Whether you intend to make your bar and restaurant more glamorous or create a homey, contemporary environment, having the right lighting to match your intended look is crucial. Gone are the days when restaurant lighting fell into two categories: bright, effusive systems that could light up the whole ceiling, or dark, intimate systems installed in small booths. There are countless factors to consider before choosing a lighting scheme for your bar or restaurant. Whether you intend to make your bar and restaurant more glamorous or create a homey, contemporary environment, having the right lighting to match your intended look is crucial. Considering how important this is, it’s important to get it right. To help you out, here are four things that you need to consider when choosing the lighting for your restaurant.

Types of Lighting

A restaurant’s lighting can either attract or repel customers. Make sure your lights are bright enough to showcase food properly, but not so bright that they feel harsh. This is why you’ll want to utilize the right types of lighting for your space. 

Ambient lighting is the light in the environment that comes from all directions, as opposed to direct lighting. It can also describe a restaurant’s overall mood. Bright lighting helps promote a brisk and lively mood. This type of lighting would be well suited to a pizza joint or other casual establishment.

Task lighting can be used in many ways, like by customers or employees to read the menu, set a table, or cook in the kitchen, or by a salad bar or buffet station to stand out. It can also be helpful for illuminating pathways and reflecting clearly in mirrors in restrooms.

Accent lighting is decorative lighting, sometimes using fluorescent light bulbs, used to draw attention to specific areas and objects. Accent lighting is used to make the artwork in your restaurant more relevant, water features more appealing, and your bars more exotic.

Mood

A restaurant or bar can infuse a romantic mood by lighting the room with soft, warm colors. But what are the best colors and light sources for creating mood? The surrounding atmosphere determines how romantic a space can be. How can you light space to create the perfect celebration? Remember, the use and clientele of the restaurant affect how light influences a space.

Visibility

Lighting designers understand that clear glass and globes can be used for lighting in bars and restaurants, where customers want to see their menus and watch sports on the big screen. Glass lights can also be used in more homey, casual restaurants, where the owner knows their patrons come to wind down for an evening glass of wine. When choosing a lighting design, choose the design that has the quality that you need.

Space

Restaurant lighting might look simple to someone who doesn’t know much about it. However, lighting a limited space can be challenging, especially if the bulbs need to shine light while not disturbing the mood created. In such scenarios, it’s better to set the bulbs in the ceiling, where they can cast a gentle glow and not interfere with what people feel. This could be accomplished by using flush lights or short pendants.

Conclusion

We hope this article proves to be useful when it comes to helping you with your restaurant lighting. As you can see, there are a slew of different things that you need to consider when picking the lighting for your restaurant. Be sure to keep everything that you’ve learned here in mind so that you can make the best decisions for your restaurant.

Aside from choosing the proper lighting, you will also want to get the right pieces for your restaurant. If you’re in need of restaurant furniture in Dallas,  reach out to FOH Furniture LLC today.  We’re a premium source for high-quality commercial furniture. For more information on what we have to offer, visit our website today!