The bakery layouts and bakery design are important considerations when starting a bakery business and even when you think about your bakery marketing strategy. Besides writing your bakery business plan, you need to draw out your bakery layout.
What colors will you paint the walls? What are the seat arrangements? Where will your bakery equipment and display case be? Answering these questions will help you create the best bakery designs and layouts that your customers will come to love.
Key Takeaway - When opening a bakery store, it is crucial to account for customers’ comfortability, employees’ accessibility, and legal requirements for your bakery brick and mortar store. Many states require that you submit your floor plan and design blueprints for building permits before opening your business.
So, how do draw your bakery layouts and floor plan? What should you consider when making your bakery design? This article will answer these questions and give you expert recommendations on creating your bakery designs and layouts.
What is a Bakery Layout?
A bakery layout and floor plan is the map and schematic representation of your bakery’s physical space. It accounts for every space in your bakery, including the interiors and exteriors.
The bakery layout and floor plan give you a general idea of how your bakery will look once all the design elements come together. While you may have vivid and creative bakery design ideas for your space, your floor plan should balance accessibility and creativity.
Keep your bakery layout design simple. Although it is important to have a classy ambiance and design, a clumsy floor plan and bakery space will defeat the purpose of creating a bakery layout in the first place.
When drawing your floor plan, add the following:
- Kitchen plan
- Dining and seating arrangements
- Waiting areas
- Staff areas, break rooms, and offices
- POS systems and cashier areas
- Restrooms
- Entrance plan
- Doors
- Windows
- Emergency exits
- Dish areas
How to Design a Bakery Layout
When designing your bakery layout and floor plan, there are a few things you must consider. On top of the list is accessibility requirements. Most States and municipalities have strict building regulations that public buildings must comply with.
Besides these requirements, it is crucial to create a floor space that works for everyone. Creating a space that will not only have various elements of your style and uniqueness but will also revolve around a human-centered design will lead to more customer engagement.
You can work with a designer or create the floor plan yourself. With software like SmartDraw, CadPro, or ConceptDraw, you can create a custom bakery layout for your bakery without any prior design experience.
However, it is crucial to have an idea of how you want your bakery to flow. Where will your kitchen be? Where will customers place orders? Make sure your floor plan is accessible after designing, if not, restructure your design and double-check.
When designed well, your floor plan can give you an idea of how many customers your bakery can accommodate. You can also predict the number of furniture that will fit your bakery establishment.
So, how should you design your bakery? Let’s find out.
Bakery Kitchen Floor Plan
Your kitchen is an important space in your bakery business. You must maximize the kitchen space for functionality and maximum production. Your kitchen staff should also have enough space to prep, bake, and cook baked goods to sell. Focus on your production capacity and leave room for the essential bakery equipment.
Bakery Staff Area Floor Plan
Most bakery business owners make the mistake of not including the staff areas in their floor plans. Set aside a back of house space for staff to take breaks and the restaurant management system and tasks. This will keep your bakery organized and productive.
Bakery Dining Room Floor Plan
This is the most important part of your floor plan design. Customers will spend most of their time in this area and it drives the bulk of their experience. Your fine dining room layout design needs to match the aesthetic of the rest of your bakery.
The floor plan should also provide adequate space. When done properly, you can calculate the maximum number of customers your bakery can accommodate at any given time.
Bakery Entrance Floor Plan
Your bakery entrance is the first thing your customers will see when they enter your bakery. Your entrance must leave a lasting impression that will make customers want to come back to your bakery.
The bakery entrance should have the necessary information about your bakery, including where to seat, order, or find restrooms. Your entrance style and design elements depend on the style of your service and the location of your bakery.
For instance, if your bakery is in a mall or an area with heavy foot traffic, you may not need a lot of waiting room space. You can place the ordering counter near the entrance in this case.
