Applications

Motorized Screens for Restaurants & Hospitality

Count the days the terrace cannot be sold. In West Texas that is usually afternoon sun on one side, blowing dust ahead of a front, and the wind-driven rain that clears an outdoor section in about four minutes.

Request a Design Consultation Commercial motorized screens

The problem

Which hours, which months, and which side of the building

An outdoor section is capacity you have already paid to build. When it sits empty the cost does not go away, and in our markets the reasons it sits empty are specific, repeatable and mostly addressable.

West-facing terraces lose the late-afternoon and early-evening service to low sun straight into the seating. Terraces across the Permian Basin and the South Plains lose covers to blowing dust ahead of a front, which lands on tables, glassware and food. And a passing front with wind-driven rain empties an unprotected section faster than staff can clear it.

What we will not do is tell you how many covers a screen returns. We do not have that data for your site, and a number invented for a proposal is worse than an honest description of the problem.

The specification

What commercial work adds

Five considerations that a residential patio never raises.

01 — Sun

Sun direction decides which tables sell

On most terraces the loss is not uniform — it is a specific band of seating that becomes unusable for a specific part of service. Identifying which tables go cold at which hour is the most useful thing a walk-round produces, and it often means solar control on one elevation rather than screening the whole perimeter.

  • Map which seating fails at which hour of service.
  • One elevation often accounts for most of the loss.
  • Screening the whole perimeter is rarely the efficient answer.

02 — Dust

Dust and grit reach the tabletops

Blowing dust is a service problem before it is a comfort problem: it settles on set tables, glassware and plated food, and it means re-laying a section. A closed opening on the windward side keeps the worst of it off. It is not a seal, and in a severe regional dust event it is not a protective measure.

  • Set tables and glassware are the real exposure.
  • The windward elevation usually carries most of it.
  • Clear vinyl shows dust more readily than mesh does.

03 — Operation

Staff have to operate it under pressure

A control scheme that assumes an unhurried user will fail during service. Grouping openings so one action closes a whole elevation, and siting the control where staff already stand, matters more than any feature. It also has to survive turnover — if it needs explaining twice it is the wrong scheme.

  • One action should close a whole elevation.
  • Site controls where staff already stand during service.
  • If it needs training, simplify it.
Controls and grouping

04 — The guest

Guest comfort and outlook both matter

A terrace is sold on its outlook as much as its comfort, so a material that solves the sun by removing the view can cost you as much as it saves. Where a terrace faces a car park or a service area the calculation reverses and a denser weave improves the product. The right answer depends on what the guest is looking at.

  • Do not solve sun by removing the reason people sit outside.
  • Where the outlook is poor, screening it can improve the offer.
  • The view is part of what the terrace sells.

05 — Getting it done

Approval and installation fit around trading

Landlord consent, municipal requirements and — in an appearance-sensitive district — design review can all apply, on separate timelines. Whether the terrace has to close to install, and for how long, is part of the specification rather than a scheduling detail settled afterwards.

  • Landlord or property manager consent is commonly required.
  • Municipal requirements differ by city across the footprint.
  • Phasing by section often keeps the terrace trading.
How approval works

Being straight with you

We are not going to show you someone else's restaurant

You will not find venue photographs, client logos or named references on this page. We do not publish customer details or project locations anywhere on this site, and a photograph of a named restaurant sitting under a hospitality heading reads as a client reference whether the caption says so or not.

We would rather be the company that declines to do that than one which does it quietly. What we will do is walk your terrace, identify which conditions are costing you which covers, and be specific about what a screen can and cannot change.

What fits here

What often gets specified on a terrace

Usually more than one material on a single terrace, on different elevations.
Late-service sun control For the elevation that loses seating to low sun through the afternoon and early evening. Keeping the section trading through a front A closed windward side so a passing front does not clear the terrace. Improving a poor outlook Where the terrace faces a car park, a service yard or a busy road. The commercial specification Duty cycle, staff operation, approval and installation phasing in one place.

Other spaces

Where to go next

Related applications and markets.
Covered Patios & Outdoor Kitchens Commercial cooking and service areas share much of the same thinking. New Construction & Recessed On a fit-out, housings and power belong in the drawings. San Angelo terraces Our home market, and the quickest for us to look at. Lubbock terraces The windiest market we serve, where dust drives the conversation.

Questions

Questions from operators

How many more covers will this give us?

We will not invent a number. We do not have data for your site and nobody credible does. What we can do is identify which seating fails at which hour and under which conditions, which is the part that actually informs the decision.

Do we need a permit or landlord approval?

Often both, running on separate timelines. A lease usually has its own consent process for exterior alterations, and municipal requirements differ across our markets. The approval guide explains how to establish what applies. We are not the approving authority.

Will we have to close the terrace to install?

It depends on the size, layout and access. It is worked out before scheduling, and on many sites the job can be phased by section so the terrace keeps trading.

Can we screen just one side?

Usually that is the efficient answer. On most terraces one elevation accounts for the majority of the lost covers, and screening the whole perimeter costs considerably more without solving proportionally more.

Will the screens survive being used every service?

Duty cycle is the first thing we ask about on a commercial enquiry, because it changes how the system is specified. What matters is that the expected use pattern is stated up front rather than discovered later.

Can you show us restaurants you have done?

No, and that is deliberate. We do not publish customer details or project locations. It is worth applying the same scepticism to anyone who does show you a logo wall — ask what the relationship actually was.

Start a project

Tell us when the terrace stops selling

Which hours, which months, and which side of the building. That is enough to start a useful conversation.
Request a Design Consultation