Imagine a restaurant owner searching online for new booth seating. The dining room is almost ready, opening day is approaching, and the owner needs twenty booths. A photograph catches their attention: a complete upholstered restaurant booth with a large advertised price of $195. Compared with another manufacturer showing a complete booth for several hundred dollars more, the choice may appear obvious.
But there is one important question: What exactly does the $195 buy?
One Linear Foot Is Not One Restaurant Booth
This is where restaurant owners need to read the pricing carefully. An advertised price of $195 may not represent the complete booth pictured – it may represent only one linear foot of booth seating.
One linear foot is only 12 inches, while a typical Restaurant Booths may be 48 inches, 60 inches, or longer.
Consider a 48-inch booth. That is four linear feet: $195 × 4 = $780. A 60-inch booth would be five linear feet: $195 × 5 = $975.
Suddenly, the advertised $195 price looks very different. And depending on the seller, upholstery, back height, tufting, finishes, foam, freight, or other specifications may increase the final price further.
When Does It Feel Like a Bait and Switch?
There is nothing wrong with pricing commercial booths and banquettes by the linear foot. The issue is how clearly that pricing is presented to the customer.
If an advertisement shows a photograph of a complete booth with $195 prominently displayed, a restaurant owner may naturally compare that number with another manufacturer advertising $769 for an entire booth. But those prices are not comparable. One represents 12 inches of seating; the other represents a complete furniture unit.
When customers click, call, or request a quote and only then discover that the product pictured costs several times the prominently advertised number, the experience can feel like a bait-and-switch pricing strategy.
That is why restaurant owners should compare the final price of the complete booth they actually need—not simply the lowest number appearing in an advertisement.
Ask for the Real Price Before You Compare
Before purchasing Restaurant Seating, restaurant owners should ask a few simple questions: Is this the price for the complete booth or one linear foot? What booth length and back height are included? Is the pictured upholstery included? Is the price for a single or double booth? What options will increase the final cost?
The same principle applies when comparing complete Restaurant Furniture Packages. A package showing the actual configuration, seating capacity, and complete price gives the buyer a much clearer picture of the investment than a single low starting number.
The Lowest Advertised Number Is Not Always the Lowest Price
Restaurant owners have enough expenses to manage without discovering unexpected furniture costs late in the project. Low linear-foot pricing can be perfectly legitimate when it is clearly explained. Problems begin when customers believe they are seeing the price of the complete product when they are actually seeing the price of only one foot.
So before deciding that one restaurant booth is cheaper than another, do the math. Compare the same length, height, upholstery, construction, and specifications – and ask for the complete price of the booth you actually intend to put on your restaurant floor.
The lesson is simple: Don’t let an attractive per-linear-foot price become a bait-and-switch surprise. Compare complete restaurant booths with complete restaurant booths.
Source: ModernLineFurniture.com