The Importance of High CRI Lighting for Restaurants

Posted by on for ProLampSales

The Importance of High CRI Lighting for Restaurants

With the transition from incandescent and halogen bulbs to CFL and LED, creating lighting experiences with accurate color rendering has become more difficult. While older light bulbs have a CRI close to 100, new bulbs can range from 80 to 95+, with variations in different colors.

For the food industry, accurate colors can enhance or detract from a customer's experience in ways that they aren't even aware of, due to how our eye perceives light and color.

This is why restaurants should install high-CRI (Color Rendering Index) lighting instead of lower CRI LED light bulbs. There are numerous advantages to higher-CRI bulbs, despite the initial higher cost.

Enhanced Food Presentation

High CRI bulbs more accurately represent the true colors of food, making it appear more appetizing and vibrant. This is essential in the food service industry, where meal presentation plays a significant role in customer satisfaction. Lower CRI lighting can distort food colors, making dishes appear dull or unappetizing. Customers may not even be aware of how lighting affects their perception of food, and may just convince themselves it is not good because it appears less vibrant under the lighting scheme.

Improves Ambience

High CRI lighting creates a more natural and visually pleasing atmosphere. Since it allows colors in the environment to appear truer, it can enhance the overall dining experience. This helps create a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere, aligning with the ambiance a restaurant wants to convey.

Combined with appropriate bulbs with various color temperatures, the lighting can guide customer's eyes to different areas of the restaurant (booths, bar, restrooms, etc.). Colored light can also be used for accents. But with higher-CRI lamps overall, the lighting design can have more impact.

Customer Experience

People are more likely to enjoy their meals and feel positive about the restaurant when they can perceive food in its true colors. High CRI lighting can make dining experiences feel more enjoyable, leading to higher satisfaction and potentially more repeat customers.

Additionally, high CRI lighting can also set a restaurant apart from others as upper or lower scale. Small, lower-cost takeout restaurants may be fine with 80-CRI fluorescent lights, where upscale fine dining establishments will need a more complex lighting design with enhanced color rendering.

Accurate Colors for Interior Design

High CRI lighting is also crucial for showcasing the interior decor, including walls, furniture, and decorations. A lower CRI can wash out or distort these colors, leading to an environment that may feel less inviting or well-designed.

For restaurants that highlight their place in the community, they often feature photos or objects taken from the local area. The better these can look, the more the theme of the restaurant can stand out in customers' minds.

Health and Safety

Proper lighting that renders colors accurately can help with safety and hygiene in kitchens or dining areas. High CRI lights can make it easier to spot potential issues such as food spoilage, cleanliness, or preparation mistakes that might not be visible under lower-quality lighting. This is more important for management and employees, but it is always better to spot these issues before they make their way to customer's plates, tables, or mouths.

Boosts Perceived Quality

Upper-end restaurants often aim to create an atmosphere of quality and sophistication. High CRI lighting helps elevate the perceived value of the experience, making customers more likely to associate the restaurant with a high standard of service and cuisine.

In addition, for restaurants that are above fast food but not fine dining, higher CRI lights can make the establishment look and feel higher quality. This may help even middle-tier restaurants compete with the dining experience of much more expensive establishments.

Daylighting Consistency

For restaurants open during the day that utilize windows and direct sunlight, higher-CRI lights can help keep consistency during cloudy days. Customers may not notice their eyes adjusting between 100 CRI sunlight and 80 CRI standard bulbs, but it may cause imperceptible distractions or irritations.

Simply using 90+ CRI lamps, regardless of the color temperature, will help customers perceive colors more consistently. Especially if the sun is continuously going behind and coming out of the clouds, this may help smooth the overall experience.

Bottom Line

Especially as incandescent and halogen lamps are phased out due to increasing energy efficiency standards, restaurant owners will have to take into account such factors as the color rendering index of light bulbs and fixtures they install.

Despite the increased cost of lamps with a high CRI (90 or above), they can improve the shopping and dining experience of customers.

In short, high CRI lighting helps to create a more engaging, pleasant, and authentic experience for diners, improves food presentation, and supports the overall ambiance and aesthetic of the restaurant.



← Older Post Newer Post →


0 Comments

Leave a Comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published.