Restaurant noise is one of those important details that can be easily overlooked yet seriously impacts the customer experience. Just last week, I personally steered clear of a restaurant for dinner because it was too loud for my friends who dined there.
That being said, restaurant sound dampening is something that you need to be aware of. Without restaurant noise control, your customers will become unhappy, and your staff can experience a negative working environment that could have long-term impacts on their hearing. Let’s discuss how to control noise in your business and some common practices to gauge how loud your restaurant actually is.
Key Takeaways:
- Restaurant noise dampening can be managed with a variety of tools, so do not be discouraged.
- Consistent exposure over 85 decibels (dB) is harmful, so ensuring this is not frequent in your restaurant is key for staff and customer safety.
- Monitoring your restaurant noise and putting an emphasis on noise reduction requires attention to both operational practices and the space you create for diners.
How Loud Is Your Restaurant?
It is important to gauge how loud your restaurant is for both employee safety and customer enjoyment. The acceptable range for conversation in a restaurant is 55–65 dB, or decibels. You should not exceed the noise level of 85 dB in a restaurant, as it is commonly accepted that sounds over 85 dB can damage your hearing at a faster rate. It is imperative to know that the NIOSH weighted average of 85 dB is the limit for employees to be exposed to in an eight-hour shift.
It is estimated that 81% of customers have difficulty holding conversations in noisy restaurants. Noise complaints will often be a top complaint for diners, and this can drive away business if restaurant sound dampening is not considered. Apps like Soundprint can help you measure noise levels and get your restaurant noticed for having safe noise levels. Additionally, a decibel meter is a common and low-cost tool you can use to measure your levels. Be sure to check different areas, such as the bar and dining room, to get accurate readings.
Tips for Restaurant Sound Dampening
Restaurant noise control may seem like a small concern, but trust me when I say it grows significantly if it is a consistent issue. There is nothing worse than having excellent food and service thrown away by a dining room that is simply too loud. Below are some of the best tips for restaurant sound dampening.
1. Have set music levels
Music volume can be a major sound driver in your dining room, and you need to be aware of how it’s impacting the space you serve your guests in. Restaurant music should enhance the ambiance without overshadowing conversation or causing distraction to diners. Furthermore, ensuring the music you choose does not jump rapidly between volume levels within the song is key to keeping a consistent noise level. Soft, mellow music is often preferred, as instrumentals are often the top choice, regardless of cuisine type.
I recommend that every service have a set volume at which your music is played. You could play the music a touch louder at lunch, where less conversation may happen. Your dinner service could have lively crowds coming in, making the level of music better at a lower setting so that your customers can hear one another.
Having a cheat sheet laminated and placed next to volume controls is also a great way to ensure the audio levels you want are adhered to. Finally, take into account staff complaints or requests for quieter music and adjust your music sound levels accordingly.
2. Work with live entertainment and staff to encourage proper noise levels
A highlight for some restaurants is to have live musicians play during dinner service. I personally worked at a restaurant that offered a live pianist Friday and Saturday nights. This elegant touch can add a lot to the ambiance and general aesthetic of a restaurant.
With that being said, it is important to work with any live musicians or other entertainers in your restaurant to ensure their noise level is at an acceptable range. Conducting a decibel audit during peak dining hours while they are playing versus their absence is a great way to gauge if their performance is driving noise levels and, if so, by how much.
Another key point of maintaining restaurant noise levels is by training your staff to pick up if the noise levels are getting too high. If the waitstaff has to yell at guests to be heard, then your dining room is too loud. Encouraging staff to check in on the noise they are experiencing, especially during busier services. This information can allow you to reduce music levels or talk to live entertainment in order to bring the noise down to where it needs to be.
3. Soundproof your furniture and equipment
You would be surprised how noisy your furniture could be in a restaurant. The sound of chairs scraping across the floor alone can raise the volume at which all of your customers need to engage in conversation. Adding padding to the feet of furniture and other items that are moved against the ground can reduce excess and unwanted noise in your dining room. This small change can have a huge effect on ambient background noise during a busy service.
When it comes to equipment, keeping louder equipment in the kitchen will help reduce overall dining room noise. For example, having your ice machine located in an easily accessible area in the kitchen is much more preferable than near the dining room and bar—same with blenders, stand mixers, and other noisy equipment. If you do need equipment near customers, then quieter versions, such as this Vitamix Blender, are often designed to ensure excess noise is not an issue.
4. Be mindful of excess kitchen noise
Managing noise coming from the kitchen can come in the form of two different challenges, depending on if your kitchen is closed or open. For a closed kitchen, ensuring that staff is not blasting music and that there’s a consistent effort to monitor noise levels is key.
