PLANNING LAYOUT CLEARANCES FOR A COMMERCIAL BAR

11 July 2021 / RICK UZUBELL / Comments Off on PLANNING LAYOUT CLEARANCES FOR A COMMERCIAL BAR
COMMERCIAL BAR PLANNING
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How do you plan a commercial bar layout? In this post I’ll review the standard dimensions and interior space requirements for bar and facility layout design.


HOW DO YOU PLAN A COMMERCIAL BAR LAYOUT?

HOW TO PLAN YOUR BAR AREA FOR PATRON CAPACITY

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The Secret to Designing a Bar for a Pizza Restaurant

Top 5 Ideas about Bar Countertops

Small Bar Design Ideas and Tips

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WHAT IT COSTS TO BUILD A COMMERCIAL BAR

BAR EQUIPMENT COST TO BUILD A COMMERCIAL BAR

BAR DESIGN IDEAS – HOW TO DESIGN COMMERCIAL BARS FOR ADA

TOP LIST OF COMMERCIAL BAR DESIGN FINISHING IDEAS

PLANNING A RESTAURANT BAR – HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU NEED?

Considering building a bar and not sure if you have enough space? At times it can be challenging at the onset to know if a facility can indeed meet all of one’s design criteria. As an example, here’s a bar layout of a recent project. The new addition to this building, which earmarked 1,000 square feet for the prospective bar, appears large enough to accommodate nearly any bar. However, the Owner also wanted a drink rail with seating on three sides of the room. The space for the prospective bar was beginning to appear marginal, because island bars require a significant amount of aisle space. As I mentioned in an earlier video about bar planning, the first goal is to draw a preliminary cross section of the proposed bar.

A SEEMINGLY LARGE SPACE FOR AN ISLAND BAR
EMPTY SPACES OFTEN APPEAR LARGER THAN THEY ARE

STANDARD UNIVERSAL BAR CLEARANCES

My sketch for standard universal bar clearances – shown in Figure 2 and the bar plan below – will enable one to make a preliminary validation of nearly any bar concept. At the core of every bar layout, we need to make space accommodations for all patrons and staff and each respective allotment must include a factor for comfort; these are collectively referred to as human dimensions for interior spaces and can be summarized as follows:

  1. The back bar requires between 24” – 29”.
  2. Back bar aisle needs to be from 31” – 37”.
  3. The underbar equipment requires 24”.
  4. The bar top should be between 24” – 30” deep and needs to overhang the inside face of the bar die by 11”.
  5. Customer activity zone for those seated at the bar is 24”.
  6. Activity zone for servers and ADA needs to be 36”.
  7. The customer activity zone for patrons seated in front of a drink rail should be 24”.
  8. Drink rails should be 10” – 12”, but at least 14” for dining.
Clearances for an island bar
PLAN VIEW OF ISLAND BAR WITH CLEARANCE DIMENSIONS

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SOME FACTS ABOUT BAR TOP DEPTH THAT MIGHT SHOCK YOU

Quite frankly, I’m shocked at all of the inaccurate information I read on the Internet about standard bar dimensions! The craziest story I read recently is that commercial bar tops can range from 20″ – 28″ in depth. Folks, I’ve never designed a commercial bar with a top that’s only 20″ deep! The narrowest bar top depth shouldn’t be less than 24″. If anything, some clients prefer extra overhang (on the customer’s-side of the bar). 

BAR LAYOUT: THE CORRECT BAR TOP DEPTH

To calculate the correct bar top depth, simply add the following dimensions (refer to the sketches below):

  • Inside overhang (including drink rail) is always 11″ from the inside face of the bar die (bar support wall).
  • Add the depth of the bar die. This is typically 5″ for 2″ x 4″ stick-built bar die and 7″ – 8″ for modular bar die.
  • Use 6″ – 8″ for exterior overhang.

One can quickly see that the minimum depth is 24″. However, for my bar layouts, 26″ is by far, the most common size. Remember, it doesn’t matter what size drink rail one selects, as the interior overhang is always 11″ for ergonomic reasons. Occasionally, I need to specify 30″, but that’s usually for curved or elliptical-shaped bars.

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BAR LAYOUT: WHAT’S THE CORRECT BARTENDER AISLE?

Whenever proving a commercial bar layout concept, I always plan to the smallest acceptable backbar aisle clearances. As shown in Figure 2, below, I’m only allotting 31” bartender aisles for this bar, but in spite of that, the clearances all worked – barely!

Example of Variations of Bar Countertop Sizes
FIGURE 1. ARCHITECTURAL SKETCH DEPICTING VARIOUS BAR TOP SIZES
ERGONOMICS IN BAR DESIGN IS BASED ON EFFICIENT BARTENDER MOVEMENT
FIGURE 2. SECTION VIEW OF UNIVERSAL BAR DIMENSIONS WITH ADA

ALWAYS INCLUDE PROPER AISLES FOR BUILDING EGRESS

Now that the concept for an island bar has been proven, we can commence designing the bar plan. In the grand scheme of all commercial bar layouts:

 

BAR DESIGN TIP:

Always remember that building codes require that egress must be maintained at all building exits.

Therefore, the final bar layout can’t encroach the egress zone on the open end of this plan. As you’ll notice, we’ve maintained all clearances.

 

BAR DESIGN TIP:

Island backbars need to be at least 26” deep, as this correlates to the shallowest of pass-thru coolers.

 

POPULAR DOWNLOADS:

2018_UNIVERSAL_BAR_CLEARANCES_WITH_ADA.pdf

ADA GUIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

BAR_AND_RESTAURANT_SEATING_GUIDELINES.pdf

 

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!

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KEGERATOR DRAFT BEER SYSTEMS FOR HOTELS & RESTAURANTS

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Most Popular Articles 

INTEGRATED BAR DESIGN PROVIDES SINGLE-SOURCE CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

ERGONOMIC EFFICIENT BAR DESIGN INCREASES PROFITS

THE STANDARD BAR LAYOUT DIMENSIONS FOR DIY

HOW MUCH DO DRAFT BEER SYSTEMS COST?

WHAT IT COSTS TO BUILD A COMMERCIAL BAR

BAR EQUIPMENT COST TO BUILD A COMMERCIAL BAR

BAR DESIGN IDEAS – HOW TO DESIGN COMMERCIAL BARS FOR ADA

TOP LIST OF COMMERCIAL BAR DESIGN FINISHING IDEAS

PLANNING A RESTAURANT BAR – HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU NEED?

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RICK UZUBELL

President of Cabaret Design Group, Rick holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, and is a F&B consultant and well-known bar design expert with years of experience serving hotels, restaurants, sports bars and destination bars. He has developed a command of bar design solutions involving ergonomics, equipment, systems and finishes that bridges the "Gray Zone" between interior designers and architects. He's also a champion of ADA design in commercial bar applications. Through his unique architectural engineering approach he calls "Integrated Bar Design," Rick solves complex bar design challenges beyond the expertise of typical design professionals. His proudest achievements include curved bar design solutions using the modular bar die system and steel as a core design element. As a commercial bar design specialist, Rick has cutting-edge knowledge of draft beer systems, liquor systems, keg room design and batch cocktail systems. He will add significant value to any commercial bar design project. Rick is a proud member of the F&B consortium known as the "Magnificent 7".
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