How to choose restaurant chairs: a buyer's guide
The chair is the piece of furniture your guests touch most. If it is uncomfortable, they leave sooner. If it wobbles or wears out early, you pay for replacements long before the original purchase has paid for itself. That is why restaurant chairs deserve more than a decision based on a photo.
This guide covers the criteria that matter in daily service: getting the dimensions right for your tables, choosing materials for indoor and outdoor areas, durability under commercial use, stacking and cleaning, and the questions to put to a supplier before you place an order.
Dimensions: the chair has to suit the table
Most dining tables stand at about 75 cm. The matching chair has a seat height of roughly 45 to 47 cm, which leaves 25 to 30 cm between the seat and the underside of the table top. Less than that and knees hit the table apron; much more and guests feel they are sitting too low.
Check seat depth and overall width too. A seat depth of 40 to 45 cm suits most people, and the chair's width directly affects how many covers fit in the room. If you are considering armchairs, make sure the arms slide under the table, otherwise every chair sits further out and eats into the aisle.
- Dining table height: about 75 cm
- Chair seat height: about 45 to 47 cm
- Seat to table underside: 25 to 30 cm
- Seat depth: 40 to 45 cm
Layout: how many chairs really fit
A common planning figure for restaurants is about 1.2 to 1.5 m² per cover, aisles included. A café with small tables can work tighter, while fine dining needs more generous spacing. Allow around 60 cm behind the table edge for a seated guest, and keep main service aisles wide enough for staff to pass with a tray without brushing chair backs.
Before fixing quantities, draw the floor plan with the actual footprint of the chair you are considering. A few centimetres of width, multiplied across dozens of seats, can mean one table more or one table less in the room.
Materials for indoor and outdoor areas
Indoors, solid wood (usually beech or oak) brings warmth and is easy to repair, while metal frames are slimmer and very robust. Upholstered chairs raise comfort, but the fabric must be contract grade, with high abrasion resistance and easy cleaning. Faux leathers and stain-resistant fabrics are popular in hospitality for good reason.
For courtyards, pavements and terraces you need materials that handle sun, rain and salt air: powder-coated aluminium, teak, synthetic rope or UV-stabilised polypropylene. Steel without proper treatment rusts quickly, especially near the sea. If an area is sometimes enclosed and sometimes open, choose an outdoor chair from the start.
Durability under commercial use
A café chair can see more guests in a week than a domestic chair sees in a year. People lean back, drag chairs across the floor and push on them to stand up. Joints, profile thickness, coating quality and floor glides all matter, and good glides protect your floors as well.
European standards exist for non-domestic seating, such as EN 16139 for strength and safety, EN 581 for outdoor furniture and the EN 1021 series for the fire behaviour of upholstery. Ask each supplier which standards a given model has been tested to and, where available, for the test reports.
Stacking, weight and cleaning
If chairs are cleared every night or the room is regularly rearranged for events, stacking and weight become important. Ask how many chairs can be stacked safely and whether they need protectors to avoid scratching each other. A light chair is easier on staff, but on a windy terrace you may want something heavier.
Think about daily cleaning as well. Designs with few crevices are quicker to wipe down, removable seat pads can be washed or replaced without changing the whole chair, and smooth surfaces do not trap crumbs.
What to ask your supplier
Ask for a sample or visit a showroom and sit in the chair for a few minutes at the height of the table you will actually use. Request a written quote with prices, lead times, available finishes and fabrics, and information on spare parts. If you want a consistent look, check that the same design is also available as a bar stool or armchair.
Almeco designs and manufactures hospitality furniture at its own factory in Oraiokastro, Thessaloniki, under ISO 9001:2015 certified quality management for the design, production and trade of contract furniture. You can try chairs in our showrooms in Thessaloniki, Athens and Crete, pick finishes from our finishes library and request a quote with prices and lead times.