will have better facilities and so will cafés and coffee lounges. Comfortable furniture, soft lighting, better flooring and pleasing music encourage customers to spend longer time there.”

A recent trend that can be seen in many cafés are one-feature walls. “They are on the rise to draw attention to the place. Including visually appealing elements like this also determines the kind of people the eatery wants to welcome, be it families, working professionals or college goers,” adds the couple, who runs an atelier called Geekay Interiors.

Colours are also used to hint what kind of food is served. For example, Little Italy has a lot of green to indicate vegetarian and restaurants serving oriental cuisines will have shades of orange, yellow, red, etc. This age-old belief, however, is undergoing a transformation. “Some say that the colour red induces hunger in a person but I believe each individual is different. Preference to colours are strictly subjective,” feels Karthik Lakshamanan, a counselling psychologist.

Despite this, it’s true that one doesn’t see many restaurants with black interiors (because it may make some feel claustrophobic) but if accentuated well or done up aesthetically, it might work. A suitable example of that is Kappa Chakka Kandhari, which has not just dark interiors but a black logo too. One of its founders, Augustine Kurian says, “Logos of many companies like McDonald’s, Coke and Dominos have a concentration of nearly 60 per cent red but we wanted to veer away from the norms so we chose black.” It could have stemmed from a personal preference too he says, “For 70 per cent of my wardrobe has black clothes!”

Aside from being unconventional, the restaurant uses other methods to attract customers such as cutlery sourced from Kerala to resonate with the food they serve, and photographs of their state. “Our food is about making diners relive their childhood days, so pictures of kids playing in the rain or of vast farmlands takes them on a nostalgic trip before they experience the food. In fact, many diners have said that the pictures remind them of their mother’s cooking,” he adds.

So while an unwritten book of rules exists when it comes to designing a restaurant, evolution is the best way forward, says Karthik. “Food and colour psychology are upcoming streams and will continually evolve over the years. We’ll have to wait to see further insights into what a person’s food habits and appetite is influenced by,” he concludes.