Restaurant Vestibule Guide
At the end of the day, restaurants need to keep their regular customers — as well as new and even potential customers — happy. Though good food, a pleasant ambiance, and quality service will go a long way, there are certain extra touches that can help make your restaurant an even better place to grab a bite to eat. This is especially true in New York City, where people often use restaurants and eateries as a way to quickly escape the extreme winter cold and get warm.
Fortunately, a restaurant vestibule presents an affordable, effective, and aesthetically pleasing solution for restaurant owners. Needless to say, this begs a few important questions. First and foremost, how can a restaurant vestibule benefit restaurants and their patrons? What different types of vestibules are available? Finally, where can you find vestibules and get them installed in New York?
We will answer all of these questions and more, but first, let’s look at what a restaurant vestibule is and how it works.
What Is A Restaurant Vestibule?
Generally speaking, a vestibule refers to any type of enclosure that serves as the entrance to a building. Some businesses and non-residential structures use built-in vestibules. However, making a vestibule a permanent addition to your business can be expensive. Additionally, vestibules are not always necessary throughout the year.
Thus, many restaurants and businesses use vestibules as a temporary enclosure, particularly during cold or windy times of the year. Winter vestibules for restaurants can be quickly assembled and installed to give customers a place to wait and get a break from freezing temperatures. If the wind is strong, a reliable wind enclosure can also provide customers with a much-needed resting place while they wait to be served.
In short, a restaurant vestibule is simply an enclosure at the entrance of the building that separates the main indoor area from the outside world. As previously mentioned, restaurant vestibules can be temporary or permanent installations. In either case, they offer a myriad of benefits to restaurant owners.
Benefits Of Vestibules For Restaurants
At first glance, vestibules may just look like four walls and an extra door. However, for thousands of restaurants, they are so much more than that. In fact, there are a number of important benefits of vestibules that specifically help enhance restaurants:
Keep Customers Comfortable
Customer comfort should always be a top priority for restaurant owners. If potential customers and patrons don’t feel comfortable as soon as they walk in the door, they are unlikely to stay and even less likely to return in the future. Fortunately, a restaurant vestibule is a great way for people to keep warm while they wait to be seated. This is especially useful if your restaurant is very popular and has long wait times!
Enhance Marketing & Visual Appeal
It’s not always easy to find new and interesting ways to improve the curb appeal of your restaurant. You might not want to change your signage or make major structural renovations, as these could end up costing a fortune. This is why restaurant vestibules can be designed to include your restaurant’s name, logo, as well as relevant information like your company website or social media accounts. This is actually one of the most cost-effective ways to enhance your restaurant marketing efforts and make your front entrance more visually appealing at the same time!
Cut Down On Heating and Air Costs
Without a vestibule, every time someone opens the front door of your restaurant, cold air flows in and warm air flows out (or vice versa in the summer). Either way, this means that your heating and air system has to work twice as hard to keep your restaurant at a comfortable temperature. The more often customers come in and out, the more you will need to spend on utility costs.
With a vestibule, you have an extra barrier between your front door and the elements outside. This greatly reduces both heat loss and heat gain, ensuring that you can keep your restaurant at a comfortable temperature year-round. If you constantly have people coming in and out (as most restaurants do), this could end up saving you thousands of dollars per year on your electricity bills.
Improve Indoor Air Quality
If your business operates in New York City (or just about any major city), you know that air pollution can be a major issue. Keeping the air clean in your restaurant is not just about making it a nice place to eat, either. Over time, air pollutants can pose a threat to the health and well-being of your staff and patrons. Thankfully, a restaurant vestibule greatly reduces air pollution coming in through the front door, making it easier to maintain fresh, high-quality air in your restaurant.
Reduce Pest and Rodents
Unfortunately, New York City is well known for its pests and rodents. There are many ways for different kinds of pests to get into your building and cause a potential public health crisis for your business. However, with a restaurant vestibule, you have an added layer of protection that reduces the risk of bugs, rats, and other pests getting in through the front door. That said, you will still have to ensure that your restaurant maintains the necessary health standards to keep your customers safe. Additionally, you will need to keep an eye on other potential access points.
Types Of Vestibules
Since many restaurants choose to make custom vestibules, there are virtually endless types of vestibules to choose from. Vestibules can be categorized by the number of doors and windows, though the vast majority have just one entrance and one exit. As a result, vestibule materials are the best way to tell the difference between the most common types of vestibules.
The three primary vestibule materials are canvas, acrylic, and glass. Canvas is generally the easiest to assemble and disassemble, as it is light and very mobile. Alternatively, acrylic and glass are more rigid, which can provide greater protection against wind and extreme temperatures, though these materials have decreased mobility when compared to canvas. Thus, the type of vestibule materials you choose will ultimately depend on your needs and circumstances.
Vestibule Installation
While some manufacturers simply send you the unassembled parts and force you to do the installation on your own, you can get a custom restaurant vestibule designed, manufactured, delivered, and installed with Sign It in New York.
Most restaurant owners in New York are looking to build a temporary vestibule, as this is the best way to keep customers comfortable during harsh winter months. With Sign It, you can work with us to get the design just right. Once the design is ready, we will build your custom vestibule and handle the entire assembly process from start to finish. This way, you don’t have to worry about managing a complicated installation on your own.
As an added bonus, we don’t just set up your restaurant vestibule and leave the rest to you. If you don’t want a vestibule during certain parts of the year, we will come out to disassemble your purchase and keep it in storage until you need it again. This means that you only have to use your vestibule when it suits you!
If you’d like to learn more about acquiring a vestibule for your New York restaurant, be sure to check out the custom restaurant vestibules at Sign It today!