hen it comes to laying out the space of a taproom, you need to always be putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Walk yourself through the space to feel what they would feel. How do they enter the taproom? What is the first thing they see? Can they get to the bar and order a beer easily? Can they then get out of line and choose a seat easily? What is going to encourage them to make another purchase? There is a lot to consider here.
But before we dive into the details of your taproom design, one of the first things to consider is how much space do you need. Here in the U.S. we still use the Imperial system that measures floor space in square footage. We’ll provide some metric conversions for those of you in the rest of the world. How much space you require depends on how many people you want to accommodate and what type of seating you plan on using. The building code assumes 1 person per 15 square feet (1:15 or 1:1.4 m2) for tables and chairs areas, 1:7 (1:0.7 m2) for chairs only, and 1:5 (1:0.46 m2) for standing area. That is a good starting point. We like to use 1:15 for planning purposes. For example, a 750-square-foot (70 m2) taproom can accommodate approximately 50 people.
Note that if your taproom has an occupant load over 99 persons, fire sprinklers will likely be required per the building code. If your taproom is open to the brewery area, that threshold will be 49 persons. This is calculated based on square footage, not how many people you think you will have in there.