Stop Letting Your Patio Go to Waste This Winter
It’s a frustrating sight: a beautiful outdoor seating area sitting completely empty just because the temperature dropped. Most people try to fix this with those big space heaters, but here’s the problem—the wind just blows the heat away. Your guests are still shivering, and your tables are still empty. That’s where infrared heating comes in. Instead of trying to warm up the entire outdoors (which is basically impossible), these heaters beam warmth directly onto your guests and their tables. It’s a different kind of heat. It feels more like sitting in the sun on a crisp day. It works even when there’s a breeze, meaning you can actually keep those tables full. Built for the elements Since these live outside, we made sure they can handle a beating. They’ve got a waterproof chassis, so rain or snow isn’t going to fry the electronics. Inside, there’s a high-wattage quartz tube. The best part? There’s no “waiting for it to warm up.” The second your guest sits down, they feel the heat. No shivering while they wait for their drinks to arrive. A quick heads-up on the power These heaters are focused. They create a “heat cone” right over the table, so you aren’t wasting electricity heating the sidewalk or the parking lot. But, a word of caution: these units pull a decent amount of power (usually between 1.5kW and 2kW). Before you go all-in, have your electrician check your outdoor panels. You don’t want to be in the middle of a Friday night rush only to have your breakers trip because you overloaded the system. The bottom line for your wallet Let’s be honest: cold customers leave fast. They finish their main course and bolt. When people are actually comfortable—feeling that steady warmth—they linger. They stay for that extra round of cocktails or a couple of desserts. It turns those “dead” months of late autumn and early spring into actual revenue. You can usually swap these right into your existing table bases, so you aren’t shutting down your patio for weeks to install them. Sure, there’s an upfront cost for the electrical work, but most of our clients find that the extra winter sales pay for the whole thing in a single season.