Commercial Cafe Benches

Measure the clear wall length, then subtract anything that interrupts it — a door swing, a skirting heater, a power point you need access to, a column. What is left is what the run has to fit into, and bench modules are sold in set lengths, so the run is built from the sizes available rather than cut to measure.

Work out the covers from your own table spacing, not from a per-person figure we have made up: the comfortable gap between tables in your room is what sets it. Module lengths and depths are on each product page. Then match the tables with cafe tables.

Freestanding is the default in the range and the more useful choice for most venues, because the room can be changed later and the bench can be pulled out to clean behind. It also avoids making an alteration to a leased building.

Fixing to the wall or floor is worth it where the bench forms a divider in the middle of the floor and will otherwise get pushed around, or where it is upholstered to the wall line as a continuous banquette. If the premises are leased, check with the landlord before anything is fixed.

Commercial vinyl is the workhorse: it wipes clean, resists spills and handles people sliding in and out all day. Commercial-grade fabric looks softer and suits dining rooms with slower turnover, but it needs a cleaning regime. Timber and steel benches have no covering at all and are the easiest to maintain.

Match the covering to turnover rather than to the look you want first. A high-turnover cafe window seat will punish fabric; a quiet dining room will not. Each product page states what the seat is covered in.

Only where the bench is built for it. An upholstered indoor banquette will not survive weather, while a steel or treated-timber bench is made to. Look for a product page that states outdoor use, and expect to bring cushions in.

Covered outdoor areas sit between the two. If the bench is under cover, shade and heating decide whether the seats get used at all, so look at commercial outdoor umbrellas and outdoor heaters at the same time.

No, and they sit at different heights. A coffee bar bench is seating at table height along a wall or window. A bar run is a high counter with stools pulled up to it, which suits solo customers and short stays. Heights for each are on the product pages, and the stool range is cafe bar stools.

Plenty of cafes use both: a window bar for takeaway customers who stay ten minutes, and bench seating along the wall for the people who order food. Decide by dwell time, not by floor space alone.

Buy the run in one go, from one product line, and order a spare module if the layout might grow. Second batches of a commercial covering do not always match an older one exactly, and a mismatched module in the middle of a wall is obvious.

For the same reason, settle on the table shape before the benches arrive. Swapping to a different table depth later leaves a gap between the seat and the table edge. Cafe table tops and cafe table bases are sold separately if you need a specific combination.

It works well around the perimeter and badly in the middle, because benches do not move for a different layout. The usual approach is benches along the walls, loose chairs and commercial folding tables in the open floor so the room can be reset.

For hotels, a bench along a lobby window or in a breakfast room adds seating without adding furniture to move at cleaning time. The wider range for those spaces is hotel furniture.