I know without the proper information there’s not a clear way to answer this but I was wondering if it is possible to add any seating in a space of 1500 that will be used as a carryout delivery operation? We will have a conveyor oven and make our dough in house.
I have just under 1500 sqft and have the space for 12 to 16 seats. I have chosen to only have 10 because that is the local limit before I must provide a public washroom. I am takeout and delivery so every order is packaged as though it is going out the door. If the customer chooses to eat in the store it is their option.
Depending on what kind of volume you are looking at it could work or be pretty tough. We have 1600 hundred feet. If it were all on the main floor we could have seating for maybe 15-20 people. Since our main level is 1120 feet with another 480 feet upstairs (dry storage and plenty of it) we do not have room for seating. With another couple of hundred square feet downstairs we could have counters around the wall with stools for 10-15 easily.
If we did not have the storage upstairs though we would be very cramped for the business we do.
JJ;
I’ve worked in a lot of stores with no more than 500 square feet for DELCO. This should leave you with 1000 square feet, or a little less for dine-in. Just how many tables you can have will be determined by your local codes. You might also need to make some changes to your store to allow for dine-in, again to meet local codes.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Hi JJ:
If you layout warrants it a few seats are nice to have. As Daddio says, if you put in seating that reaches or exceeds local rules you may be required to add another rest room, if you have only one.
In most jurisdictions if you have any seating you must have access to a rest room without going through the food prep area. That can entail constructing a space consuming passage way to the rear of the shop where the single rest room may be located.
George Mills
My first store was 1500 sf and I had space for only 6 tables. Five 4 tops and one 2 top. It seemed like I could fit more till I got into it. It isn’t just the tables that eat up space. You need to have an area for the servers, possibly an ice machine, possibly a fountain system, possibly a beer cooler. In the end it was still worth it for me, I just always wished I had more space in the dining room. That led to me moving the business to another location and another $125,000 build out.