Dynamic lighting. How Salateira Dubai works simultaneously in five concepts
Every restaurateur strives to fill their establishment with visitors as much as possible during all the hours of its work, every day. However, most often a restaurant that was initially created for romantic dinners is not very convenient for business breakfasts or lunches, even if the menu has a special offer of business lunch. The restaurant, which is great for a lunch break, is not too popular in the evening for relaxing or a romantic date. Can a restaurant be comfortable for an easy morning awakening and getting a boost of energy for the whole day, a quick and satisfying lunch, a late business lunch and, of course, for an evening romantic lounge?
If you understand what the key difference between these four restaurants is, the task does not look so difficult. The human brain reduces everything to simplified associative schemes that are formed by our senses – sight, hearing, smell, and touch. The key in this case is vision. Vision forms the association of the surrounding space in the restaurant with the time of a day and the subsequent adjustment of all body systems, including the metabolic rate. If the environment is associated with the evening atmosphere, the metabolism will slow down, if with noon, the metabolism will accelerate intensively.
The perception of the surrounding space is affected by lighting.
СIt forms the light scene of the morning, noon and evening. In the morning, the light is soft and neutral, by lunch it becomes brighter, its intensity and quantity increase. By evening, the intensity and amount of light decreases, it becomes softer and warmer. For many thousands of years of human brain development, the sun and fire served as the only sources of light. As a result, changing the time of a day has become a source of forming associative patterns of light scenes and tuning them to the processes of producing certain hormones and neurotransmitters that control the phases of biological activity and rest.
Most restaurants manage to solve the problem of effective building of one of the light scenes and get an excellent effect at certain time of a day. To attract visitors at other times, they most often resort to various marketing tools, but their effectiveness does not meet expectations. If the lighting scheme of the restaurant corresponds to the evening, after a business lunch, visitors feel abdominal discomfort, they tend to sleep, and labor productivity decreases for several hours. This is due to the formation of hormonal background and the speed of metabolic processes of the body that is preparing for bed. The body’s metabolism slows down, so there is abdominal discomfort. The restaurant may feel such a discrepancy due to an increase in the length of visitors’ stay in the hall, while the average receipt does not increase. The turnover of visitors in the hall falls without a financial result.
You can build different light scenes using the dynamic lighting system of the guest hall, which can simulate light schemes of different times of a day. This system is successfully used by the best Ukrainian brand of healthy food restaurants SALATEIRA, which opened its first restaurant outside of Ukraine in Dubai in August 2016.
This restaurant has successfully implemented a unique dynamic lighting system that provides 7 different light scenes to create the comfort of visitors throughout the day. The system also provides two technical stages for easy and general cleaning. The system works autonomously, and switching of light schemes occurs automatically.
This lighting system provides one establishment with 5 restaurant concepts for different occasions. It includes the following light scenes: light morning awakening (breakfast 08:00-12:00), stimulation (lunch 12:00-15:00), energy saving (late lunch 15:00-17:00), light rest (dinner 17:00-20:00), lounge relaxation (late dinner, evening cocktail 20:00-23:00). The equipment in the restaurant supports all the necessary conditions for a comfortable stay – the ripple coefficient is below 3%, the color rendering index is above 90%, the light level and color temperature that simulate the appropriate time of a day.
Light morning awakening (breakfast 8:00-12:00)
Light morning awakening is provided by a soft neutral light of low intensity, a rich blue spectrum of radiation and a color temperature of 4,000 K. The saturation of light with the blue spectrum provides the morning start of metabolic processes, gives a charge of energy and cheerfulness, supports the first daily energy surge characteristic of the beginning of the day. The light level is 350-450 lux.
Stimulation (lunch 12:00-15:00)
During the lunch break, the restaurant should receive as many visitors as possible, increasing the number of shifts of visitors per seat, while ensuring an increase in the average receipt. A guest who visits the restaurant at lunchtime should feel light and cheerful after a meal.
To get this effect, the light level is increased to 800-1000 lux. The color temperature is maintained, as in the morning scene of 4000 K, the light is saturated with a blue spectrum. This light scheme provides maximum acceleration of metabolic processes, which leads to an increase in the average receipt, an accelerated change of visitors in the restaurant hall. The guest of the restaurant does not experience discomfort, is less exposed to the energy decline at the beginning of the second half of the day and does not lose productivity.
Energy saving (late lunch 15:00-17:00)
Late lunch is the time when the first signs of fatigue accumulated during the day and the last energy surge during the day appear. For a comfortable state of health and prevention of overwork of visitors, the light temperature changes from neutral 4,000 K to warm 3,000 K. This is a period of active energy and strength saving, so the illumination level remains high 800-1, 000 lux, while reducing the color temperature and reducing the saturation of light with the blue spectrum provides a supportive function. The time spent by visitors in the hall is gradually increasing.
Light rest (dinner 17:00-20:00)
Light rest, early dinner, when it is necessary to create an atmosphere of lightness and comfort, increase the time spent by guests in the hall, while maintaining the level of illumination, so that metabolic processes are maintained at a sufficient level for assimilation of food. At the same time, lighting should not prevent the body from forming the necessary hormonal background for effective rest. For this purpose, the light becomes softer, the illumination in the hall is reduced to 400-500 lux. The light temperature remains at 3,000 K.
Lounge relax (late dinner, evening cocktail 20:00-23:00
Time for relaxation and more romantic conversations. Illumination in the hall is reduced to a minimum. The illumination in the hall is reduced to a minimum value. It is provided only by pendant lights located above the tables. Unlit aisles between rows and tables create a visual effect of privacy. All this creates conditions for a comfortable long stay in the hall and preparing the body for a night rest.
Salateira is a restaurant that provides an extremely high level of service and cleanliness, so it was a must to create two more technical lighting modes.
The first is “evening cleaning” with a light level of 800-100 lux. At the same time, taking care of the staff, the light is not saturated with the blue spectrum, which minimizes the blocking of the production of the hormone melatonin, which is necessary for changing the body’s daily cycles and rest.
ДThe second is “morning general cleaning” with the maximum possible illumination level of 1,600-2,000 lux without adding new lighting devices, which allows cleaning personnel to see the slightest shortcomings when preparing the room for the next working day.
Dynamic lighting solutions for restaurants can overcome the key problem of the restaurant business – restaurant occupancy throughout the entire time of work, provide comfort during and after visiting the restaurant and, as a result, increase the loyalty of visitors and increase the number of regular guests.