food court seating Archives - Carroll Seating Company

Published: 28 April 2015

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Categories: School seating

Food court seating is all about maximizing seating space without compromising personal space. It’s not an easy task, even for a professional designer. If you’re an industry outsider tasked with planning a break room or similar space, it can seem overwhelming at first. Trust a professional company like Carroll Seating to teach you the rules of food court seating.

Be practical.

The choices in a catalog can look amazing. Professionally photographed tables and modular seating arrangements can really make an impression. However, the shiny pictures might not be at all what your space needs.

Multi-functional pieces in modular designs will give you flexibility. If you space will be multi-use, you need your items to serve in a few different capacities. Even if the space is dedicated solely to food service, you may need the furnishings to grow or shrink with your population.

Be aware (but also beware) of trends.

Those pictures likely feature the newest color, texture and styles. That’s great for choosing an up-to-date feeling. You don’t want your space to be dated before it’s completed after all. Pick up on all the design trends, learn what’s hot now and what the projections may be and then take a step back.

Being on-trend now mean you’ll be out of style eventually. Your space needs a certain amount of timelessness in order to maintain a comfortable feeling and look. It shouldn’t be dated right away but maybe you don’t have to use every new trend either. Talk to your consultant to get a feel for looks that last.

Stay on budget.

It never pays to overpay. Set a budget and stay within the confines you’ve chosen. Your sales consultant can help you make the most of a budget of any size so make good use of their knowledge.

Carroll Seating has more than 60 years of experience helping people create spaces just like yours. Let us show you what we can do for your space.

Published: 1 April 2014

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Just a decade ago, the mall food court was the single best place to be at almost any time of the week. Unfortunately, that equation is changing fast, and the world of shopping malls may never reflect the once great stature it had for years. While a few malls have managed to survive the tough times, finding the secret that will keep your mall alive isn’t going to be an easy task. One thing that will certainly help, though, is creating a fun, social atmosphere within your food court. These tips can help.

Contemporary Tables and Chairs: The right place to sit is one of the most important things you can provide for your mall guests, and the tables and chairs you choose have a lot to do with that. The lunchroom style seating of yesterday just isn’t going to work in this environment any longer. Instead, go with comfortable, bright choices that will make customers feel like they should be there again and again.

Banquet seating: Mall food courts can be great places to hold events as well. From children’s birthday parties to mall store employee events, offer some group gathering spaces that may help to attract a bit more business to your mall, then don’t forget to advertise it.

Bar Seating: Some customers just want to get in and out of the mall quickly while grabbing a bit to eat, and that’s where bar style seating can really come in handy. Make certain you provide plenty of options like these to help not only make the most of your space, but also to give consumers plenty of choices too.

Vertical Landscaping: Don’t just think tables and chairs as you redesign your food court. Instead, think about the atmosphere too. Lots of light is a must and potted plants may prove helpful as well. You may even want to go with a water feature, a fireplace, or even a small stage for local bands.

No matter which choices you decide to integrate into your environment, the key is getting guests to linger as long as possible. The more they want to stay in your food court, the more likely it is that they’ll want to revisit the mall again and again, and maybe make a few purchases while they’re there!

Published: 25 March 2013

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Whether you stop by a local fast food joint or you’re having a seat at that hip little bistro down the street, you may see more communal tables than you ever have before. Not familiar with the concept? They usually seat up to sixteen people, and the benefits can be enormous. In a world where online communities are quickly becoming everything, promoting actual communities through seating like this is certainly not a bad idea. It can help regulars sitting near each other get to know one another by passing the salt and pepper shaker, and it may help them feel more at home. It can also keep people in the area longer than you’d imagined, which may mean additional profits.

Thinking about going this route with your food court seating? You may want to consider the following:

Make certain the table works with the dining space itself. If you’re doing a retrofit, you need to carefully consider traffic flow and the actual spacing. Communal seating means larger tables than normal, so think carefully about layout before you go with communal tables.
Think about your customers. Communal tables don’t work well in every setting. Big tables may mean louder conversations, particularly in the food court setting. That may even be disruptive to others, so consider customers before you make your choice.
Table height matters. You can get community tables in both the high topped variety and the more standard size, and finding the right one to meet your needs may take a customer survey. In most cases, something standard will work best, but a bar-height can also work well.
Don’t forget about lighting. This is a big concern in the case of retrofitting an area with communal tables. You’ll need fairly specific lighting for the table you choose. If you don’t make that consideration, you could certainly end up leaving it in a light void. Communal tables can work in a food court seating area, but make certain you carefully consider them before you install them.

Communal tables can work in a food court seating area, but make certain you carefully consider them before you install them.