Why restaurants are acoustically hard
Hard surfaces are everywhere in a dining room: concrete, tile, glass, polished timber, and an open kitchen pass. Add a full room of people and the noise floor climbs until guests lean in and shout, which makes it worse. The goal is not a recording studio. It is speech intelligibility at a comfortable level.
Where to put panels first
Treat the largest reflective surfaces in this order:
- Ceiling above the main dining area: usually the single biggest win, and invisible to the design concept.
- The wall behind banquette seating: close to listeners, so it has outsized effect.
- Any large blank wall opposite a hard surface: this is where flutter echo lives.
- The transition to the bar or open kitchen: localises the noise instead of letting it spread.
Coverage: a practical starting point
For a typical restaurant, start with 25 to 35 percent coverage of the ceiling plane, or an equivalent area distributed across walls if the ceiling cannot be touched. Rooms with very hard finishes and high ceilings need more. If you want the reasoning rather than a rule of thumb, read what NRC rating means - it explains why doubling coverage is not the same as halving noise.
Design constraints you should plan around
Restaurants have two requirements that homes do not: cleanability and fire compliance. Choose finishes that can be wiped, avoid deep textures directly above cooking areas where grease accumulates, and confirm Class A performance before specifying. Our guide to Class A and ASTM E84 covers what inspectors will ask for.
Turning treatment into decor
Acoustic treatment does not have to look like acoustic treatment. Slatted timber panels read as joinery, and printed panels can carry artwork or branding. Many venues treat the ceiling with plain felt and spend the design budget on one visible feature wall. See the UV printed range for the decorative end of the spectrum, and wood slat panels for the architectural look.
Planning a refurbishment?
Send us the room dimensions, ceiling height, and photos of the main surfaces. We will suggest a coverage plan and a panel mix. Start with our wholesale enquiry page.