Many of us enjoy dinner out, in fact the average person in the UK eats out twice a week, even more so for millennials. There can be no doubt that we have developed a culture of restaurant and fast food appreciation on an almost global scale.
When you consider the ease of dining out, and the variety of food, restaurants and cuisine available it’s perhaps not a surprise to see this increase, and it’s a trend that’s set to continue.
However restaurants lend themselves to more than just a refuelling station. They can also be an amazing place to host an event, or hold a dinner to mark a special occasion.
You’ve probably hosted or attended a private function at a restaurant before, perhaps for work, a social event, or a wedding. They are popular choices but what makes these venues ideal for events and how do you discover these private dining rooms and restaurant event spaces?
It’s true private dining rooms are as the name suggests are private, and in fact it’s not always obvious if a restaurant has one, or offers exclusive use of it’s facilities or venue. Most restaurants are naturally geared towards accommodating guests to eat in the main restaurant.
Well there’s a great little directory we recommend called The Private Dining Directory which covers North East and the rest of the UK cataloguing the best private dining rooms in restaurants by location. You can also search by event type and find private event/dining spaces suitable for corporate and business functions, social events like birthdays, or for family gatherings perhaps with younger children.
If you would prefer to take a hands off approach you can use a concierge service who can recommend venues to you, but remember there will often be a fee on top, and many concierge services will work with a smaller select range of venues.
If you decide to find and book a private event venue yourself, there are a few things worth bearing in mind such as: https://theglassknife.com/happy-hour-near-me/.
Dietary needs – Who will be attending your event? Will there be any vegetarians or vegans? Perhaps not if your hosting the launch of a new super Wagyu burger, but in most circumstances it’s likely there will be some dietary requirements. Find out more about how to plan and types of dietary requirements here: https://www.webster.edu/specialevents/planning/food-information.html
Accessibility – Wheelchair access may be imperative for your event. You also need to consider how your guests are travelling and if they need to use public transport. Some venues may only be accessible through private transport.
Event Space Facilities- If it’s just a birthday dinner than you may not require anything other than service of food and drink. However having access to play your own music, or something on a TV screen can be a nice bonus. If it’s a wedding dinner you may want photos projected onto a backdrop, along with music. If it’s a business meeting your needs are likely to be more than most social events, and luckily restaurants are aware of this. Many can provide conferencing equipment, Wi-Fi, flipcharts and other audio visual technology to make your conduction of a business meeting or corporate function possible.
Understandably most restaurants and venues can not cater for every type of event. Some specialise or are geared towards hosting specific functions. For example some venues lend themselves towards weddings, while others have been designed to work as professional business rooms.
If you decide to find and book a venue yourself, always speak to the venue about your intentions before confirming a booking.