Tips for Designing Restaurants

As you’re designing and building a restaurant, windows are a given — but when you add a commercial tint to a restaurant's windows, they become more than a structural aspect with light appeal and a pretty aesthetic. Upgrading to commercial window tinting can increase and maximize the window's benefits to support the business, its customers and employees on multiple levels.

Madico®, Inc. is an innovative window film manufacturer that supports restaurants and other businesses across the nation. Our commercial window tints deliver incredible advantages — everything from increasing security and reducing UV sunlight to creating a beautiful ambiance and saving energy.

Things to Consider When Designing a Restaurant

Tips for designing a restaurant usually entail an extensive list of kitchen and dining suggestions, but have you considered the importance of your windows? Commercial window tints provide much more for a business than natural light, seats with a view and increased airflow. 

Our building tips for restaurants transform the idea of windows from being a norm to a true benefit to business operations. 

When considering how to design a restaurant, ask yourself the following:

• How can you reduce high energy costs?
• What can you do to minimize glare for employees and customers?
• How can you prevent UV damage to the interior?
• What will help create the desired ambiance?
• How can you deflect possible break-ins and vandalism?
• What will protect guests from sun exposure?
• How can you maintain the privacy of the restaurant?

When you add window protection films, you can customize the restaurant’s comfort levels and ambiance, save money and energy, protect the property against damage and control the harsh effects of the sun.

7 Ways Window Film Can Solve Potential Issues

With these potential issues and questions in mind, there are seven ways window film can become a major benefit. There are a variety of tints and films available for commercial windows, letting you choose a type that fits the client's budget, style and other specifications. 

Commercial window films uphold incredible advantages, such as:

1. Helping Reduce Glare

Commercial window tints improve visibility, helping reduce eye strain and squinting for customers and employees. This is especially helpful if servers and hosts use different forms of technology like tablets and computers within the dining area. 

Reducing glare also helps customers read menus more clearly and see the layout of the restaurant. While window films cut the glare, they still let natural light enter.

2. Enhancing Security and Safety Measures

Property owners can enhance their security and safety measures by adding film to their restaurant windows. Some tint types strengthen windows, making them more durable. If a violator does strike a window, the film will help keep the shattered glass contained, possibly acting as a deterrent. 

Window films can also help protect people inside the building if glass shatters from harsh weather.

3. Slowing Interior Fading

No matter the type of restaurant you’re designing, you want to preserve its interior from fading and discoloration. Window tints block 99% of UV rays, protecting furniture, flooring, drapes, merchandise, artwork and other articles the owner may wish to keep safe, including delicate materials that could otherwise deteriorate over time. Protecting a restaurant’s interior is crucial in maintaining its integrity.

4. Lowering Energy Consumption 

Solar window films help save energy by retaining heat in the winter months and conserving cooler air during the warmer months. Think how precious AC is during the heat of summer — window tints absorb and reflect sunlight simultaneously, helping lower heating and cooling costs and ultimately reducing your client’s energy consumption. Because films can block about 86% of the sun's heat, they decrease hot spots in the building, helping business owners save energy.

5. Offering More Protection From UV Rays

Sun protection is most often thought of when spending a day outside, but UV sunlight can still penetrate through windows, affecting everything inside. Window tints help protect furnishings from UV rays and may also help protect technology from overheating while reducing daily exposure to the sun. When technology like computers, tablets, TVs and phones are exposed to the sun for long periods, they can overheat and malfunction. 

The sun can also affect customers and employees, so having appropriate window films in place can help keep them comfortable.

6. Adding a Decorative Touch

If you’re designing a fresh and professional dining area, commercial window tints can create a uniform and sleek look. This forms a comfortable and beautiful dining area on the inside while creating a consistent image from an outside view. Regular glass leaves a glare where people can see different views of the street, parking lot, buildings and traffic, but films create a streamlined appearance.

Many restaurant owners prefer not to close the blinds to increase lighting and brightness, so films create a compromise by offering a decorative touch, comfort and ambiance. Tints keep everyone comfortable while still allowing light through, making the area look more open. 

7. Increasing Privacy

Window films and tints can help increase security on a physical level and make it difficult for people to see what’s inside. Tint applications block a person’s inside view of the restaurant from the outside, making customers feel more comfortable. You can prevent people from peeking in, but the film doesn’t affect people's view looking out.

Additional Benefits of Window Tint

Tints are a simple addition to windows that deliver incredible benefits for customers and workers. Aside from their more tangible benefits, commercial restaurant films also have a long life span and are easy to maintain.

When you rely on professionals to install your films, they become a long-term, durable and high-quality solution. For example, Madico tints are under the manufacturer’s warranty in North America, and tints for commercial installations receive a 10 or 15-year warranty.

Window films are also simple to maintain. Your clients can easily preserve the tints by using proper maintenance techniques, the right cleaning products and by following instructions given by the installer. 

Cleaning is also simple: 

1. Use a normal glass cleaner that doesn’t contain abrasive materials to spray the window. 
2. Use a soft cloth, sponge or paper towel to wipe it clean, being cautious not to scrub too aggressively.
3. Use a squeegee to dry the window. 

We suggest waiting at least 30 days after installation to ensure the curing process is complete before cleaning window tints for the first time.

Get Window Tints and Support From Madico

If you’re ready to enhance the design of a restaurant through commercial window tinting, partner with the professionals to get the job done. It takes detailed knowledge and skill to install tints, and our team is ready to provide quality services to support restaurant businesses and their designers.

View our film products online or reach out to a Madico representative to learn more about our commercial window films’ features, benefits and applications.