Types of restaurants you should know about

If you have reached this post is that you are probably wondering what types of restaurants there are. Maybe because you want to open one, maybe because you want to rethink your business. Whatever your reason, here we analyze how many types of restaurants there are within the hospitality industry.

9 types of restaurants you should know about

Each business has a specific target audience. The same is true in the restaurant industry. Setting up a restaurant implies defining very well who will be your buyer person and with what gastronomic offer we are going to attract him. Let’s see what types of restaurants we can find.

Buffet Restaurant

It is one of the best known types of restaurants and its “boom” took place in the 70s. Its purpose is to serve large groups of people quickly and easily. As we all know, in these types of restaurants, all available food is offered and it is the customers who are served freely.

Within this type of restaurant we can find several modalities of business. For example, in some buffets, the client pays a closed price and consumes what he wants. In others, customers pay for the amount consumed.

In general, this type of restaurant organizes its food by cold, hot or mixed dishes and in the premises you can find several areas. Although until recently these types of restaurants were associated with fast food and low quality, nothing is more certain of the current reality. We can even find buffets specialized in haute cuisine, specialized in a type of product (for example, cheese) or specialized in a type of cuisine (Japanese, Mexican, Italian…).

Types of gourmet restaurants

Trained personnel with high knowledge in the world of cooking, hotel and catering. This is how haute cuisine or gourmet restaurants are defined. These premises usually stand out for their decoration, always careful, as well as the atmosphere and service, of high quality.

Generally, four (first class) or five fork (luxury) restaurants are considered haute cuisine restaurants. These hotel establishments must comply with a series of requirements. Some of them are the cloakroom, the knowledge of languages, the individualized reception of clients…

Types of theme restaurants

Another of the most recognized types of restaurants are the thematic ones. These businesses are characterized by offering the customer a complete gastronomic experience and referring to any topic (or country). In this type of restaurant the decoration is essential to accompany the menu.

Some thematic restaurants are, for example, focused on medieval castles. Others offer sensory themes (and suggest for example that their customers cover their eyes when eating). Others focus on traditional kitchens: Chinese food, Italian food, Indian food…

Fast food or casual food

These types of restaurants are known for offering fast food, does that mean that all these types of restaurants offer “junk” food? No, the truth is that we have all become aware of the type of food we want.

That’s why the big chains have taken steps to improve their quality. And in addition, a new type of restaurant has also emerged based on the service offered by fast food restaurants. These are the “fast casual” restaurants. In them, the client does not have table service either. The food that is served has 3 main characteristics: “personalized” experience, healthy products and sustainability.

Types of “fusion” restaurants

A very famous concept in the catering industry that may sound “new” to many customers is fusion cuisine. Also born in the 70’s in the United States, this type of restaurant mixes ingredients and recipes from different origins or cultures. For example, Tex-Mex mixes American and Mexican cuisine.

Take away

Take-out restaurants have become especially important in recent years (and months, because of the coronavirus pandemic). If before we had in mind that these types of restaurants only moved pizzas, Chinese food or chickens, now the business has diversified.

With the emergence of companies specializing in food transport, we can now access even our favorite restaurant and taste their dishes on the couch at home.

Author’s restaurants

Another type of restaurant that we could not forget are those that focus on signature cuisine. In these establishments, the chef expresses his personal style through his dishes. The chef becomes a creator, and can modify recipes and traditional dishes, giving them their own style and changing their taste.

The taverns

Indispensable type of restaurant in the Spanish gastronomy and culture, the bar of covers or the tascas are establishments in which drinks are consumed, always accompanied by small plates of food (cover). Going out for tapas is so common that a multitude of gastronomic spaces have been born focused only on tapas.

The foodtrucks or food trucks

These types of restaurants are super trendy. A fully equipped motor home or truck type vehicle as if it were a traditional kitchen. One of their great advantages is that the restaurant is mobile and can be moved.

Generally, this type of restaurant offers a limited menu of dishes but with gourmet food, attractive and, most importantly, at reasonable prices.