AEI Corporation

A successful restaurant can eventually run into a very practical problem: there are more people who want a table than there are places to seat them.

Porta Via faced that challenge at its original Beverly Hills restaurant.

Founded by Peter Garland in 1994, Porta Via built its reputation around seasonal, organic, and natural ingredients. The restaurant focused on simple preparation, fresh baked goods, local produce, premium meats and seafood, along with wines from smaller producers that shared a similar approach. Its wine program even earned recognition from Wine Spectator.

People responded.

As Porta Via became more popular, however, the Beverly Hills restaurant had a major limitation. Its interior measured only about 900 square feet.

There was only so much dining capacity inside those walls.

The restaurant did have outdoor space, and that presented an opportunity. More outdoor tables could mean more customers, shorter waits, and a better way to handle busy evenings.

But simply putting tables on a patio would not solve everything.

Los Angeles may be famous for its sunshine, but anyone who regularly eats outside in Southern California knows that evenings can get cool. This is especially true during parts of the spring, fall, and winter. If guests were uncomfortable outside, those extra tables would not be nearly as useful.

Porta Via needed to make its patio somewhere customers actually wanted to sit.

Patio heaters helped make that possible.

Porta Via Had Customers. It Needed More Seats.

For many restaurants, adding capacity is easier said than done.

A restaurant cannot always knock down a wall or build a larger dining room. This is especially true in busy commercial areas like Beverly Hills, where buildings, sidewalks, neighboring businesses, property lines, and local requirements can limit expansion.

Porta Via already had something valuable available outside.

Space.

Turning that outdoor space into a dining area gave the restaurant another way to accommodate guests without depending entirely on its small interior.

That is one reason outdoor dining has become so useful for restaurants throughout Southern California. A patio, courtyard, terrace, or sidewalk dining area can provide seating that simply would not fit inside.

The challenge is making those seats useful on more than just perfect-weather days.

A warm afternoon is easy. A cool evening is different.

As temperatures fall, customers who were happy to sit outside earlier in the day may begin asking for indoor tables. Some may stay outside but spend the meal feeling uncomfortable.

For Porta Via, guest comfort mattered. Outdoor seating needed to feel like a real part of the restaurant experience, not an overflow area used only when the dining room was full.

That meant the restaurant needed heat.

The Patio Offered Room to Grow, but Los Angeles Evenings Had Other Plans

Restaurant patios create a different heating challenge than indoor dining rooms.

Inside, walls and a ceiling help contain heated air. Outside, that warm air can quickly move away from the people it is supposed to keep comfortable.

There are practical concerns too.

Restaurant employees need clear paths between tables. Customers need enough room to sit and move comfortably. Owners generally do not want heating equipment taking up more patio space than necessary.

Appearance also matters.

Porta Via had spent years building a particular dining experience around its food, wine, service, and atmosphere. A heating solution would need to work with that environment rather than overwhelm it.

Peter Garland began looking for a way to provide dependable outdoor warmth while maintaining the look and function of the patio.

That search led him to Sunpak gas infrared heaters.

Porta Via selected the Sunpak S34 TSH, a commercial patio heater designed for permanent outdoor installations.

It gave the restaurant a way to provide heat where guests needed it without filling valuable dining space with portable heaters.

For a restaurant where every table matters, that was an important advantage.

Sunpak Patio Heaters Made Outdoor Dining More Practical

The Sunpak S34 TSH heater offered Porta Via several features that made sense for restaurant use.

One of the most useful was its two-stage heating design.

The heater can operate at approximately 25,000 BTUs on its lower setting or 34,000 BTUs on its higher setting. This gives a restaurant more control over how much heat is being provided.

That flexibility is useful because Southern California weather does not stay the same from night to night.

A slightly cool evening may only require the lower setting. When temperatures drop further, the heater can be switched to high.

Restaurants can adjust the heat rather than treating every cool evening the same way.

The S34 TSH patio heater is also hardwired for its two-stage operation and designed for commercial outdoor environments. For Porta Via, that was important. These were not heaters that would only be turned on occasionally for a backyard dinner.

They had a job to do.

Night after night, the heaters needed to help keep customers comfortable while the restaurant served dinner.

The other important part of the solution was the way the heaters produced warmth.

The S34 TSH uses infrared radiant heat.

Why Infrared Heaters Work Well on Restaurant Patios

Heating an outdoor patio is not the same as heating a room.

