Running a successful restaurant is a huge accomplishment. If you are planning to open one, you will need all the luck, skills, and tricks on the book to see your business flourish, especially in today’s economy. Experts say that in order to increase traffic to your local business, you need two things: (1) excellent cuisine and well prepared and presented dishes, and (2) superb ambiance. Take these two together and you’ve got yourself a success recipe and a restaurant definitely worth visiting.

Why Great Food & Ambiance are Important to your Success?

Millard Drexler, former director of Apple, and current chairman and CEO of J.Crew Group, once said that people love consistency. Whether it is a restaurant or a store, they just want to see for themselves what you are famous for. A study conducted by researchers at Harvard University concluded that if you manage to increase repeat visits by just 5 percent, you can have profits that reach from 25% and up to the astronomical 125%! So, the question that arises here is:

How do you turn first-time customers into patrons?

Don’t go far. The answer is simple. Just give them what they want. Meaning good food and a great atmosphere where they can enjoy it. And, yes, you may have hired the best chefs around and prepare delicious dishes from only the freshest ingredients. Is that enough? Not quite. You need both parts of the equation to nail it.

How to Ensure your Customers are Enjoying the Restaurant itself AND the Food Served?

Besides service, cleanliness, and a tasty décor, you also need to maximize all aspects of the restaurant, including your windows. Nothing can compete with enjoying a beautiful view and having dinner or lunch, even on the sunniest days of the year. In this case, you need the best available window treatments, and here are your options:

1. Wood Blinds

Blinds are both functional and stylish. The most popular options are wood blinds that create a naturally elegant scheme and roller blinds, which infuse a more classic feel. Both are very versatile and you can find wood blinds available in a magnificent selection of rich tones, rustic details, eye-catching hues, painted finishes, and chic distressed shades that can blend quite effortlessly into any style of restaurant you may run. They fact that they exude a sense of calmness and can stand the test of time are definitely two more reasons to choose them.

2. Roller Blinds

As for roller shades, you can pick anything from sheers to blackout fabrics that will give the perfect amount of privacy during daytime, and anything from bold statement designs to simple plains to help create the effect you want. That aside, you can customize them to suit your particular needs and have either a clean and neat appearance or a fashionable layered look. This means you can choose the hem shape you desire, pulls and poles, or braiding of your likes. Roller blades are ideal if space is at premium because they take up minimum room when you pull them down.

3. Roller Shades

Roller shades, especially solar shades are the most used window treatments for restaurants for a variety of reasons. Many restaurant owners prefer them as a better option to the bulky shades and blinds. In a nutshell, solar shades block the sun’s glare without blocking your customers’ view to the great outdoors. In detail, solar shades:

Protect your Interiors – Everybody knows that if you leave the sun’s UV rays unblocked, you will probably end up with sun damaged furniture, curtains, and other interior décor elements. Such a costly expense and for no good reason. Solar shades protect your investment from the harmful UV rays.

Reduce Glare – What your customers want, besides great food served on their plates, is being provided with a comfortable environment, where t hey can enjoy their dinner out without melting from the sun’s heat and glare. Yes, most customers will choose to sit next to a window to get he most of the view, but if you have prepared an unwelcoming environment for them, they will most likely leave and go someplace else, where they are more pampered and taken care of.

Allow for Custom Graphics Printing – You can easily print your logo or any other information you feel important on solar shades. That way, you promote your business in a very fashionable manner.

Preserve the View of your Restaurant – Just because you have blocked the sun’s rays and glare, doesn’t mean that you customers cannot have a comfy, translucent view to the outside. That aside, you can always retract the solar shades, let more light come in, and allow better view anytime you feel like it.

Having ensured that your patrons won’t be under the indiscreet eyes of nosy passerby or squint at their tablemates, while allowing your employees and customers to adjust the amount of light streaming in at the same time, is what we can call a win-win situation for sure!

Commercial window shades come in a huge variety of materials, size, and color so finding the design that best complements and fulfills your restaurant’s needs won’t be that difficult. More importantly, with window shades you can save energy as well. For example, you can benefit from the natural light and not use artificial lighting. In the winter, when the days are colder and shorter (meaning you can enjoy the sun’s rays and natural light significantly less), you can raise the shades and warm your customers, providing them with a comfortable dining experience.

Tip: Another good option that could be used either alone or in combination with other restaurant window treatments is to control lighting with window film.

Note: Unquestionably, as a restaurant owner, you get the final saying as to the type of shades are highlighted throughout your establishment. Once you have familiarized yourself with significant aspects of your business, such as fire codes and types of acceptable materials you can use (flame retardant), you can select your window treatments accordingly.