3 Reasons Why Restaurants Are So Loud partner
by bon appétit magazine, on Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:50am PDT 381
George Prochnik's recent piece in The Daily Beast explores the science behind restaurants' loud music, booming echos, and clattering tables--or as I like to call those things, "Why I'm still hoarse after a night out despite the fact that I don't smoke anymore."
As it turns out, there are several factors at play:
1) Loud restaurants draw people in. Restaurateurs have found that louder restaurants are perceived as lively and successful. Very few people want to socialize in a silent room. If you're going out to drinks and dinner (and you are not a monk), you want to go somewhere fun, somewhere with energy. And nothing says "fun" like a pounding bass line. Loud spaces are more attractive to customers.
2) Modern design trends amplify the noise. Think unfinished spaces and naked tables. As Prochnik writes "...we chow down in spaces evocative of an Industrial Revolution sweatshop, or a family-run slaughterhouse. Somewhere along the way, we began thinking of tablecloths, carpets, and soft ceilings as signs of weakness." Without any textiles on the tables or floors, sound is unabsorbed and free to bounce around the space and directly into our ears.
3) Loud music makes us "drunk." There's scientific proof that the louder and faster the music, the faster (and often more) people eat and drink. In the past, corporate restaurant chains have even developed soundtracks that switch to higher tempo music at a louder volume when they want to turn tables.
At first I thought patrons might just be chowing down faster in an attempt to flee a restaurant before their ears start to ache. I had some personal experience with this last week in Los Angeles at the poured concrete-floored burger restaurant, The Counter. While munching on sweet potato fries, I was bombarded by a playlist that would have been right at home at a fraternity formal, both in song choice and volume. My dining companions and I ate quickly, if only to escape "Jessie's Girl" at 88 decibels.
But research shows that some people might be eating more and faster because they're enjoying the stimulus. "Sound waves literally energize us," writes Prochnik. When we are surrounded by sound, our brain chemistry changes and other senses are measurably enhanced.
So, all that noise, some of it ambient, some of it piped in, is having a real effect on our happy hours, making us eat and drink more and faster. I know that the next time I'm thinking about shouting my order for a second margarita ("ROCKS WITH SALT") and another round of chips, I might stop and ask myself, "Do I really want that or is this just an incredible remix of Umbrella?"
-Bridget Moloney
Twitter: @bridgetmoloney
I personally hate restaurants that sound like high school cafeterias.
Now I See
Although this sounds like a good plan to turn tables fast this could backfire in a bar.
You want to keep the seats full in a bar. That's why I get mad at the young bartenders that start playing hip hop and rap whenever I get there to set up. By looking over the crowd I can see that 9 out of 10 times the majority are over 30. They are playing music they want to hear before the oldies start at karaoke. But by doing so they are chasing away the people that have the most potential to stay all night and enjoy the karaoke.
I have to get my stuff set up fast so I can kill the jukebox before they chase everyone out. This also could effect the people just coming into the bar too. The restaurant part is still open till about 11. It's like 2 separate rooms devided by a wall. But there are no doors so the bar music travels the entire building. Unless the have the radio playing and that uses different speakers. And the radio is usually set to an oldies station.
The problem I have with the jukebox is the unedited songs can be played. Not smart if there are kids in the restaurant part. And it still has the potential to chase away the older bar patrons.
I know the young bartenders proabaly don't want to listen to the older music all night but they are making tips from these people.
You want to keep the seats full in a bar. That's why I get mad at the young bartenders that start playing hip hop and rap whenever I get there to set up. By looking over the crowd I can see that 9 out of 10 times the majority are over 30. They are playing music they want to hear before the oldies start at karaoke. But by doing so they are chasing away the people that have the most potential to stay all night and enjoy the karaoke.
I have to get my stuff set up fast so I can kill the jukebox before they chase everyone out. This also could effect the people just coming into the bar too. The restaurant part is still open till about 11. It's like 2 separate rooms devided by a wall. But there are no doors so the bar music travels the entire building. Unless the have the radio playing and that uses different speakers. And the radio is usually set to an oldies station.
The problem I have with the jukebox is the unedited songs can be played. Not smart if there are kids in the restaurant part. And it still has the potential to chase away the older bar patrons.
I know the young bartenders proabaly don't want to listen to the older music all night but they are making tips from these people.