Trying to warm all the surrounding outdoor air can waste energy because that air does not stay put. Wind and normal air movement can carry warmth away.

Infrared heaters take a different approach.

Infrared radiant heat directs energy toward people and surfaces within the heater's coverage area rather than relying only on warming a large volume of surrounding air.

You have probably experienced something similar while standing outside on a cool, sunny day. The air itself may be chilly, yet sunlight still feels warm against your skin.

That basic idea makes infrared heat useful for many outdoor applications.

For a restaurant, the objective is not to heat the entire outdoors. It is to provide comfortable warmth around the areas where guests are sitting.

Of course, simply buying an infrared heater does not guarantee good results.

Placement matters.

Mounting height, heater angle, patio dimensions, surrounding structures, local weather, and the location of tables can all affect heat coverage. A good restaurant patio heating plan takes the actual space into account.

At Porta Via, the goal was clear: provide useful warmth while preserving as much dining space as possible.

Once that happened, the patio could do much more for the restaurant.

More Comfortable Patio Space Meant More Dining Capacity

The original problem was limited indoor seating.

Outdoor heating helped Porta Via address it.

At the Beverly Hills restaurant, the outdoor dining area grew to approximately 20 tables, providing around 70 additional seats.

Think about that in relation to the original restaurant.

Porta Via began with only about 900 square feet of interior space. Adding enough outdoor dining space for around 70 people represented a meaningful increase in the number of guests the restaurant could accommodate.

And the idea did not stop with Beverly Hills.

As Porta Via expanded, outdoor dining continued to play a role at its locations. The Calabasas and Palm Desert restaurants each added approximately 20 outdoor tables, while the Pacific Palisades location included approximately 16.

For Porta Via, the patio was no longer just a few tables outside the restaurant.

It had become part of the dining room.

That distinction matters.

A restaurant may technically have 20 outdoor tables, but those tables only add useful capacity when customers are willing to sit at them. If the patio becomes uncomfortable whenever temperatures fall, its value changes considerably.

Restaurant patio heaters can help extend the number of evenings when that seating remains comfortable.

For a busy restaurant, a few extra nights can matter.

Dozens of additional seats can matter even more.

What Could 70 More Seats Be Worth?

There is a business side to outdoor comfort that is easy to overlook.

Every usable table represents an opportunity to serve another customer.

The Beverly Hills restaurant gives us a useful example of what that additional seating could potentially mean.

Start with 70 outdoor seats.

Assume those seats average 70 percent occupancy. That means about 49 seats are occupied during each seating.

If the restaurant turns those seats three times during an evening, the patio serves approximately 147 guests.

Now assume an average guest spend of $46.

That comes to approximately $6,762 in potential gross sales for the evening.

If patio heating helps make those seats comfortable and usable for an additional 90 nights during the year, the calculation looks like this:

70 seats × 70% occupancy × 3 nightly turnovers × $46 average spend × 90 nights = $625,968

Under those assumptions, that is approximately $625,968 in potential additional annual gross sales associated with having those outdoor seats available.

It is important to put that number in context.

This is an illustrative business scenario, not a claim that patio heaters alone generated $625,968 in reported revenue for Porta Via. Actual restaurant revenue depends on demand, weather, occupancy, average checks, operating hours, table turnover, staffing, and many other factors.

Still, the example shows why outdoor heating can deserve more attention than its equipment cost alone might suggest.

The heater is not creating the customers.

It is helping the restaurant make better use of space where those customers can sit.

For a restaurant that is already busy, that can be a significant difference.

Keeping the Patio Warm Became an Ongoing Job

Installing patio heaters solved one problem, but restaurant equipment does not take care of itself.

Commercial heaters may operate frequently during cooler periods and remain exposed to outdoor conditions throughout the year. Like other restaurant equipment, they need maintenance.

That became more important as Porta Via grew.

Managing one restaurant patio is one thing. Managing heating equipment across multiple locations adds another responsibility for an already busy restaurant operation.

Peter Garland continued to rely on AEI Corporation for support.

AEI's role went beyond the original heater sale. Porta Via could turn to AEI for product knowledge, sales assistance, troubleshooting guidance, and help coordinating service when needed.

That long-term relationship became an important part of keeping the outdoor dining areas operating as intended.

Seasonal maintenance was also part of the plan.

