Sushi restaurants are deviating from the script. Designers are adding flair, modernity, color, and the unexpected.

Airline travel is booming, which means a lot of eyeballs on brands within airports and lots of hungry passengers to tempt.

Let’s take a moment and celebrate these fabulous, functional designs judged to be among the best of the best in rd+d’s annual contest.

In an Instagram world where a few posts can catapult a restaurant’s popularity, restaurateurs worry about far more than food and service.

Coffee is hot, even though it is sometimes served on ice. Over the past few decades, the explosion of coffee culture in the U.S. sparked rapid growth

Rapidly changing consumer tastes put pressure on restaurants to update menus frequently.

Dining establishments serving thousands a day must design and plan for maximum efficiency or risk service meltdowns that annoy customers and could lead to social media

With pandemic fears receding, it turns out that patrons still love al fresco dining.

With the COVID pandemic retreating, people are more comfortable returning to normal activity, including venturing to restaurants — even in packed indoor settings. This

For best results, it’s important that wayfinding elements clearly support their intended purpose and are in sync with your branding.

You can tell a lot about a restaurant by observing the seating.

Two-and-a-half decades after the juice bar chain Juice It Up! launched, managers concluded that the store design urgently needed a reboot.

Mandated dining room closures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic left many restaurant operators grappling with how to best utilize their space for an unexpected shift

When the COVID-19 pandemic effectively forced a nearly nationwide shutdown of in-person dining in 2020, establishments like Pizza Inn had an existential crisis.

Like most restaurateurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lisabet Summa, co-owner of Big Time Restaurant Group, had to adapt expediting stations to make order fulfilment as

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in drive-thru and curbside pickup, and QSRs were well-positioned to take the lead. As demand for drive-thru service spiked, car

Creating welcoming, attractive private dining spaces is essential to the business plan for many restaurateurs.

Makelines foster interaction between guests and staff, offering high customization, and using fresh, visually attractive fruits, vegetables and other fare to convey a

For many customers, sights and sounds are important parts of a restaurant visit. Whether it’s background music, a lively pop soundtrack, TVs showing a big sporting event

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Typically, a patron’s first take of a restaurant centers on the entry area, both inside and outside. The entrance’s

Wall coverings are one of the keys to realizing the design vision. They can serve as backdrops that frame a space, provide wayfinding cues or, in the case of

Of all the tools available to designers to create a distinctive appearance, none may be more powerful than graphics. Logos, posters, menu boards,

An “open kitchen” is an imprecise term encompassing many types of designs. Depending on who you ask, an open kitchen can range from providing a view to the back of the

Form and function are intertwined within a bar; one cannot exist without the other, but they can often be at odds,” says Alex Day, co-owner of ...

The arrival of spring may bring daffodils and gentle breezes, but it also signals the arrival of restaurant patrons who want to sit outside.

When it comes to restaurant design, bathrooms have long been overlooked. But with an ever-increasing focus on the overall experience, customers and operators are viewing

Operators have several options when making room for takeout within a restaurant’s four walls. They can decide to renovate their

Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting technology has come a long way and is developing so quickly that even lighting designers are hard-pressed

A restaurant’s audiovisual system’s ability to influence the dining atmosphere is undoubtedly a powerful factor. “AV systems are no longer thought of as vanity

Finding the right soundscape requires balancing art and science.