The drawings below offer some basic guidelines for restaurant and cafeteria table capacities.
Capacities are based on standard chair sizes. If large, swiveling or castored
chairs are used, adjust accordingly.
Having the right combination of sizes of tables in a restaurant can decrease wait time for customers and can maximize seating capacity and profit.
Avoid using large dedicated tables (eight-person or larger) in small restaurants to save space and seating capacity. Use small tables in small restaurants and then combine them to accommodate parties of varying sizes. Be aware that combining tables may cause some temporary seating capacity loss (e.g. two 4-person tables combined to seat only six customers).
Using some large capacity dedicated tables in larger restaurants creates "special" areas, helps to enhance overall ambiance and reduces customer discomfort caused by crowding many small tables into a large space. In larger restaurants there will often be sufficient numbers of large parties to offset the seating capacity loss caused by large size restaurant tables.
Room size, shape and function determine the layout of tables in a room. For table spacing in public places always refer to local codes for restrictions and safety requirements. The drawings above and below offer some general, customary aisle allowances. For a comfortable and pleasant dining experience there can never be too much room.
For banquet room and cafeteria lunchroom seating allow a minimum of 54" between round tables and 60" between rectangular tables for chair and 24" service space. Main traffic aisles need to be larger.
What determines table size?
The architectural standard for dining suggests that 300 square inches be allowed per diner.
The table on the left would be an appropriate size for fast food and standard cafe dining.
30" X 42" = 1260 Square Inches. Divide that number by the suggested 300 square inches
per diner and you arrive at adequate table space for four persons.
The table on the right still seats four however some menus require larger than the recommended minimum 300 square inches per diner. Pizza, Mexican and many Asian style restaurant menus require more utensils, plates and table space. Some operations use cafeteria trays. The only excuse for a wide tray on a narrow top is poor planning. The number one factor for determining top size is WHAT you are serving your customers.
