Restaurant Patio Ideas: Outdoor Seating All Year Long in Denver

Why Your Current Restaurant Patio Design is Failing

Mother Nature can dish out some serious problems for Denver patio patrons – and your staff:

High winds

Chasing restaurant patio umbrellas down the road after a burst of Denver mountain wind is not fun for staff and presents a serious danger to nearby customers and property.

Frequent rain and snow

Rain and snow create slippery conditions that increase the likelihood of injuries and liability. Repeatedly drying furnishings after these weather events also waste resources that could be better spent attending to guests.

Blinding sunlight

Poor restaurant patio shade protection creates a hot, uncomfortable environment, leading to rapidly departing diners and reduced ticket prices. Worse, scorching seating can cause significant injuries to children and older adults with thinner skin.
 

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Rather than trying to force the same failing patio design to function to save in the short term, revamping your restaurant patio design offers long-term benefits. With a properly prepped patio, you can reduce workload and injuries and create an inviting space for guests you can depend on year-round. A wise investment in a more comfortable, reliable restaurant patio setting will reduce wait times, prevent customers from looking elsewhere, and keep them dining longer and coming back for more, boosting revenue.

How to Design a Restaurant Patio for Year-Round Use

A well-thought-out restaurant patio design that increases usable seating and ensures customer comfort is critical to maximizing return on your restaurant dining investment. With a design that brings indoor comforts out, you won’t have to close patio seating and lose income during weather extremes. To achieve a successful design, outfit your patio dining space with these key comfort features:

A pergola with motorized louvers

An adjustable louvered pergola offers the perfect solution for turning poorly protected restaurant patio seating and unused outdoor real estate into highly functional, year-round, dependable patron seating. StruXure motorized pergolas adjust to changing weather on demand, allowing you to dial in the perfect amount of sun for winter warmth, shade for summer relief, or provide leak-free precipitation protection, ensuring a comfortable patio dining space in any weather.

Reliable precipitation protection

No more chasing windblown restaurant patio umbrellas across the parking lot or tending to the constant deconstruction and reconstruction of fabric-based shelter in response to severe weather. Durable, low-maintenance StruXure commercial restaurant patio enclosures can handle anything Mother Nature sends your way, including wind, rain, hail, sleet, and snow, providing a drip-free dining environment with the click of a button.

Comfortable, durable furnishings

Rather than cheap, flimsy plastic or hard, unforgiving bare metal furnishings, create a warm, welcoming restaurant patio dining area with cushioned, lounge-style seating and accompanying furnishings made of sturdy, durable teak, cedar, or aluminum. StruXure aluminum pergolas help you maximize your investment, providing lasting furniture protection.

Lighting and entertainment

Well-outfitted restaurant patio enclosures should include essential features for restaurant dining, like integrated adjustable task and accent lighting for creating the perfect ambiance from morning to evening. The best designs also contain outlets, mounting for outdoor TVs, and built-in speakers, allowing you to maximize revenue by hosting business and family gatherings, sporting events, and trivia nights.

Seasonal comfort additions

Integrating patio heaters, ceiling fans, and motorized screens into your commercial patio enclosure, alongside seasonal accessories like throw blankets, pillows, personal fans, and misters, keeps guests comfortable, even in weather extremes.

Greenery and landscaping

Adding plants and landscaping elements that thrive in your local climate beautifies your patio space, creates a natural barrier against weather elements, and enhances privacy.

Best Places to Add More Restaurant Patio Dining Space

Your restaurant may have many possible options for outdoor dining expansions depending on local regulations and available space, including:

• Unused courtyard and garden restaurant patios
  Dining spaces in secluded courtyards or lush gardens offer an intimate, peaceful dining experience.
• Back and side-yard restaurant patios
  For restaurants with surrounding real estate, back and side yard patios can offer a casual, laid-back setting for a relaxing meal or a secluded, tranquil dining space, depending on the design.
• Pre-existing patios and decks
  Overlooked patio slabs and decking offer tremendous opportunities to boost available seating easily.

