So What are the benefits of having a Cafe Barrier System?
There are many benefits to have a cafe barrier system. We have listed the main ones below. Branding
One of the most important aspects of high street selling is Branding. When you only have the standard shop signage on your frontage, it can easily be missed in the multitude of shops along the street.
Outside serving not only extends your area for dining, but it also gives you an opportunity that many other vendors do not have, extra advertising space.
Whether you are a brand conscious owner or manager, or whether you have an amazing offer you Just have to tell everyone about, the cafe barriers, after the initial investment for the hardware, are low maintenance, low cost, high impact advertising.
Change the banners regularly to keep things fresh. Use contrasting coloured materials to stand out from the crowd.
Safety
It’s no fun have pedestrians falling all over your tables and chairs. Creating a physical boundary using planters or a high quality, sturdy, barrier system can avoid this.
Since the Disability discrimination Act was introduced (Now the Equality Act) many cafe barriers, such as ours, have had to be modified to include aspects that were initially omitted.
A lower tapping rail or cross beam has been introduced to assist the visually impaired It is the responsibility of the venue owner to do this, not the local council. Some cafe barriers are still offered which use elastic chords for a cost saving rather than a lower tapping rail. Should anything happen, these can not be called DDA Aware and will not avoid prosecution. It must be seen that the premises have at least attempted to adhere and assist.
The shape of the base weight has also been changed. Part of the act was to ensure that wheel chair users have the same access rights to the premises as everyone else. To assist with this, gone went the flat high base weights and in are the gradually tapered weights. Thus allowing wheel chair users to easily roll over the bases.
At the moment only 48% of councils ask for a cafe barrier system to be included in any plans. This figure is likely to be increased over the next few years.
Enclosing the Furniture.
We, at Brandline, receive a least two or three calls each month from a distraught bar or cafe owners regarding furniture that has been stolen or vandalised. Using Pavement barriers reduces the risk of both as they are, in effect, still contained within your premises.
Also without boundaries you will find that on occasion even the most regular clients will absent mindedly move their tables or chairs outside the permitted zone, thus encroaching the pedestrian area.
Once the highways department within your local authority discover this, expect a strict telling off, or even on occasion a fine and prosecution. One new client has told of an average of two fines per year and suspension of his licence for exactly this reason. Since he installed his cafe barriers, apart from an occasion when an angry football fan decided to throw a parasol at some opposition fans, he has been free from this.
More Welcoming although Secure.
A Cafe or Bar which includes an alfresco area tends to be more welcoming than one without.
On a hot summers day, you will find that most of your cliental will be stationed outside people watching.
On some occasions without a barrier system, you may find the odd passer by seated outside with a beverage purchased from another source taking in the atmosphere you’ve worked so hard to create. How many times will you or your staff have to tell them to move on.
When you have a barrier system installed, even if it were only a foot high, the public know it is intrusive and tend to avoid sitting such areas naturally.
One client in Leicester had a long time dispute with a busier neighbouring cafe as their customers sometimes spilled onto his site and left no room for his own customers. A simple cafe barrier system of just two posts and a banner solved this.
Improve the Aesthetics
The barriers from Brandline have been designed with both application and aesthetics in mind. Nothing looks less inviting than an unorganised rabble of tables and chairs outside a nice looking cafe or bar. Not only is it detrimental to the premises but also to the area.
Unfortunately a cafe barrier system does not always cure this. Some of the systems available will rust quickly and will continually fall over in high winds.
In 2009, Liverpool One Street Management team even forced one client to change his cafe barrier system to the Brandline system. He was having problems with both rust and sturdiness. Comparing his premises to his neighbours premises, which happened to be equipped with our cafe barriers, the management team took the unprecedented step to specify Brandline as the sole supplier for external barrier systems.
Since then another four local authorities have also taken this step.
Types of Cafe Barrier Systems.
Banner Cafe System
This remains the most popular solution within our range. Not only is it cost effective but it is also extremely good looking. Most of the larger corporate companies purchase the canvas material banners.
Obviously all branded, the banners can be easily supplied and replaced with new messages or different colour schemes.
Screen Cafe Systems
Less portable than the banner systems, the screens are usually supplied to the more exclusive clients looking to distance their selves from the high street cafes and bistros.
Planter Systems
Fairly high maintenance and sometime costly, but very pretty, some planters will actually work out better visually for the premises than posts and banners. In fact a shopping centre in the Midlands has even forbid posts and specified that all cafes must use half height continuous planters only.
Brandline 