Outdoor Lighting For Restaurants

If you own or run a restaurant, you want your business to look its best at all times of day and night. We cannot overstate the importance of outdoor lighting for restaurants! The exterior of your restaurant is the first thing your customers, or potential customers, will see. It should be exciting, romantic, classic, modern, or whatever mood you want to advertise for your restaurant. Whatever type of lighting you use, you must ensure that exterior signage is clearly visible and that entryways are easy to find and safe to navigate. Ideally, outdoor lighting for restaurants should be the first step in a customer’s dining experience. So it’s always essential to make sure that you have the proper lighting for your establishment.

The Importance Of Exterior Lighting For Restaurants

Exterior lighting for restaurants can be used in a number of ways. First of all, there is the functional aspect. The basic requirement of exterior lighting for a restaurant is to maintain the safety of its guests. In addition to providing a safe atmosphere, good lighting will make your restaurant stand out to guests and potential customers. Bad lighting can keep customers away. Finally, lighting should be an integral part of the dining experience. Proper lighting can enhance the mood or theme of a restaurant.

Restaurant Lighting for Safety and Security

As a business owner, safety and security should be primary concerns. Safety means ensuring that your customers and employees are safe inside and outside of your establishment. They should be able to move around without bumping into obstacles or tripping on unseen bumps and steps. They also need to be safe when exiting your establishment late at night. Security is more about securing the business itself. A well-lit business is a deterrent to criminals and vandals. As a business owner, you must protect your business from crime and intrusion.

When considering the safety of your guests and employees, there are several places to consider. Walkways must be properly lighted to ensure that guests are not tripped up by obstacles, steps, or other dangers. Parking lots should be lit for the safety of guests and employees leaving late at night. A well-lit parking lot protects both the guests and their parked vehicles. Outdoor seating areas need to be lit adequately to keep people from tripping on chairs, furniture, or other features of the outdoor seating area. Servers also need to be able to navigate tight spaces.

Legal Considerations

The importance of keeping your guests and employees out of harm’s way goes beyond simple consideration for their safety. Maintaining a safe environment can keep you out of legal trouble. If a guest or employee is injured on the grounds of your restaurant due to a lack of proper lighting, you could wind up in legal trouble. When considering the potential costs of bad lighting, the price of good lighting is well worth it.

Restaurant Lighting as Advertising

If you run any business, you want to be seen. This is especially true in the restaurant business, where competition is stiff. A potential customer may pass by your restaurant dozens of times without stopping in. But being noticed is still worthwhile. You never know when a potential customer will be thinking about where to eat and finally choose your establishment. But they will only choose your establishment if they know it exists.

Good outdoor lighting includes the obvious, like bright spotlighting on your signs. But really good outdoor lighting can turn the whole facade of your restaurant into an advertisement. Just like with a house, hotel, or resort, the right lighting can highlight the best features of your facade. If you have any neat architectural points, accent lighting can “shine a light” to make them stand out. If you have a unique feature, like a fountain or statue, lighting can turn it into a focal point that passersby will remember.

Even if you think the outside of your restaurant is pretty dull, lighting can change that. You can get creative. The experts at Night Vision Outdoor Lighting can create new features out of light and shadow where nothing existed during the day. You could even introduce colored lighting for various effects. Making a memorable image out of the front of your restaurant can only bring you more customers.

Outdoor lighting for restaurants is important for safety and ambiance.

Restaurant Lighting for Mood

The lighting inside your restaurant is an integral part of setting the right mood. Fast food, family-friendly, or breakfast food restaurants may want a bright, cheery look. For restaurants that serve mainly dinner, a more subdued lighting scheme can help relax customers and create privacy from table to table. Lighting fixtures, from the modern to the classic, to custom designs, are all part of letting customers know what your restaurant is about. But don’t let your lighting design stop at the exit of your restaurant.

Before any customer enters your restaurant, they will have to pass by the exterior of your restaurant. This is your first chance to introduce them to the mood for their meal. In fact, the dining experience doesn’t start when the first appetizer lands on your table. The experience starts the moment the restaurant comes into sight. The type of outdoor lighting you have for your restaurant broadcasts something about your business.

The worst case with lighting is shabby or inadequate outdoor lighting. That broadcasts that your restaurant is dull, cheaply run, or even unsafe. That’s the last thing you want people to see. Instead, use lighting to your advantage. Any lighting design, regardless of the details, tells your customers that you care enough to put in good lighting. That alone is a good start. From there, lighting can tell a story about your restaurant.

Traditional

If your restaurant serves traditional pub food in an old-world setting, you could use outdoor lighting fixtures like gas lamps or even enclosed “candles.” That alerts customers that they are entering a different space and time as they begin their culinary journey.

Contemporary

If you serve cutting-edge, unique, artistically prepared foods with a modern appeal, you may want entirely different lighting. Interesting colors and modernist lighting fixtures tell customers that they are entering an artistic space different than their everyday lives. Whatever experience you want your customers to have, start it off with appropriate outdoor lighting. That will enhance the overall dining experience and make you more memorable.

The Importance Of Professional Lighting Design And Installation

Like every part of your business, your exterior lighting is an investment in your business’ success. Skimping on this aspect of your business will show. Customers may not notice it explicitly, but their experience will be different. That’s why you need to work with outdoor lighting specialists like the experienced professionals at Night Vision Outdoor Lighting. We’ve seen it all with thousands of lighting projects under our belt. Whatever you decide for your outdoor lighting, we can bring it to life.

Get Started With NightVision Outdoor Lighting

We’ve seen plenty of different designs before. That gives us the experience and confidence to know that we can do whatever you need. Additionally, it gives us the knowledge to escape the cookie-cutter installations that some companies favor. Instead, we use our vast experience to come up with a unique design that fits your business.

Whether you are starting a new business or have been in business for years, we can help. The right lighting is an important addition to your establishment, so don’t overlook it. You can see some of our finished projects here. You can also check out what other satisfied customers are saying about us. And when you are ready to start on your own project, you can contact us online or give us a call at (678) 828-2999. We can usually set up a consultation within a couple of days. So you can start making your business even better with the best outdoor lighting in Georgia!