 

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• New first and second-story additions
  Capitalize on impressive mountain or waterfront views by incorporating a new first-floor patio or second-story deck, attracting patrons with spectacular scenery.
• Rooftop restaurant patio designs
  A rooftop restaurant patio can offer amazing panoramic views of the area, turning once-forgotten space into an exclusive dining experience.
• Street-facing real estate
  Patio dining situated along bustling streets or pedestrian walkways is a great way to gain attention and create a lively atmosphere, perfect for people-watching.
• Alleyway or parking lot patio dining additions
  Transforming unused alleys or parking areas into well-lit, outdoor restaurant patio dining areas can improve ambiance and turn once neglected space into an asset.

Why Choose StruXure for Your Restaurant Patio Design?

StruXure aluminum pergolas are the ideal choice for restaurant patio additions. Their line of luxury, custom restaurant patio covers stands out among rivals like Azenco and Equinox pergolas, offering:

Superior climate control

The StruXure Pivot 6 and larger Pivot 6XL offer precise sunlight control and dependable shelter at the touch of a button. Motorized pergola louvers rotate up to 170°, providing more flexibility than competitors to maximize comfort. Angle louvers to the perfect setting for sunlight protection and ventilation, open fully to take advantage of the sun’s warmth, or close louvers, engaging the built-in gutter system for leak-free rain and snow protection.

Durable, low-maintenance use

StruXure commercial restaurant patio enclosures are American-made and produced in Nevada. Every pergola is built to withstand harsh weather conditions, including hurricane-force winds, heavy snow loads, hail, extreme heat, and corrosive marine environments, featuring a fully extruded, powder-coated aluminum design and stainless-steel fasteners. The only care required is the occasional cleaning with a hose or a stiff-bristled brush.

Reliable rain and snow protection

Our Pivot 6 line of restaurant patio covers provide superior drainage performance, ensuring you can use your restaurant patio in all weather conditions. They feature a 360-degree integrated gutter system with patented pass-through gutter technology that whisks rain and snow melt away. The Pivot 6 XL commercial pergola handles three times as much water, boasting larger 7 ½ inch gutters. Close the louvers nightly and when rain or snow is expected, keeping floors and furnishings dry, safe, comfortable, and ready for patrons.

Easy operation and smart pergola features

StruXure’s high-tech pergolas make responding to Denver’s rapidly changing weather a breeze. Power your pergola using solar or electric power, including your choice of wall mount or handheld remote control. Take advantage of smart pergola features, using a mobile device or compatible automation system to operate your pergola with motorized louvers. Pre-program settings using the StruXure Somfy MyLink app, or take advantage of on-demand response with built-in rain, wind, and freeze-sensing technology.

Nearly limitless customization potential

Our commercial pergolas offer nearly limitless customization, allowing you to craft a pergola that perfectly reflects your brand image and blends seamlessly into your architecture. Choose from single or multi-zone systems with no maximum footprint, different post sizes, custom trim, six standard colors, or faux woodgrain. We’ll build your restaurant patio enclosure to your precise parameters with the perfect accessories to ensure customer comfort and enjoyment, including lighting, motorized screens, infrared patio heaters, ceiling fans, speakers, outlets, TV mounts, and more.

Unsurpassed product warranty

We stand behind our products. StruXure restaurant patio enclosures are covered by an industry-leading transferable limited lifetime warranty, allowing you to pass on the benefits of your restaurant patio investment if you decide to sell your business.

