Insights / Dining
Restaurant design in Bangkok: seats per square metre, cost and how fast it can open
A restaurant in Bangkok seats roughly one cover per 1.2 – 1.6 m² of front of house for casual dining and one per 1.8 – 2.2 m² for fine dining, with the kitchen and back of house taking 30 – 40 percent of the total area. Front-of-house design and build costs ฿20,000 – 45,000 per square metre in 2026, the kitchen fit-out ฿12,000 – 25,000 per square metre plus equipment, and a bar counter from the atelier ฿150,000 – 600,000. A 200 m² restaurant takes six to ten weeks on site if every finish is fixed before demolition; Prego opened in one month.
Restaurants are the interiors where the numbers matter most, because every square metre that is not a seat is a cost, and every week the doors are closed is rent without revenue. The studio has built restaurants, bars and hotel lounges on trading dates, and this is the arithmetic behind them.
Covers per square metre
| Format | Front of house per cover |
|---|---|
| Bar, stools and standing | 1.0 – 1.2 m² |
| Casual dining, café, trattoria | 1.2 – 1.6 m² |
| Fine dining | 1.8 – 2.2 m² |
| Private dining room | 2.5 – 3.0 m² |
Kitchen, storage, staff and toilets take 30 – 40 percent of the total area; a 200 m² lease therefore gives 120 – 140 m² of front of house and 75 – 110 covers at a casual level. Aisles need 90 cm for service, 120 cm where two trolleys pass; a bar counter needs 60 cm of depth on the guest side and 90 cm of working floor behind it.
Cost in 2026
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Front of house, design and build | ฿20,000 – 45,000 per m² |
| Kitchen and back of house, build only | ฿12,000 – 25,000 per m² |
| Kitchen equipment, casual 80 covers | ฿1.5 – 4 million |
| Bar counter and back bar from the atelier | ฿150,000 – 600,000 |
| Loose furniture, per cover | ฿8,000 – 25,000 |
| Feature wall: brick, log, tile or stone | ฿120,000 – 500,000 |
The front-of-house range is driven by ceiling work and by one feature. Prego's seven-metre log wall and its brick vault are what people photograph, and they were both built inside the same four weeks as the kitchen envelope and the lighting.
Opening in one month
It is possible, and it is not about working faster on site. Prego was an Australian beach café that became a luxurious Italian restaurant in one month, with the log wall, a brick feature wall, a wood-fired oven and a mezzanine dining room. The method: every finish, every piece of joinery, every light and every piece of furniture fixed and ordered before demolition, so that nothing on site waited on a decision. The Executive Lounge, a hotel meeting room converted at night around a trading hotel, took the same month by the same method.
What to decide before the lease
Where the kitchen extract can leave the building, because it decides where the kitchen goes. Whether there is gas, and if not, the electrical capacity for induction and a pizza oven. The grease trap and the drainage route. And the one feature guests will remember, because it is cheaper to build first than to add later.
