How to Design a Cafeteria Restaurant

A cafeteria restaurant saves you most of the expense of a service staff and offers customers the benefit of receiving their food quickly. A cafeteria restaurant design should provide ample space for tables, for a food service area, and for a food production kitchen. Decor should be functional and casual, designed to seat a maximum number of patrons without discomfort. The food service area should be easily accessible from both the dining room and the kitchen.

Instructions

1

Design a dining area with plenty of tables and benches. A cafeteria format enables you to serve many customers quickly, so your seating should be adequate to accommodate the volume of diners that your kitchen can feed. Fit as many tables and benches as possible in the space you have available without making the area feel crammed. Situate busing areas with shelves for bus tubs for dirty dishes, as well as trash, and compost and recycling if applicable.

2

Design a food service area with appliances to keep hot food hot and cold food cold. If your restaurant cafeteria will be self service, install food warming stations with access from both sides, as well as a refrigerated salad bar unit with either built in refrigeration or space for ice. Situate plate, bowl and silverware racks at the end of each food island. Install a drink machine on a counter and a rack for glasses nearby. Make sure all of your self serve food stations have ample sneeze guards. If the food at your cafeteria restaurant will be served by your staff, install hot holding and cold holding areas behind the counter, with a glass partition between the customer line and the food service area.

3

Design a commercial kitchen adequate to prepare food in volume and keep it hot or cold. Install industrial steam kettles, commercial ovens, and a gas range with at least 10 burners. Build a large walk-in cooler in the back area, and situate small reach-in coolers near work stations. Keep service equipment such as sheet pans within easy reach of food preparation areas. Place pass-through coolers and warmers between the front and the back of the house so kitchen staff can stock them with trays of ready food and serving staff can access them from the serving area.