Restaurant booth project costs beyond the price on the card

A set of two single booths lists at $928.00. It is tempting to read that as the cost of the corner it's meant for. The corner will cost more, and the extra arrives in pieces: a table for every bench, a freight quote, a crew to set the run.

Installation is the one column that belongs to you. It depends on the building, the wall, and the tradesperson, and an average borrowed from another room would only be a guess. Every other column can be filled from the page, the basket, or our confirmation email, and that is how the total below gets built.

The price on the card, and the price in the basket

The basket shows the price of the options you chose. On a card, "from" marks where a configuration starts. Length, back height, upholstery, and power are all choices on the page of the plain-back custom booth, so read the basket line and not the card. A seating plan stores prices too, but it reprices them against the current catalog when you move it to the basket, which makes the basket the number to trust.

Cards also differ in what they sell. The button-tufted back booth starts at $288 as a single piece. A set of 2 single booths is $928.00 for two, and a set of 2 single 3-channel back booths is $1,110.00 for two. Halve the sets and you have $464 and $555 a booth. Left unhalved, $928.00 beside $288 looks like a gap of $640. Per booth it is $176, and it still isn't a fair fight until length, back, and upholstery match.

The rule of thumb: put every price on a per-booth basis before you compare two of them.

A table for every bench

A bench with no table is a place to sit and nothing to eat from. Tables sit on their own cards, and booths are exempt from the minimum of 8 pieces, so a single run can go in alone while tables and chairs count toward that minimum. A solid wood butcher block table starts at $189 with its cast iron base included, and the booth tables range holds the rest.

Say a room takes eight booths, each a pair of benches facing across a table. Eight sets of two single 3-channel back booths at $1,110.00 come to $8,880.00. Eight tables at $189 add $1,512.00. The subtotal is $10,392.00 for product, before a single option raises a line and before a dollar of freight.

Freight is its own number

Furniture prices leave freight out. A freight quote for each delivery address arrives in the confirmation email, once a person has read the order, so a second site brings a second quote. Booths travel as palletized LTL freight, and the standard stop is a business address, unloaded at the dock or off the tailgate.

If your door opens onto a sidewalk, you may need a liftgate. Four extras can be added when you submit the order, each charged on top: a liftgate, delivery inside the building, limited-access service for sites such as schools and churches, and residential delivery. The delivery page explains each of them. Carriers also bill detention when a truck waits for a crew that isn't ready, along with redelivery, storage, and fixed appointment times, all passed through at the carrier's rate. Have a crew at the door when the truck pulls up, ready to start unloading inside half an hour. The notes on inspecting a delivery cover what to check at the dock.

The work nobody prices for you

Nobody on the truck unpacks the pallets, assembles the booths, or hauls away the packing, and the driver doesn't carry a booth up or down stairs. Someone has to set the run: level it, fasten it where the building allows, and close the gap at each end. That someone is your crew or your contractor, and their figure goes in your total.

Get it by sending the same sheet you would send us: booth count, lengths, the wall, and whether the booth takes power. Our guide to measuring lays that sheet out. Ask for a price per booth and a price for the visit, then multiply, and ask whether the quote includes carrying the cartons in from the dock. A per-booth figure shrinks when a booth leaves the plan, and a lump sum does not.

A power package is a choice on the page, so it sits in the configured price like any other option. The electrician's feed behind it is a separate bill.

When the date is a cost

Count 14 to 21 business days on a standard line, and as many as 8 weeks on a custom one, with transit added as an estimate. A big order may arrive in two loads or more. Work back from the day the room opens, not forward from the day you ordered.

The costliest line on a booth project is a wrong number. A custom line can't be cancelled or returned once it's confirmed. A standard line can go back, but 35% of its returned value goes to restocking and you pay the freight in both directions. Say six standard sets at $1,110.00 return: that's $6,660.00 of furniture and a fee of $2,331.00, before freight. The returns page has the terms in full.

Write the total before the deposit

Put the total on one page in the order it will be paid. The booths and tables come from the basket. The freight line comes from our confirmation, along with any delivery extras. Then your contractor's figure, the electrician's figure if the run takes power, and a line for the days the room is closed while the run is set. The buying guide covers the choices that come before any of this.

A custom order starts with a deposit of 40%, and the remainder falls due ahead of delivery. Say the whole $10,392.00 order is custom: $4,156.80 up front and $6,235.20 later. A standard order is paid before it ships. Nothing is charged when you submit, and the confirmation email carries the payment instructions for yours, and payment can come by Visa, Mastercard, or American Express as well as by check, money order, or wire. Fabric and vinyl can change the figure, so look at the booth upholstery materials before you settle the lines.

To fill the freight line early, write to sales@restaurantfurniture.online with a subject that starts FREIGHT, followed by your project name, and put the delivery address and the extras you expect in the message.