While certain restaurant business aspects are evergreen, the industry trends are always changing and are on the horizon. The most successful restaurants are seeking out ways to stay ahead of competition so it should come as no surprise that there has been an uptick in request from restaurant businesses for designers and restaurant architects to incorporate the industrial style into their decor. Keeping up with emerging restaurant trends gives restaurateurs the opportunity to offer their regular customers a new experience and attract visitors looking for a change of scenery.
What is Industrial Restaurant Design?
Industrial style in interior design draws inspiration from the raw, utilitarian elements seen in old factories, warehouses, and urban lofts. It typically features exposed materials such as brick, steel, wood, and concrete, offering a rugged yet sophisticated aesthetic. The industrial style is marked by the absence of frills, focusing on clean lines, functional forms, and a minimalist approach. In a restaurant or bar setting, this translates into a design that celebrates the beauty of raw materials and emphasizes practicality, while creating a distinctive, edgy ambiance.
To integrate industrial style into your restaurant or bar without overwhelming the space, it’s important to strike a balance between bold design elements and comfort. While exposed beams, steel pipes, and large metal windows are hallmarks of industrial design, they don’t have to dominate the space. Instead of making the metal and concrete the focal point, pair them with softer, warmer materials such as reclaimed wood, vintage furniture, and subtle lighting. This helps soften the harder edges of the industrial look and creates a welcoming, functional atmosphere that appeals to diners.
The key to successfully applying industrial style in a restaurant is using it in a way that complements the space's overall theme and the kind of dining experience you're offering. Whether you choose a more rustic approach with distressed wood and antique furnishings or a sleek, modern take with polished metal and minimalist décor, the industrial design should reflect the type of food, service, and ambiance you wish to convey. For example, a casual, rustic café might embrace the charm of exposed brick walls and distressed furniture, while a high-end bar could focus on sleek metal fixtures and dark wood to convey sophistication with a modern twist.
Incorporating industrial elements into your decor allows for flexibility and creativity, enabling you to set the tone for your restaurant’s atmosphere. By blending raw materials, practical design, and thoughtful detailing, you can create a unique and inviting space that resonates with customers while keeping the industrial look grounded and balanced.
Key Elements of Industrial Interior Design
Interior design, in general, is based on constructional and ambiance elements that come together to create the desired look and feel in any space. Industrial interior design is no exception and it relies quite heavily on certain constructional elements for its first impression. And that is one of the things that helped to popularize it all over the world. When done right, industrial interior design manages to blend functionality with style and can be done on a budget. After all, it's cheaper to clean and repaint exposed ducts rather than pay to have them covered by a false ceiling or walls. Below are the key elements of this design style separated into their main categories:
Constructional Elements
The industrial design has become popular among most commercial venues. The blend of metal, wood, warm, contemporary, vintage, and rustic characteristics offer all the pleasures and comfort in a modern-looking establishment and often require fewer expenses during renovations since leaving the ventilation ducts exposed and the walls un-plastered is part of the design. Whether you are designing your venue from scratch or remodeling your space with a more industrial look, the materials and elements you choose will become an essential part of your design.
1. Cement
The texture and finish of cement have become one of the essential principles of an urban industrial style restaurant. Cement is a versatile material that allows for multiple uses, from designing an urban industrial restaurant furniture layout to the floors, walls, and countertops. It is also popular for its high resistance to UV rays, stains, scratches, fire, heat, and abrasions. It is also a legacy of the original industrial look, as it was used in abundance in old factories.
2. Exposed Bricks, Pipes, and Ducts
If your restaurant or bar is in a building with exposed bricks, pipes, and ducts, do not conceal them — they lend an industrial vibe to your decor if that is what you are aiming for. Exposed building elements amplify the urban and/or vintage industrial look of your venue. You can incorporate these materials (specifically old pipes) into your furnishings as well. Metal brackets and tubes can be used to make shelves, restaurant chairs, tables, bar stools, and even stairs.
