LICENCE TO EAT
Over the past few years, we have seen foodservice establishments all over the UK expand their offering and appeal to new audiences by building up their outdoor dining areas.
Since 2020, outdoor dining capacity in UK city centres has grown by 55% – with over over 17,000 extra seats licensed1. We initially started to see an increase in this European-style café culture during the pandemic. As indoor dining was restricted, authorities relaxed the rules around outdoor spaces – and restaurants adapted quickly, giving shelter, protection and warmth from the inclement weather, while ensuring safety and security.
Suburban streets turned into seating areas, with heated pods popping up in carparks, and tents and tepees evolving town centres into festival zones. It allowed us to continue socialising and support hospitality.
Many of those tents, pods and tepees have long gone but the appetite for dining ‘alfresco’ has not diminished: 75% of UK diners would like more outdoor eating options, according to a recent survey by Open Table.
And UK councils have responded, granting more licenses to café and restaurant owners and enabling them to expand safely and legally, without impeding pedestrians or passing traffic.
NO
BARRIER TO SUCCESS
The key is to get it right, with the correct outdoor furniture, services and safety barriers providing style and security for the customer.
That’s why we introduced the S4 Life system: a high-end, bespoke barrier scheme which gives cafés extra kerb appeal. We work with many global industries to provide safety barriers and products, but having spoken to foodservice clients, we recognised that a more sophisticated design was required to provide a premium ambience and atmosphere for outdoor dining.
A cost-effective and robust alternative to canvas barriers and fixed fabricated metal systems, S4 Life offers the strength, modularity and versatility of other barriers in our Skipper range – but has been designed to create a more premium finish, thanks to attractive styling and lighting.
Constructed from metallic recycled polypropylene, the S4 Life system panels are bevelled, injection moulded swirling strips. These come in metallic bronze, silver or purple – or even created to match the colours of the customer brand.
S4 Life barriers are 100% weatherproof and can be left outside at all times. However, they are easy to take down and store or reposition – vital for operators who may need to remove outdoor seating areas at the end of service. The panels hook into each other at right angles, making it easy to shape the product as you need around seating, pathways or queues.
NOW YOU SEE ME…
Another key aspect to outdoor dining is lighting, providing customers with the right ambience and comfort levels to enjoy their meals and conversation. Integrated lighting adds to the premium finish of S4 Life: elegant lanterns can sit on top of the join of each panel, powered by rechargeable Li-Po batteries that offer weeks of light on a single charge.
These are customer-controlled by an app and can be dimmed automatically – at dusk, for example – or set to flash for a celebration or at last orders.
There are several other elements to consider: premises and pavement licenses, outdoor heating, awnings and the right kind of furniture that maintains a safe and effective flow. Blankets for added warmth. Pest control. QR Code and POS purchase tools that provide a more efficient service. These are costs but they could be considerably less than internal expansions – and they all work together to bring extra income to small businesses, a feeling of community to suburban areas and increased safety to urban spaces.
Seven in 10 foodservice operators have said they’d all offered some type of outdoor dining service during the past three years2, and this ‘trend’ now looks set to stay, with 79% of UK diners saying their dwell time increases when dining outside3 – which means a considerable revenue boost of up to 30% for operators4.
When outdoor furniture works together with the right furniture, safety systems, tools and service, alfresco areas can offer connected, sophisticated, safe and scalable spaces that will bring joy to the consumer – alongside added value, opportunity and income to the operator.
(1) PWC
(2) National Restaurant Association
(3) Big Hospitality
(4) VSAG