Restaurant Patio Designs Tips for Winter Comfort

There are many options to enhance patio dining comfort in winter months, all of which are perfectly safe to incorporate beneath your StruXure aluminum pergola:

• Motorized screens
  Magnatrack motorized screens contain warmth and cut frigid winds and snow while facilitating fresh air circulation, sliding quickly and easily into place when needed.
• Built-in infrared patio heaters
  Efficient and effective, infrared patio heaters warm items in their path, much like a ray of sunshine, making them an ideal heating solution for airy restaurant patios. Building them into your louvered pergola design or mounting them on nearby walls eliminates the space issues and hazards of other patio heating options.
• Free Standing patio heaters
  Floor patio heaters, which typically run on a standard-size propane tank located within the base, offer fast, easy setup in patio dining areas when needed. Heat, emitted from the top and directed down by a built-in reflector, can be distributed over a 5–10-foot radius, depending on setup.
• Portable patio heaters
  Smaller, portable electric patio heaters are easier to move than freestanding patio heaters but larger and more effective than tabletop models. However, these heaters must be carefully located to prevent tripping hazards.
• Tabletop patio heaters
  The limited output of tabletop patio heaters works best in small, intimate seating areas.
• Gas fire pits and tables
  Patio fire pits come in many sizes, styles, and designs, from traditional gas-log-style setups to colorful linear tables with glass media, sure to gain the attention of passersby in the evening hours. Push-button or remote operation makes them easy to use.
• Outdoor fireplace
  Large outdoor fireplaces offer a stunning focal point, drawing guests in with a warm, friendly glow and earning your business word-of-mouth praise.
• Winter patio linens
  Cozy rugs and available blankets and pillows offer a warm, personal touch.

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Restaurant Patio Designs Tips for Summer Comfort

Keeping patio patrons cool all summer long is all about integrating the right comfort additions:

Motorized screens

Magnatrack motorized screens slide quickly into place to block the sun and prevent glare during morning and evening hours as the sun changes position in the sky. High-quality solar screens block up to 90% of heat-producing radiation, keeping diners cool. Screens also help during summer storms, blocking wind and rain to keep furnishings and patrons dry.

Ceiling fans

Ceiling fans, which produce a wind chill effect by moving air and speeding sweat evaporation, help keep patio patrons cool and comfortable. Space them throughout your restaurant pergola design for maximum impact.

Patio misting systems

Integrating an outdoor misting system provides a cooling effect as tiny water droplets evaporate, changing from liquid to gas. These pressurized water systems use less water and energy than air conditioners. StruXure Denver’s powder-coated stainless steel misting system designs blend seamlessly into your restaurant patio cover, remaining out of sight until needed.

Water fountains

Like patio misting systems, water features can help keep your restaurant patio area cooler while providing a soothing, relaxing ambiance. Self-refilling stainless steel and glass models in darker shades require less maintenance. Choosing a shady area, away from plants, prevents algae growth and reduces maintenance.

Outdoor Restaurant Patio Ideas for Boosting Revenue

Maximize your pergola investment, creating a unique setting and turning your patio into a year-round attraction, boosting profits in slower seasons. Rather than making your outdoor dining area an extension of indoor seating, turn it into an entirely different experience diners won’t want to miss. Excite and entice customers with:

• Exclusive, patio-only menu items, from cocktails and appetizers to entrees and desserts.
• Fun, seasonally inspired décor and food that immerses customers in your restaurant patio’s ‘winter wonderland’ or ‘summer paradise’ experience.
• Outdoor bars, kitchens, and pizza ovens can enhance your restaurant’s functionality and provide guest entertainment.
• Patio trivia and theme nights, including exclusive discounts for patrons wearing festive, themed attire.
• Scheduled music and live entertainment.

The only limit to income-boosting opportunities is your imagination!

Create an Outdoor Patio Dining Space You Can Rely On In Any Weather

Expand the outdoor dining season with a comfortable, inviting restaurant patio dining space. Add reliable square footage that generates revenue year-round with a new restaurant patio design. Open the doors to a new era in outdoor dining. Contact StruXure Denver at 303-578-3861 to learn more about adding a pergola with motorized louvers to your outdoor space, bringing your vision to life with available 3-D rendering services. Schedule a design consultation today.

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