Furnishings Set The Stage For Enjoyable Dining

By Carol Meres Kroskey -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 10/1/2002

In creating first impressions, restaurant and foodservice furnishings must play dual roles. While customers want an attractive look, operators also seek durability and easy maintenance. Fortunately, mixing and matching different kinds of furnishings can yield a signature look and guarantee easy updates.

Bistro seating at The Clubhouse restaurant, Oak Brook, Ill., can be quickly refreshed by replacing the velvet fabric draping the chairs. Dramatic draperies partition areas, creating intimate private dining spaces.

Who doesn't want front-of the-house furnishings that dazzle customers? Upscale, surprising furnishings can animate a dining experience, encouraging customers to come back again and again. That's the philosophy guiding Jerry Kleiner, president of KDK Enterprises, Chicago, and designer of Chicago-area restaurants including The Clubhouse, Oak Brook, Ill. "Every one of my projects starts with a custom design," Kleiner said. "For The Clubhouse, we created the ambiance of a grand old hotel or mansion, but softened with a touch of whimsy."

The Oak Brook Clubhouse is the flagship of three units, all of which are located in upscale retail malls. Opened in December 1997, it occupies 20,000-sq.-ft. on two floors that are joined by a sweeping staircase that evokes the elegance of luxury lodgings. While the concept has evolved beyond the initial "club" atmosphere - complete with its own golf pro shop - "clubiness" remains key to its front-of-the-house motif. "The Clubhouse concept is to bring 'true club membership' to folks who can't afford to join a country club," explained managing partner Michael Vai.

Incorporating a variety of dining areas, indoors and out, The Clubhouse's furnishings are a mix of intriguing handmade items and commercially available pieces. "We want to convey a classy, but comfortable look," Vai said. Deliberately worn-looking club chairs, located near the entrance and at the main bar, encourage customers to get comfortable. "Our unique, handmade items, including cast-iron bar stools decorated with beaten copper and our oversized lamps, give our guests a visual experience they can't find anywhere else," Vai asserted. Though The Clubhouse restaurant is quite large, its furnishings help to make the environment intimate, creating privacy options throughout. Wooden tables and dining chairs, stained dark mahogany, blend into the background, creating "a more snug, almost Victorian feeling," according to Vai. Heavy velvet drapes also can close off public areas into semi-private rooms. "We also made some bold choices on the walls and in the upholstery of furnishings we've added since we opened," he commented.

The Clubhouse restaurant is designed to create an immediate visual impact. At the entrance, all eyes are drawn to the soaring ceilings and the illuminated, alabaster-topped, mahogany grand bar, itself dominated by a French-inspired painting of elegant women, fashionable men and all the refinements of the "sophisticated" life. Pillars decorated with apricot lozenges, eccentric lamps, handmade chairs and a mâitre d' stand sizzling with flame-colored inlaid glass create a sense of joie de vivre and the "high life."

While seating wraps around the main bar, larger dining areas lie to the bar's left and to the rear on a platform framed in velvet drapes. Up the curving, carpeted stairway - itself worthy of a grand entrance - lie one public and three private dining rooms. Photos of actors, sportsmen, politicians and other "glitterati" intimate that today's guests follow in illustrious footsteps.

Custom-made furnishings, including copper-bedecked cast-iron bar stools, whimsical oversized lamps and an alabaster-topped bar, create a one-of-a-kind look at The Clubhouse.

To create this elegant, off-beat impression - itself punctuated with burgundy, deep-blue and gold accents - furnishings must combine good looks with sturdiness, serviceability and multiple dining uses. After all, at least 1,200 customers a day use the dining areas alone, not to mention the daily hundreds who patronize the bar. "We have to accommodate customers who may be big or who like to lean back in their chairs. And, the furniture has to be easy to maintain," Vai said.

These factors came into play during a recent update of the bar. An adjoining area had been furnished with marble-topped, cast-iron bistro tables and handmade chairs with wrapped leather backs and blue velvet seats. However, with customers clamoring for more food choices in the bar area, 36-in. square tabletops and more conventional seating were added to create a "Parisian café" section.

Upkeep issues also figured prominently in the update. "One of the things we look for in furniture is whether it demands a lot of maintenance," Vai remarked. "Before we selected new chairs for the café area, we asked suppliers to bring in samples and to explain their construction to us. We also talked about spare parts, because replacement costs are a concern." As a result, The Clubhouse's managers chose chairs with U-braces instead of the conventional H-shaped configurations. Corner blocks and heavy-duty, screwed-and-glued metal clips offer further security and support.

