A business is only going to be able to survive if it manages to reduce expenses and maximize its revenue. Ideally this should leave a fair chunk of your income left over as profit, but sometimes unexpected expenses can arise and they can often force you to make a few tough choices if you want things to pan out. The most common unforeseen expense that restaurant owners in particular need to contend with is that of furniture replacement, and suffice it to say that this can become a serious drag on your finances unless you take steps to prevent it.
Go for commercial furniture
While there’s no way to forestall furniture replacement indefinitely, you can definitely do quite a bit to make it last a lot longer. The first and arguably most important thing that you should do is buy commercial furniture. Any product that is built to commercial grade specifications would naturally outlast its more consumer or residential oriented counterparts, so if you choose to buy this type of furniture you should know that half of the battle has already been won.
What’s more is that this type of furniture usually comes with an extended warranty that often lasts a decade and sometimes even longer. Even if you get a relatively low warranty period, it would still cover at least three to four years of use.
That means that if your furniture breaks down in less than that period of time, you might be able to get it replaced without having to spend a single penny. That only applies if your own negligence didn’t lead to the furniture getting damaged, though, which means that implementing adequate maintenance policies is still something that you should strive to do.
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Careful while moving your furniture.
One thing that we can’t recommend strongly enough is being very careful while moving your furniture. You would likely need to shift your furniture around every so often, especially if you want to be versatile enough to give your customers a reliable and enjoyable experience no matter what.
However, bear in mind that it is during this constant moving and shuffling that your furniture would start to break down. It might start with just a bit of nick or a notch here or there, but this would devolve rather quickly as each crack starts to get bigger over time.
Furniture maintenance
This raises another important point regarding adequate furniture maintenance which is that you should try to act as quickly as possible. If you notice even the smallest crack in your furniture, time is absolutely of the essence. Every second that you delay will result in that crack continues to grow, and eventually it might become so severe that there wouldn’t be all that much that you can do to try to repair it. Hence, you should get cracks filled and nicks repaired sooner rather than later because this can drastically increase the longevity of each piece of furniture in your restaurant.
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Repairs & regular cleaning
Keeping with this theme, you should know that the more effort you put into your furniture the longer you can expect it to hold out. Even more importantly than speedy repairs, this concerns consistent and regular cleaning. Remember, your reasons for replacing your furniture extend far beyond its structural integrity of lack thereof.
Aesthetics can also be an essential aspect of this decision, because you wouldn’t want any furniture detracting from the pleasant visuals that your restaurant might otherwise have had to offer. An accumulation of dust can make your furniture very visually unappealing over time, so try not to skimp out on cleaning it because even if it’s still standing after a decade it might not look nice enough to be worth keeping around.
Pick the right cleaning products
While we’re on the topic of cleaning, you might as well also learn that your choice of furniture cleaning supplies matters a great deal too. Wood in particular needs to be taken great care of, and using any kind of all purpose cleaning solution might cause a few problems.
That’s because these kinds of cleaning supplies have likely not been optimized for wood at all, and they might be so acidic that they’d ruin your wood especially if you keep using them repeatedly.
It would be best if you avoided using too much water entirely while cleaning would. If you need moisture, limit it to a damp rag to get the surface layer of dust off. Wood polish can also go a really long way here because it can spruce up old furniture and keep it looking relatively unused and new. A similar amount of care should also be used for leather. High end restaurants often have leather seats because this is something that can elevate their prestige and comfort levels and make them in line with what their elite clientele would come to expect of them.
If that’s the case for your eatery, you’d definitely need some special products that wouldn’t ruin the leather when you’re trying to get out a stain. While leather furniture lends a lot of refinement to your establishment, it needs to be treated with respect otherwise it would very quickly start to seem worn out and ugly.
Cover photo by Chesley McCarty on Unsplash
Conclusion
As you can plainly see, making furniture last longer is all about being proactive and smart. It all starts with choosing the right options and then focusing all of your efforts into keeping them top notch. Training your staff on the proper care required for your furniture can also be a fruitful pursuit for you because it would take some of the load off of your shoulders. There’s nothing stopping you from making your initial furniture purchase last for a good long while, so you should get started as soon as you can.
