Introduction
The restaurant industry is a sphere with a high level of competition, and business tries to find all possible solutions to increase their profits and popularity. The unique and stylish space decoration in independent restaurants that are free to choose their design is an effective way to attract clients. Social media is one of the methods to popularize independent restaurants, and their appearance is the essential component of success. The unique design and space decoration make independent restaurants different from the chain restaurants that provide the expected customer experience and share one type of decoration. From one point of view, originality in space decoration might not be popular among clients, but from another perspective, it might become the distinctive feature of the restaurant. It is possible to state that independent restaurants should decorate their spaces to be social media friendly.
Discussion
Decoration of space is integral to the visitor’s experience, determining the person’s attitude to the restaurant. It is part of the widespread view on “good food” described in Michelin guides and determines the evaluation of the culinary (Feldman, 2021). The contemporary cultural discourse supposes food evaluation based on images in social media, including Instagram, primarily visual (Feldman, 2021). It allows the critics to state that the way the food and the restaurant look determines customers’ appreciation.
An original approach to decorating the interior of the independent restaurant is its market advantage. The peculiar detail is that the category of client’s pleasure consists of various elements, including the time of food preparation, the level of hygiene in the restaurant, and its interior design that creates the appropriate atmosphere (Wang et al., 2022). Therefore, the perception of the restaurant is a multidimensional notion, which requires precise attention of business owners to details. The experiment shows that people tend to pay more for food in restaurants when they enjoy the atmosphere created in this place (Wan et al., 2022).
This example supports the claim that the visual component is vital to the visitor’s experience that cannot be ignored in a successful business. Therefore, people who enjoy decorating space in the restaurant tend to stay more, order more food and pay more willingly (Contois & Kish, 2022). It increases the popularity and the financial profitability of the independent restaurant significantly. In general, people have various criteria for evaluation of the restaurant. Some of them value fast delivery more than stylish interior design. Wang et al. write:
Customers who order food delivery rather than dining outside or cooking for themselves accept a high premium on the speed of the dinner… When a customer selects a certain type of restaurant, he/she has already been provided with a preliminary expectation of the food preparation time (Wang et al., 2022, pp. 4-5).
In other words, the values of clients are different, but the atmosphere in the restaurant is among the priorities for many individuals.
Social media popularity is based on the visual perception of the restaurant, which makes interior decoration critical. As mentioned above, social media platforms like Instagram are visual, meaning people evaluate the restaurant and the client’s experience based on photos (Andrist, 2022). Therefore, the stylish decoration of the space that people associate with the cozy, romantic, or relaxed atmosphere attracts people from a particular social group to this place (Andrist, 2022). This example shows that the emphasis on the visual side of the space decoration is an integral part of a promotion in social media, which foregrounds the need to do it.
At the same time, the original design of the independent restaurant is controversial because it is unpopular among most visitors. Therefore, the restaurant will lose the opportunity for development, and its financial sustainability will be endangered by the original but unpopular decoration (Contois & Kish, 2022). For this reason, some business owners might prefer the average decoration style to ensure that people will not ignore their restaurants due to the weird design (Contois & Kish, 2022). This decision leads to the loss of potential profit and popularity of the independent restaurant. Clients usually expect something original from the independent restaurant because they can visit the chain restaurant and enjoy the expected services there (Contois & Kish, 2022). In this case, the independent restaurant loses its market advantage and ability to promote itself successfully in visual social media.
Conclusion
Original interior design and decoration of the space in the independent restaurant is the way to make it different from its rivals. It is a vital part of the market competition that allows the independent restaurant to attract the attention of a particular group of clients. The visual component is the part of the visitor’s experience that foregrounds the need to make the decoration attractive to people. In addition, promoting the independent restaurant in social media is impossible without the original view on space decoration, which is its distinctive feature. Even though the original decoration of the interior is connected with certain risks of failure, the opportunities for successful business development are higher.
References
Andrist, D. D. (Ed.). (2022). Sustenance for the body and soul: Food and drink in Amerindian, Spanish and Latin American worlds. Liverpool University Press.
Contois, E. J. H., & Kish, Z. (2022). Food Instagram: Identity, influence, and negotiation. University of Illinois Press.
Feldman, Z. (2021). “Good food” in an Instagram age: Rethinking hierarchies of culture, criticism and taste. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 24(6), 1340–1359. Web.
Wan, Y., Cui, C., & Wang, G. (2022). Restaurant interior design under digital image processing based on visual sensing technology. Computational Intelligence & Neuroscience, 1–9. Web.
Wang, X., Tang, L., Zhang, L., & Zheng, J. (2022). Initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic: A perspective on health risk communications in the restaurant industry. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(19). Web.