When the doors are closed, it can feel like no one can hear you, but the sound does travel into the dining room, so being wary of this is important. Keeping kitchen doors closed and having padding on them can also help trap noise. Finally, having heavy or loud prep areas be away from the kitchen/dining room boundary is a way to keep noise traveling due to work at a minimum.
When it comes to an open kitchen, you do have a few options. The most obvious is to train staff to remain low-key when working. Many restaurants with an open kitchen will often have a designated prep area to which they feed the open kitchen so that the heavy and loud work is done in the back. Having a glass window or barrier installed can also be an advantage, giving an open view to the chefs while keeping all sound trapped behind this window.
I have visited kitchen concepts in NYC and Chicago that have a basement prep kitchen and then an open kitchen in the dining room. This separation blocked noise and allowed intent focus on the work at hand in either setting.
5. Soundproof your walls, windows, and ceilings
When it comes to the walls and windows of your restaurant, you have many options for restaurant noise control. For starters, having curtains made of soft materials hung on windows can double as a great decor choice and also a tool to reduce overall noise in your dining room. Additionally, having decorative rugs or other soft decor placed on the walls for decoration can serve as multi-functional tools in keeping noise soft in your dining room.
For ceilings, padded or noise-canceling tiles can be installed to better capture noise and prevent it from spreading through the dining room. If this is not an option, then padded panels can be installed in the ceiling or on the walls to better absorb noise. Placing them strategically and picking the right color to blend in with your decor can make them feel natural while also lessening the overall volume of noise in your dining room.
6. Have regularly scheduled noise audits
It is generally a good idea to regularly check in and audit different parts of your restaurant on a routine basis. In your monthly checks, a noise audit during high-volume services is an excellent option to monitor noise levels. Using the NIOSH Sound Level Meter is easy, as it can be installed on your phone and tracks data over time. Having a system to track noise levels and see if changes are needed is integral to ensuring your dining room and restaurant are providing safe audio levels for both your staff and customers.
Restaurant Noise Control Challenges
While reducing restaurant noise can be simple, there will be some natural challenges to ensuring your dining room is not bombarded with loud sounds. Below are some of the challenges you should be aware of. The good news is that all can be addressed and fixed in different ways.
Boisterous atmosphere
Sports bars, busy communal restaurants, and restaurants with the identity of being “loud and fun” all have challenges with noise control. Planned architecture and necessary furniture and installments are needed to ensure other factors in the restaurant contribute to sound dampening. Your identity does not need to change, but your dining room should compensate for what may be lacking in noise reduction by having a naturally boisterous dining room equipped with noise-reducing features.
Cost
One of the next barriers to proper noise control is cost restraints. Cost can be a huge pain point for any investment in a restaurant, and noise reduction can easily fall down the list of necessities. It is important to be aware of what can be made and managed cheaply, and many homemade soundproof panels do exist on the internet. You can overcome cost restraints by getting creative with your furniture, investing in small items such as leg stoppers, and building out noise reduction tools.
Restaurant design
Some restaurants are just not designed well for noise. You could inherit a restaurant where the table layout is poor or the materials in the dining room allow noise to bounce and carry greatly. My advice for poor overall design is to tackle certain areas at a time. For starters, make sure your sound system levels are properly calibrated. Then, tackle soundproofing furniture and items such as windows. Then, look into sound-capturing panels and other extra tools to install to help noise reduction. Tackling section by section over time is how you can combat poor design.
Loud staff and operation
Another challenge in reducing noise is a culture of loud operations in a restaurant. Excessive banging on tables during prep, blasting music in a kitchen, and untrained service staff can all lead to high noise levels that impact the guest experience. Luckily for you, the key to fixing this is proper training. Making your staff aware of noise safety and how noise affects the customer is key. Then, setting the new standard for noise reduction and being diligent about it will help lower noise coming from the kitchen and help combat staff noise during busy services.
Lack of acoustic training
Finally, a lack of understanding of noise levels can be a challenge you can overcome by self-education and proper training of your managerial team. I would bet most kitchen managers do not know a dining room’s suggested dB range, which is relevant as noise plays such a huge part in the customer experience. Talking with acoustic professionals, learning from industry leaders in your area, and researching better noise practices for your restaurant can all help overcome a lack of restaurant noise control experience.
Restaurant Noise Control Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Restaurant sound dampening can be a difficult task if you are not aware of how to control it. Below are some of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to reducing restaurant noise.
Bottom Line
Restaurant sound dampening does not need to be intimidating or difficult. It can be quite simple with proper awareness, staff training, and planning. Being diligent about noise levels, investing in tools and furniture that reduce overall noise, and ensuring the dining experience is calibrated for noise safety are key to having a restaurant that will not scare away guests or cause long-term issues for staff. Use the resources and ideas above to ensure your restaurant offers a safe and enjoyable level of noise during any service.
