With this example - the photos are merely for indication - we show how the environment can have a significant impact on the success of a restaurant or catering business in general.
The example refers to a restaurant in a newly constructed building, with a 30-50 year old customer base and serving drinks and dinners.
The menu is excellent, as is the wine list. Unfortunately, customers do not stay long inside the restaurant because of high levels of internal reverberation. As a consequence: customers eventually GO ELSEWHERE.
The restaurateur, worried about decreasing sales, sees noise as the main reason for failure...
What can be done??
Click or drag the pictures to see the various phases of the process
The result
The soundproofing materials selected (slotted panels for the walls and soundproofing panels for the ceiling) are added to the project.
The customer can now have a clear idea of the final results of the acoustic upgrade.
The problem
The acoustic upgrading project begins by importing the venue volume into the Sketchup modelling software
Modelling
The restaurant environment is imported into the mathematical modelling software, so that different solutions can be processed, analysed and tested.
Calibration
The mathematical model is calibrated through on-site reverberation time tests (red curve), so that results can be compared with the optimal solution obtained through models found in literature (green curve).
Analysis
Finally, an analysis of surfaces that may need upgrading is carried out; in this specific case, works were only carried out on the perimeter walls and the central part of the false ceiling.
From an architectural point of view the effect is almost invisible yet the acoustic impact is remarkable.
The two audio files show the results in terms of understanding spoken words and noise level. Please note that both recordings were made using the same speaker power levels.
Customer noise
BEFORE
AFTER
News intro background music
BEFORE
AFTER