What Actually Happens During Restaurant Concept Development
United Kingdom
18-08-2026
After designing over 200 restaurants over the last 25 years, one thing I’ve realised is that most people have a slightly skewed idea of what concept development actually is.
They tend to think it’s the fun bit. Mood boards, visuals, maybe a few nice CGIs they can show investors and say, “this is what we’re building.”
But that’s really just the output at the end of the process. The actual work, the bit that really matters, happens much earlier, and most of it isn’t particularly glamorous.
What you’re really doing at concept stage is working out whether the business is going to function properly once it opens its doors.
Where people usually get it wrong
Quite often a client will come to us and say they just need a concept so they can take it to investors.
And I understand why they think that, because from the outside it looks like that’s what a concept is. Something visual, something tangible.
But you can’t really create that properly until you’ve worked through a lot of decisions that sit underneath it.
Where the kitchen is going to go. How the staff are going to move through the space. How customers are going to arrive, where they pause, where they feel comfortable, where they don’t.
Even things like what happens when it’s busy versus what happens when it’s quiet. Those are completely different scenarios, and the space needs to cope with both.
Until you’ve worked through that layer, anything you produce visually is just decoration.
I’ve had people ask for a quick sketch early on, and you have to gently explain that you can’t sketch something that hasn’t been thought through yet.
The part of restaurant design nobody talks about
The early stage of concept development is actually quite technical.
You’re looking at where the extraction runs, where the plumbing sits, how everything connects across floors if there are multiple levels. It’s not the bit anyone gets excited about, but it’s absolutely fundamental.
I remember a project up in Stamford where we walked into a space that, on paper, only really had one usable floor.
When we looked more closely, we realised the previous tenant had filled the entire roof space with mechanical equipment. Air conditioning, extraction, all pushed up there without much thought.
So we stripped that out, reorganised it, and suddenly the client had a second area they could use. That became a bar.
Same building, same rent, but now they had a completely different offer and an additional revenue stream.
Those are the sorts of decisions that sit behind the concept, and they’re often the ones that make the biggest difference.
Fixing the worst seats in the room
Every restaurant has areas that are less desirable. You can usually spot them straight away.
There’s always a table near the toilets, or a slightly awkward corner where people feel a bit overlooked, or the opposite, too exposed.
If you leave those areas as they are, customers will pick up on it. People know when they’ve been given the worst table, even if they can’t quite explain why.
So one of the things we try to do early on is identify those spots and turn them into something people actually want.
That might mean creating a booth, adding a bit more enclosure, or changing the way the seating works so it feels more intentional.
In some cases, you go a step further.
We worked on a restaurant where a particular area, right by the kitchen, was considered the worst place to sit. There was too much movement, too much noise, and it just didn’t feel comfortable.
Instead of trying to improve it slightly, we turned it into a private dining room.
We filled it with the chef’s books and personal items, gave it a bit of identity, and suddenly it became one of the most desirable spaces in the whole restaurant.
From a commercial point of view, it went from being the least productive part of the floor to the most valuable.
When doing less actually gives you more opportunity for your restaurant
There’s a natural instinct to maximise the number of covers, especially if the space is tight.
But that doesn’t always lead to the best outcome.
We had a client who could only fit 22 covers into their restaurant, and they were struggling. On busy days they were full, but they couldn’t do any more. On quiet days, it felt empty.
So instead of trying to squeeze more people in, we went the other way.
We reduced the number of seats and changed the format entirely. It became a counter experience, where guests sat around the kitchen and watched the food being prepared.
You booked a time slot, you stayed for a fixed period, and the whole thing became much more focused.
What that did was change the value of each seat. You weren’t just paying for a table anymore, you were paying for a specific experience.
And commercially, it worked far better than the original setup.
The danger of following trends for your restaurant design and brand
One of the most common issues I see is when a concept is driven by what’s currently popular rather than something more grounded.
You’ll see it every few years. A particular look or idea becomes fashionable, and suddenly it appears everywhere.
There was a phase where restaurants were covering their façades in artificial flowers. It looked great at first, and it photographed well, which helped bring people in.
But it didn’t last.
The materials aged quite quickly, and the idea itself lost its appeal once people had seen it a few times.
If your concept relies too heavily on a trend, it’s always going to have a limited lifespan.
Whereas if it’s built around a clear narrative and a point of view, it has a bit more resilience. It can evolve over time without needing to be completely redone.
Restaurant design ideas often collide with budget and reality
Budget is always part of the conversation, and understandably so.
But there’s a point where trying to reduce costs too much actually makes things harder.
At the lower end of the market, your choice of materials becomes very limited, and everything starts to feel quite generic. It’s difficult to create something with character if all the components are essentially the same as everyone else’s.
Sometimes it’s about being a bit braver with where you spend.
We worked on a project where we used reclaimed timber that had been taken from old barns. Each piece had its own texture and history, which tied into the overall story of the space.
It probably cost a bit more upfront than a simpler finish, but over time it proved to be more durable and required less maintenance.
And importantly, it gave the space a level of authenticity that would have been hard to achieve otherwise.
Building flexibility into your restaurant space
Another thing we think about quite a lot is how the space can adapt.
Restaurants don’t operate in a single mode. They change throughout the day, and sometimes they need to serve completely different functions.
We redesigned a sports bar where the client initially wanted fixed screens throughout the space.
Instead, we used projectors that could be hidden away when not in use.
So when there was a big match on, it behaved like a sports bar. But at other times, it could function as a restaurant or even a conference space without feeling out of place.
It’s the same physical space, but it’s able to generate revenue in different ways depending on what’s needed.
Making difficult restaurant spaces work harder
Some of the most interesting projects are the ones where the space isn’t straightforward.
We worked on a site with a slightly awkward layout and a narrow entrance, which could have been a problem.
Instead of trying to hide that, we adapted the design so that the entrance felt active and welcoming, with people sitting right at the front and the bar positioned in a way that still worked operationally.
At the back, where there was less natural light, we introduced more enclosed seating to create a different atmosphere.
You end up with a space that has variation, rather than something that feels flat or uniform.
What you should have at the end of the restaurant design concept phase
By the time you get to the end of concept development, you should have a very clear understanding of how the space is going to work.
Not just what it looks like, but how it operates day to day.
You should know how many covers you have, how the layout supports service, what materials are being used, and how the lighting and atmosphere change over time.
At that point, the concept isn’t just an idea anymore. It’s something you can build with confidence.
A simple way to think about restaurant concept development
If I had to sum it up simply, I’d say this.
Concept development is the stage where everything you’ve worked out about the brand is translated into a physical space.
It’s where the idea becomes real.
And if you get that part right, everything that follows tends to fall into place much more easily.
Other Journal Entries
Middleweight Hospitality Designer
B3 Designers are looking for an experienced Middleweight Hospitality Designer to join our team.
Restaurant Interior Design Trends for 2026
Over the last 25 years I’ve worked on everything from independent restaurants to hotel restaurants and refits. One of the most common questions I get is: “How long will it take to open my restaurant?”