Professional conceptions of creativity in restaurant space planning

Creativity is a critical attribute in modern restaurant space planning that is widely recognized by experts and restaurant owners. In this paper, we investigate ideas on restaurant space planning that were gathered from interviews with space designers, scholars and restaurant owners in Taiwan. Using a phenomenographic approach, we identified two main dimensions of restaurant space planning: creativity and environmental friendliness. We also found that creativity and green dimension are complementary and that they deeply affect the performance of a restaurant. We discuss the characteristics of these different perspectives on creativity and environmental friendliness dimensions and the theoretical and empirical implications of our findings.

► Creativity is a critical attribute in modern restaurant space planning.
► The ideas on restaurant space planning that were gathered from interviews with experts.
► Using a phenomenographic approach, we identified two main dimensions.
► The creativity and environmental friendliness are critical attributes for space planning.
► We also found that creativity and green dimension are complementary.