What Are the Best Restaurant Planters?

From spiky succulents to towering palms, neatly clipped topiary to leafy ferns, there is a myriad of ways to use plants and planters to draw in customers and enhance the aesthetic of your restaurant. While you may think dining out is all about the food you serve, a pleasant ambiance and well-maintained surroundings go a long way towards explaining why a customer picks your establishment over another.

Plus, with the botanical design trend blooming, embracing exotic flora and fauna — and choosing the best restaurant planters to display them in — is a guaranteed way to get your bistro snapped on social media. Here's everything you need to know:

The Benefits of Plants in a Restaurant

While an abundance of greenery certainly injects pops of vibrant color and textural interest into your bar or restaurant's decor, there are also other, more functional reasons plants can be beneficial, including:

• Reducing toxins. We all know how important plants are for keeping our air clean, absorbing carbon dioxide, and releasing it back into the atmosphere as oxygen. But several scientific studies have also highlighted how certain species, such as spider plants, ferns, and aloe vera, make excellent air purifiers, reducing pollutants like benzene, trichloroethylene, and formaldehyde.
• Improving the acoustics. Although the clatter of the kitchen, a busker strumming away outside, and the chatting of other diners adds to the experience of dining out, if a patron is unable to easily have a conversation, they're unlikely to return. Utilizing potted plants' soft, flexible leaves to reduce reverberation time is a clever way to dampen soundwaves.
• Growing fresh herbs. Eating local reduces our carbon footprint and keeps the economy thriving. Unfortunately, city-based restaurants usually don't have the luxury of spare outdoor space for farm-to-table cooking. However, cultivating herbs in window boxes or indoor planters provides bartenders and chefs with a bounty of fresh garnishes onsite.
• Increasing ROI (return on investment). Depending on the material they're made from, planters constructed from metal, plastic, or fiberglass are incredibly durable and, if well-maintained, can last for decades. So, your restaurant will benefit from beautiful decor and lush greenery that will turn the heads of people walking by, increasing the likelihood you’ll entice them to enter and spend money, thus increasing your profits.

Ideas for Outdoor Restaurant Planters

Consider this: you're wandering through town looking for a bite to eat — do you choose the restaurant with a drab, concrete exterior and tables spilling out onto the street, or the one decorated with colorful plant pots and shaded by lush, tropical trees? It's the power of planters that will make most diners go for the second option.

Outdoor restaurant planters are brilliant multitaskers, making the building's appearance more appealing and improving your exterior space's functionality. Put them to work by using ornamental grasses in large, tapered pots to add drama to an entrance or boxes of shrubs to block unsightly views and protect customers from knocking their elbows on passersby. Plus, a boulevard of decorative bushes is ideal for directing traffic flow and separating tables to create a more intimate setting.

Do keep in mind, though, there are a few things you need to consider when selecting the best planters to display outside your business. Firstly, unless you're planning to reinvent your brand entirely, choose designs and colors that match your existing aesthetic. The smooth surfaces and sleek lines of fiberglass box planters fit perfectly with a sophisticated, contemporary vibe, while fluted stone plant pots work best in a more traditional setting. Secondly, the size of the planters you opt for depends entirely on the types of plants you want to showcase. As every species has different requirements regarding the depth and space their roots need to thrive, be sure to research their individual demands and follow the advice given on introducing them to your planters properly.

Ideas for inside Restaurant Planters

Investing in commercial restaurant planters is a simple, sure-fire way to shake up an interior look instantly. Vibrant flowers in brightly colored pots boost the overall mood of an establishment, and trailing vines add warmth to industrial design elements like exposed brickwork and steel beams.

Do keep practicality in mind, though. Customers are likely to take uncared-for plants with withered leaves and dusty soil as a sign your restaurant is also poorly maintained. Appoint certain team members to keep on top of watering and pruning and pick hardy plants that don't require a degree in horticulture to maintain — for example, lavender, peace lilies, or bromeliads.

Need more advice on what planters are best suited to your restaurant? Contact us on (888) 381-9501 or email us at sales@potsplantersandmore.com to speak to one of our experts.