Designing a Bar in 2019
10 Essential Tips for Today’s Spectacular Bar
At DAFA, one of our specialties is hospitality design. From nightclubs to bars and restaurants, we’ve created some incredible spaces. We’ve also learned a few things along the way. There’s an art and a science to designing a great bar, and at DAFA we pride ourselves in being experts. So, we’ve compiled our top ten list of the most important aspects to creating a spectacular bar, in 2019. Here goes!
As dynamic spaces, bars require thoughtful and considerate design. From the number of bar stations provided to health codes, ADA codes, and making sure the space is convenient and functional for your bartenders, there’s a lot to think about. And there’s one more thing to think about in 2019. It’s a major new component to bar design: social media. Believe it or not, social media affects the design of the bar in some surprising ways.
Get your lead bartender’s input and make more $ in the long run - A great bar should have a great bartender. Take advantage of your bartender’s experience. Ask him or her what they need to work efficiently and how they want the bar arranged. The more efficient your bartenders are, the more money you make. For example, they’ll provide invaluable input on the number of bar stations that’s most convenient for them.
Make your bar ‘instagrammable’ - Besides the visual requirements that go into the design of a bar, today social media plays an important role. This is particularly true for bars that are more memorable than the rest. To be Instagrammable, your bar should be photogenic and visually appealing from all angles, with areas of color in order to pop in pictures. It should have the right mood lighting where people can take pictures without a flash. Flashes on most phones take horrible pictures. And finally, this may seem obvious, but make sure your bar looks good. Hide anything unsightly. For example, don’t leave unsightly cords evident, or a big, ugly soda machine in the middle of the bar where it will show up in everybody’s pictures. You don’t want the world to see that on social media.
Provide USB outlets and purse hooks - Social media is all the rage and you want clients to have access to their phones at all times so they can take pictures at your venue and post them online. It’s free marketing! Now you just have to make sure their phones never lose charge. Hip bars today have built-in USB outlets in the bar face, as frequently as every 36 inches along the bar. This is not just relevant to the bar but the entire venue space as well.
Some bars go a step farther and offer full recharging stations with iPhone and Android cords. We’ve even seen portable battery stations that restaurant waiters will bring to your table.
It’s always nice to provide hooks every 24” along the bar face so patrons can hang their purses. These are two amenities that will make sitting at your bar a lot more comfortable and convenient for your guests. This is the first thing I notice when I sit down at a bar.
Don’t overlook the footrest - The little things make all the difference. The footrest for the bar is not always thought about in bar design. However, a misplaced or non-existent footrest makes your bar much less comfortable.
Lighting is essential to mood and memorable placemaking- The mood of the bar is the first impression your customers get as they come in, and the last their experience as they walk out. Pedestrians can see the mood through windows from the street, and the mood is conveyed through social media. In many ways, the mood defines the bar. So, pay close attention to the music and the decor, but remember that the use of proper lighting is so important to the mood, and often overlooked.
Make sure your lighting aligns with your theme, the genre of music you play, and the time of day your bar is most frequented. Make sure the lighting design is flexible. If your bar is popular during happy hour, a cool, sophisticated lighting scheme might be the most appropriate. A bar that gets busy later at night could have more dramatic lighting. That could be moody dark lighting, but with extravagant and eye-catching effects, like a nightclub.
Know all requirements that guide the layout of back bar equipment - Make sure you follow all the pertinent health codes. Hiring an architect/engineer who knows the codes is well worth the money. For instance, a 3-compartment sink and hand sink are required behind every commercial bar. A glasswasher can replace the 3-compartment sink. Exterior bars are different, as 3 compartments sinks and other potential rodent gathering places are not allowed. There’s a lot to think about.
Comply with ADA standards - Making your bar ADA compliant is not only the law, but it also ensures it’s accessible to as many differently-abled people as possible. Five percent of all seating at the bar needs to be wheelchair accessible, which is defined as a 34 inch countertop with proper space for leg room below. However, if the bar already exists, there’s no need to spend a lot on modifications. We can design a hinged-down countertop that complements the design of your existing bar. See example picture below.
Sorry, you will most likely need to update your grease traps even if they were put in just last year! - This is by far the biggest issue that can turn a sunny day into a cloudy one. Occupancy Load Capacity Requirements for Grease have changed every year for the past 3 years. They change so frequently that whatever we write here - it’s already out of date.
Also to note- Every back bar on Miami Beach now needs a floor drain and a connection to a grease trap. And there also needs to be 36” diameter clearance around the grease trap for easy access. Make sure you don’t locate the connection to the grease trap under the countertop or other heavy equipment.
Get the right bar stools for your counter height - Pay attention to standard counter height sizes. Stools are typically made in 2 heights, so when ordering stools make sure they work with the counter height of your bar. Stools can also cost a lot more than just the physical piece of consideration. In Miami Beach, the number of stools and seats you have determines your parking impact fees. Something else to take into consideration is parking impact fees. To defray the cost of providing municipal parking, the City of Miami Beach assigns a price to each stool and seat in your venue.
Your BIB should be easy to access - Do you know what a BIB is? It’s the “bag in a box” system for your soda machine. Make sure the BIB is conveniently placed close to the back bar area. Make it easy to reach. The soda will need to be replaced frequently.