Bakery Outdoor Seating Floor Plan
You can maximize your bakery outdoor space if you have one. With the perfect layout, an outdoor space can drive more traffic to your bakery and help you increase sales. It is important to make the space easy to find and accessible to customers and employees.
Bakery POS Station Floor Plan
Your bakery POS station is the center of your bakery business. This area is where customers, service staff, and kitchen staff communicate. You must create a floor plan that makes this area easily accessible to all.
Bakery Emergency Exits Floor Plan
Your bakery must have an emergency floor plan. You can use software to map out the best position for the emergency and fire exit. Remember to mark the external exits clearly for all to see.
Tips for Creating a Bakery Layout
Here are some best practices for designing your bakery layout:
- Choose the Right Floor Plan for Your Bakery Business
There are four basic business floor plans to choose from depending on the type of bakery business you run. You can decide which one works for your bakery design ideas and layouts. Here are the four types of floor plans you can choose from:
- Straight floor plan: This type of floor plan is one of the most economical and efficient floor plans. You can position fixtures and displays at right angles and use the floor and wall space more efficiently. Straight floor plans are highly customizable and you can experiment with aisle layouts for your bakery.
- Angular floor plan: This type of floor plan uses curved displays and can create a unique visual appearance. Customers can move through aisles in an angular motion, however, there is less room to display your products. You can only display high demand products to sell. An angular floor plan gives a sophisticated feel and is perfect for specialty bakeries with fewer products.
- Diagonal floor plan: This type of floor plan enables better traffic flow and movement throughout your bakery. A diagonal floor plan is excellent for self-serve bakeries or cafes. Your customers and cashiers can get excellent visibility with this setup.
- Mixed floor plan: This type of bakery layout and floor plan combines the best of other floor plans, allowing you to create the perfect and most functional bakery layout. You can create various themed displays in your store and highlight different products throughout the bakery.
- Ensure Adequate Seating Space
Your bakery should have adequate seating and waiting space to prevent congestion and clumsy traffic flow. Ideally, the restaurant industry standard for space adopts the 60/40 model, where 60% of the total space is used for customers and 40% for prep, kitchen, and cashier stations.
The bakery aisle should measure about 4 feet wide and passage areas between tables and chairs should be 18 inches. Having an overcrowded aisle can give customers a negative experience at your bakery.
How to Calculate Seating Capacity for Your Bakery
The maximum occupancy of your bakery space depends on local building regulations, bakery type, and location. However, these numbers are the standard capacity per guest:
- For Fast Food Restaurants: 11 - 14 square feet
- For Counter Service Bakeries: 18 - 20 square feet
- For Full-Service Restaurant Dining: 12 - 15 square feet
In application, a 3200 square foot bakery space will have about 60% - 1920 square feet - for customers and 40% - 1280 square feet for staff areas. The maximum capacity at any given time for a fast food restaurant will be 175 customers. Each customer will have 11 square feet of space.
- Set up an Attractive Front of House Display Case
Setting up an attractive bakery display will grab your customer's attention as soon as they enter your bakery. You can invest in multiple tiers display cases and highlight freshly baked goods.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bakery Layouts and Designs
Designing a bakery layout and floor plan is crucial to building the bakery design you want. Let’s answer common questions about bakery layouts and floor plans.
What are the 4 Basic Kitchen Plan Layouts?
The following are the four basic kitchen plan layouts:
- One wall kitchen
- Galley or corridor kitchen
- L-shaped kitchen
- U-shaped kitchen
What is Bakery Layout?
A bakery layout is the map of your bakery space, including the floor plan and seating arrangements. The layout accounts for the internal and external space of your bakery store.
Setting Your Bakery up for Success
From investing in the best bakery technology to building an attractive bakery website, a lot of things go into running a bakery or restaurant business. Your bakery floor plan is a crucial part of running a successful bakery business.
You don’t have to be an expert designer to draw your floor plan. The expert recommendations and tips in this guide will help you get started with the perfect bakery layout and design.