Stop Letting Your Patio Go to Waste in the Winter
It’s a frustrating sight: a beautiful outdoor seating area just sitting there, empty and freezing, for four months of the year. Most people try to fix this with those standard heaters that warm the air. The problem? The second a breeze kicks up, all that heat just blows away. That’s why we use short-wave infrared. Instead of fighting the wind, infrared goes straight for the target—your guests and their furniture. It feels like sitting in the sun on a crisp October day. It’s an instant bubble of warmth. The secret to keeping people in their seats Let’s be honest: cold customers are in a rush. When someone is shivering, they aren’t thinking about ordering a decadent chocolate cake or another round of cocktails. They’re thinking about their car and their heater. When you get the temperature right, people relax. They linger. They stay for that extra drink. We’ve seen it happen time and again—when the heat is consistent, the average check goes up. Simple as that. Getting the layout right (so you don’t regret it) You can’t just toss one heater in the middle of the deck and call it a day. It doesn’t work like that. If you’re mounting a heater high up—say, 3 meters—you need more power to make sure the heat actually reaches the table. You also want the “heat cones” to overlap. Why? Because if there’s a cold spot between two heaters, your guests will start scooting their chairs around. Suddenly your floor plan is a mess and your servers are tripping over furniture. A few things to watch out for These systems pull a lot of power. Before you start drilling holes and running wires, have a look at your breaker panels. There is nothing worse than the lights going dark in the middle of a Friday night rush because you overloaded a circuit. Also, keep an eye on the glow. Short-wave heaters have a distinct light to them. It looks great and adds to the vibe, but if you hang them too low, you’re basically shining a spotlight into your guests’ eyes. Not a great look. At the end of the day, it’s just a math problem. You weigh the cost of the electricity against the money you make from keeping those tables full all year. It’s a lot better than watching your patio sit empty while the weather turns.