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Restaurant and cafe Wi-Fi planning: guests, POS and kitchen
Last updated: October 9, 2026.
A restaurant needs reliable Wi-Fi for payments first and guest browsing second. Kitchens and outdoor areas are the usual trouble spots.
What matters in a restaurant
- Keep point-of-sale devices on strong signal, ideally -65 dBm or better.
- Kitchen equipment and brick or metal walls block signal.
- Consider a separate guest network from payment devices.
Settings to try in the planner
- Environment: Typical office or Dense partitions.
- Draw the kitchen wall as Brick (6 dB) or Concrete (10 dB).
- Concurrent clients: seats x about 1 device.
- Minimum RSSI: -65 dBm at payment points.
Worked example with the planner's numbers
Take a ceiling access point at 20 dBm EIRP on 5 GHz, the planner's 8 dB link margin, a path-loss exponent of 2.25 and a target of -65 dBm. In open space the signal stays above the target for about 21.3 m. Walls then cut that reach (the planner scales wall loss by 1.2 at 5 GHz):
| Path | Reach at -65 dBm | Share of open-space reach |
|---|---|---|
| Open space | 21.3 m | 100% |
| Through a glass partition (2 dB) | 16.7 m | 78% |
| Through a brick kitchen wall (6 dB) | 10.2 m | 48% |
Glass hardly matters, while the brick kitchen wall roughly halves the reach, so payment terminals near the kitchen need their own coverage. These are model values for planning; confirm them with an on-site survey.
Upload your floor plan and try it free: Open the Wi-Fi heatmap planner
Forecasts are planning estimates. Validate with an on-site survey before buying or installing equipment. See also the AP placement guide, the RSSI guide and planner pages by brand.
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