How to design restaurant lighting
Lighting a restaurant in the right way means enhancing the ambience and ensuring the well-being of customers, thus, making their stay pleasant. Choosing the right lighting in the restaurant becomes a determining factor in attracting more customers to be welcomed, entertained and excited.
In fact, when it comes to hospitality, first impressions are crucial and lighting plays a decisive role in creating the right atmosphere. Light should highlight the dishes, their colours and details, enhance the premises and create a perfect atmosphere.
Restaurant outdoor lighting
To best illuminate a restaurant, let's start with the exterior lighting. The restaurant's exterior is its calling card: this is where we have the first visual approach that makes the restaurant recognizable and welcoming. Take care of façade and sign lighting, integrate accent lights such as Novalux OUTLIGHT luminaires in the garden, walkway or balconies, accompany guests with light, all the way to the entrance of the venue, to offer them the best welcome.
Lights for the restaurant
The restaurant's general lighting should be soft and diffuse, to shed light on the entire environment by strategically shaping light and shadow. An example is the lighting design created by Novalux for the Take Away restaurant Yun Lai in Ferrara, where the lighting that shines through the peculiar structure of the ceiling creates striking plays of contrasts on the floor.
Table lighting
Without careful planning, some tables may be unevenly lit. An effective way to illuminate individual tables, or the main counter, is to install luminaires such as TUBO’ pendant lamps. A choice made, for example, by Milan's Alexander Restaurant, which Novalux has made a perfect location for unforgettable dinners and meetings.
The real color of food
The correct Colour Rendering Index (CRI) is important to show customers the real colors of what they have on their plate, reaching its maximum colour potential. Incorrect colour rendering will change the perception of the dishes with an impact different from that desired. Therefore, light complements the customer's sensory experience by fully satisfying the sense of sight while enjoying the dishes.
“Cooking is a Philosophy, Not a Recipe”
(Marco Pierre White)
Different lights for different functions
Accent lighting emphasizes important details of the restaurant such as display areas (wine area), areas dedicated to the kitchen or cash register, paintings, and furniture elements. Guests should be able to easily read the menu and see the courses without any visual effort. Direct light should be avoided so as not to create unpleasant reflections, preferring luminaires outside the customers' field of vision.
Proper lighting also becomes a key element in orienting customers and ensuring that their attention falls toward the focal points of the various areas. LED STRIPS inserted into wall cuts - at the Yun Taste of Japan Restaurant in Ferrara - diffuse grazing light to emphasize their relief, for example, creating a striking scenic effect. Recessed spotlights in the ceiling and reflected-light LED STRIPs, under the seats and in the base of the platforms, give a soft, welcoming atmosphere. Here, Novalux luminaires are favoured to enhance spaces with a warm light hue of 2700K.