Upholstery decisions presented further challenges. New bar seating had to complement custom chairs upholstered in blue velvet and brown leather. "We chose vinyl seats with a fabric-like finish for their durability," Vai noted, "and we selected colors that would blend with the decor."

Tabletop choices were easier. Since linens top all tables, padded tops were a practical decision. Linens and skirts dress up the plywood-topped brunch tables, which are subjected to wear and damage. "We don't like to hear from a manufacturer that we can get a wrench and tighten a bolt that comes loose on a table - that's just one more thing a manager doesn't need on an already extensive list of things to do," said Vai.

Padded tabletops and acoustic ceiling tiles mute the noise level in a wood-floored second-level dining room, with its velvet- and leather-upholstered chairs.

To accommodate the elements, patio tables combine marble tops and aluminum legs, while chairs have aluminum frames and wicker-look seats. Uneven cement pavers can cause tables to wobble, thereby loosening hex nuts. "While they look good and have been durable, these tables would be more practical if we didn't have to think about tightening those nuts every now and then," said Vai.

At Chicago-area Weber Grill Restaurants, upscale informality is the hallmark of front-of-the-house furnishings. Bryan Gerrish, vice president of operations, noted that the Weber Grill concept incorporates informal service in a relaxed atmosphere, indoors and out. "We bring our customers classic outdoor grilling," he said. "One of the things we did not want to do was to straddle a fence between fine dining and casual. So, our decor was chosen to define us as upscale casual. We didn't want to use picnic tables, as customers might in their back yards, but we didn't want to use tablecloths, either." The solution was hardwood maple tables with a dark, stain-resistant finish - a good foil for this chain's tabletop items.

Wobbling tables, however, also posed concerns for Weber Grill managers. "Unless a table is core-drilled into the floor," Gerrish explained, "it can develop a wobble. So, we buy tables equipped with adjustable coaster pegs and check their levels on a daily basis." Carpeted areas further reduce wobbling.

"We wanted the dining area to have a somewhat rustic feel," Gerrish continued, "and leather seating at the bar, booths and tables help to define our segment of the market." Four-top green leather booths, located in three of the five dining areas, coordinate with green leather chairs and bar stools. "We've found that twice as many customers would rather be seated at booths than at tables because the cushioned seats and backs are more comfortable," Gerrish pointed out.

Maintenance issues arise since chairs and, especially, bar stools receive hard use and can easily break when guests are awaiting tables. To solve this potential problem, Gerrish sought "H-braces that are reinforced by countersunk construction, as well as metal clips," he said. "We also install brass plates over the wood braces to reinforce them and keep them from breaking. In a way, we trade looks for durability," he concluded.

Comfortable seating doesn't preclude high style, said Helen Doherty, director of foodservice for Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Now shared by the public, the hospital's East Garden dining room has fine Italian seating and bleached-maple-rimmed, laminate tables. "We refurbished the East Garden Room several years ago," Doherty recalled, admitting her chairs were expensive. However, their durability and strength have proven pleasant surprises. "We haven't lost one and we haven't experienced any damage from stains or cuts," she stated.

Freestanding market umbrellas with wind vents (not shown) complement sturdy metal-frame outdoor furnishings, while beaten copper planters echo interior design elements.

These chairs are constructed with a continuous chrome frame onto which auburn-colored leather is laced with matching leather strips and riveted together. "The look is what I call a 'retro '50s style,' with a squared-off back that tapers to the seat, then flares out again at the legs," Doherty said.

Double-thick leather, artfully cut and attached to the frame, provides a generous seat and good back support. Construction is extremely durable even without the security of cross braces. "The Eat Street Café, which includes the East Garden Room, serves about 11,000 people a day from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.," Doherty said. "When you consider the tables turn about 12 times during lunch alone, you know those chairs have stood up to a lot of traffic. The only downside is that they are imported, and the delivery time would be longer if we had to replace any of them."

The more conventional dining room tables - with gray laminate centers, 3-in. bleached-maple edgings and cast-iron pedestals - offer flexible dining options. "For example, we've put together five of these tables to create a long seating area that's reserved for physicians and consultants, and the room has another seven or eight tables that can also be moved as needed," Doherty said. With their gaze fixed on fashion - and their minds focused on practical decisions - operators can achieve great looks with FOH furnishings without sacrificing safety, comfort or peace of mind.