Furniture is an essential part of interior design. Whether it’s a drab office space or your living room, you simply cannot make your interior look complete without a variety of furniture items. When most of us buy furniture, we tend to focus on factors such as how does it look, whether it’s comfortable or not, and how does it fit into your overall interior design. Structural stability and durability are usually the last things that we think about. This isn’t really a problem if you’re buying regular furniture.
For those of you who don’t know, there’s a difference between commercial and regular furniture, and not just in terms of looks. Commercial furniture is designed to withstand more frequent and rougher usage. This is because in commercial spaces, a single piece of furniture, such as a chair or a table, will be used by at least a dozen different people in a day. In order to go through this kind of usage every day and still look good, commercial furniture must be sturdy. It needs more structural strength in order to stay in one piece for a long period of time.
Today, we are going to compare commercial and regular furniture. We’ll be focusing on what makes commercial furniture more durable and why is it a bad idea to use regular furniture in commercial/public spaces.
Commercial Furniture Vs. Regular Furniture
There are a number of factors that set commercial furniture apart from their regular counterparts. Being familiar with these factors can help you figure out what kind of furniture will suit your needs the best. It goes without saying that commercial furniture is designed to be used by people who want to populate a commercial interior space. Commercial tables, chairs, and other furniture items are ideal for use in office spaces and/or restaurants.
Material
Commercial furniture is made using materials that are durable and easier to maintain. For restaurants, you will find that furniture is usually made with aluminum, veneer, laminate, and solid wood. All of these materials are capable of withstanding abuse and are also easy to maintain. The exact kind of material that will suit you the best depends on your interior design and where you’re going to place your furniture. For instance, if you are planning on getting furniture for an outdoor seating area, wooden furniture will be a bad idea since the wood will not perform well when exposed to the elements.
Design
Commercial furniture isn’t available in as many design choices as regular furniture. This isn’t exactly a bad thing since neutral looking furniture is easier to fit into interior designs. If you do want furniture that looks unique, you can always consider getting it custom made. Keep in mind though that custom made furniture is going to cost you more than your other options.
Apart from the look and feel of your furniture, you should also consider the functionality of its design. Restaurant tables are commonly square, round, or rectangular in shape. The shape of your table determines the arrangement of your chairs and how many people can you seat per table.
Structural Stability
This is a really important factor for commercial furniture. It determines how resilient your furniture will be to wear and tear. Commercial furniture is made using thicker supports made of either solid wood or reinforced steel. This helps the furniture bear heavier weights more easily. Reinforced joints are used as well to make sure that nothing loosens up as you use your furniture. These extra measures help make furniture more heavy-duty.
Cost
When compared to regular furniture, furniture made for commercial use is more expensive. A lot of people think that the price difference between the two is pretty absurd. However, it is not without reason. In order to be more durable, commercial furniture makes use of expensive materials and costlier manufacturing techniques. More effort goes into making this kind of furniture than what you would find in your home.
When you are opening a restaurant, you should factor in the cost of your furniture in your overall budget. And you should mentally prepare for the fact that you will have to spend a decent sum of money on furniture.
Why Should You Avoid Placing Regular Furniture in Your Restaurant?
Oftentimes people consider simply buying regular furniture in order to lower the amount of money they will have to spend on furniture. This seems like a good idea, but you really should not do this. Commercial furniture is built differently for a reason. If you cheap out and buy regular furniture, you will end up facing problems in your seating area within a year.
Regular furniture is unable to withstand heavy usage. Its joints aren’t reinforced and it is not designed to bear a lot of weight. Regular furniture is designed with priority given to looks and comfort. It simply is not meant to be placed someplace where loads of people will use it in different ways.
What this means is that regular furniture will not perform well in your restaurant’s seating area. It will wear out quickly and have a higher chance of breaking. You will end up spending a lot of time and money simply on keeping your furniture in usable condition. And once your furniture begins showing signs of wear and tear, it will make your overall restaurant look bad. Worn out furniture will give a cheap and rundown look to your restaurant that can be bad for your business image.
Basically, saving money on furniture by going for a cheaper solution can help you save money in the short-term, but it can be bad for business in the long run. It can make your restaurant look cheap; this can result in your customer retention being affected. You should definitely buy commercial furniture for your restaurant since it will last longer and it will be easier to maintain as well. Don’t think of it as buying tables and chairs, think of it as making an important investment in your business.