3. Open Spaces
In industrial design, the amount of space you don’t use is just as important as the space you consume. The space itself becomes a component in the design, so putting too many wall decorations and other elements can subtract from the design and make your space feel overcrowded. What you should be aiming for is minimalism at its best: Clean lines, bright large rooms, and functional elements that become the décor by simply being seen rather than hidden.
As with the constructional elements above, ambiance is a big part of industrial interior design. During the day, large windows allow natural light to flood in and reflect on the concrete and exposed metal elements, providing an influx of sunshine to uplift the interior. At night, low-hanging and dim lighting change the large spaces into warm and intimate settings despite their size. The light, in combination with the color palette used and wood or wood-like textures, adds warmth to what can otherwise be seen as a cold and stark interior.
1. Lighting Fixtures
Aside from providing sufficient lighting, metal, iron, or steel lamps can be used as decoration pieces for your industrial-style restaurant. You can select hanging lights or lighting with an extensible arm over the tables, countertops, islands, or over the main wall. Pendant electrical lighting fixtures not only act as accent pieces but also exude a pure rustic vibe to any room and embody the entire industrial design.
2. Neutral, Earthy Colors
Industrial colors consist of neutral, cool, and down-to-earth tones. Grey, earthy green, and brown are the most popular colors in the industrial design palette. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, especially in urban design where brightly colored metal chairs, bar stools, and other furnishings are used but made to look distressed. This adds vitality and energy to any hip urban location that appeals to the younger crowd.
3. Wood
Wood lends warmth and a rustic charm to your restaurant, especially distressed or reclaimed (look) wood with unpolished and rougher edges. Wood offers great performance, functionality, and beauty for industrial restaurant tables (table tops), countertops, floors, and even walls. It also contrasts well with the metal elements of your décor and helps tone it down, making it less clinical and more appealing.
In more than one way, industrial decor pulls from vintage, urban, rustic, and contemporary styles to create its own unique look and themes. Below is a short review of some of the more popular themes to see how they differ in both look and feel based on the message they want to convey to their customers:
Modern
Modern design has gained popularity for its sleek, minimalist aesthetic. The combination of elegant furniture and masculine industrial elements creates a refined contrast. With an open layout and industrial features, you can maximize your space while offering an upscale, yet functional environment.
Modern industrial style is a broad design term, typically featuring a simple color palette, clean lines, and utilitarian materials like concrete, natural wood, and metal. These elements evoke simplicity, while the furniture's sleek design complements the industrial decor.
In the example above, exposed brick walls, wood and metal furniture, and warm lighting from high ceilings create a modern venue with an upscale look, setting it apart from the classic, starker industrial style.
The rustic interior aesthetic focuses on natural textures, earthy tones, and unpolished materials. With an emphasis on wood, stone, and clay, this style provides a warm, organic feel, often incorporating reclaimed materials. In contrast to the colder, industrial look, rustic industrial design creates an inviting and authentic atmosphere.
Rustic industrial furniture features distressed wood tables, metal chairs, and unpainted steel, combining raw, natural beauty with utilitarian designs. The pieces often feel handcrafted, adding a personal touch to the space. Rustic design is versatile, warm, and timeless, blending seamlessly into industrial settings.
Urban industrial design mixes minimalism with boldness, creating a tough yet casual environment. This style transforms unused spaces into energetic areas full of character. Features like exposed brick walls, sweeping ceilings, and utilitarian elements create an industrial vibe, while functional designs and bright metal furniture inject personality into the space.
In the image above, the combination of corrugated metal, brightly colored metal chairs, and resin tables with a wood-like finish creates a striking contrast. The mix of textures, simple design, and minimalist decor define the urban industrial aesthetic, adding a contemporary edge to the traditional industrial look.
Urban industrial style also incorporates repurposed tools, exposed infrastructure, concrete floors, and large metal-framed windows. The furniture often features unfinished wood with protective coatings, supported by metal frames, offering a raw, edgy look that is perfect for breweries, cafes, and entertainment spaces.