AEI partnered with Heaterz Inc., a Southern California heating service company, to provide maintenance at multiple Porta Via locations. Certified technicians could inspect and service the heating equipment before the restaurant entered periods when outdoor warmth became especially important.

The timing was intentional.

Winter and the holiday season can bring both cooler evenings and busy dining rooms. That is not when a restaurant wants to discover that a heater has developed a problem after sitting unused during warmer weather.

Technicians from Heaterz Inc. arrived with fully stocked service vehicles, allowing them to handle many common maintenance and repair needs during the service visit.

It is a fairly simple idea: find the problem before a customer notices it.

When restaurant patio heaters are operating correctly, most guests will never give them much thought. They sit down, order dinner, and enjoy the evening.

When the heaters are not working on a cold night, people notice.

Quickly.

Good Patio Heating Is About More Than Buying a Heater

Porta Via's experience points to something restaurant owners can easily miss when planning an outdoor dining area.

The heater itself is only one part of the system.

A restaurant first needs to choose the right type of heater for the patio. Then the heaters need to be positioned so their coverage reaches the places where guests actually sit.

The available fuel source matters. So do mounting height, controls, patio layout, local requirements, and access for future maintenance.

A large open terrace may require a very different heating plan from a narrow sidewalk dining area. A protected courtyard will behave differently from a patio exposed to wind.

Even two restaurants with the same number of tables may need different heating layouts.

That is why looking only at a heater's BTU rating does not tell the whole story.

AEI works with restaurant owners, architects, contractors, and other hospitality professionals to help determine which heating equipment makes sense for a particular outdoor area. That can include reviewing heater types, coverage, mounting options, controls, and the way customers and employees use the patio.

It also means thinking beyond opening day.

Where will technicians access the heaters for service?

How will the restaurant control the heat as temperatures change?

Is the equipment designed for the amount of use a commercial restaurant may require?

Who does the restaurant call when something needs attention?

Porta Via's long-term use of Sunpak heaters shows why those questions matter.

The objective is not simply to install infrared heaters.

It is to create an outdoor dining area that works.

What Porta Via's Experience Can Teach Other Restaurant Owners

Not every restaurant has the same space limitations Porta Via faced in Beverly Hills.

But many have some version of the same opportunity.

There may be a courtyard that is lightly used during cooler months. A sidewalk patio may sit half empty once the sun goes down. A terrace could accommodate another group of customers, but only if people are comfortable staying outside.

That outdoor square footage already exists.

The question is how useful the restaurant can make it.

Porta Via's experience provides a practical example.

The restaurant had strong customer demand but limited indoor space. Outdoor tables created more capacity, while patio heaters helped address one of the biggest obstacles to using those tables during cooler evenings.

The solution also grew with the restaurant.

Outdoor dining became part of multiple Porta Via locations, and ongoing support and seasonal maintenance helped keep the heating equipment ready for regular use.

There is a financial lesson here too.

Restaurant owners often evaluate equipment by asking what it costs. That is important, but it is only one side of the decision.

It can also be useful to ask what the equipment allows the restaurant to do.

If heating helps make 10, 20, or 30 additional outdoor seats comfortable during more evenings of the year, those seats have potential value. Restaurant owners can look at their own average guest spend, expected occupancy, table turnover, and number of cooler operating nights to estimate what that capacity could mean for their business.

The answer will be different for every restaurant.

But the question is worth asking.

Could Your Restaurant Patio Do More?

Porta Via's experience shows how the right outdoor heating plan can solve a very practical restaurant problem.

The restaurant needed more places to seat guests. Outdoor dining provided that space, and patio heaters helped make those tables more comfortable during cooler evenings. Over time, outdoor heating became a regular part of how Porta Via used its dining space.

Other restaurants may have the same opportunity.

Maybe you already have a patio that loses customers when temperatures drop. Maybe you are adding outdoor seating and need to determine how to heat it. Or perhaps your current heaters are no longer providing the coverage or reliability your restaurant needs.

In each case, choosing the right restaurant patio heaters starts with the space itself.

AEI Corporation can help you review your patio layout, heating needs, mounting options, available fuel sources, and the type of infrared heaters that make sense for your restaurant, and provide the product knowledge and support needed after the heaters are installed. We also have a simple, free-to-use, revenue boost calculator so you can estimate your potential revenue increase from installing patio heaters.

A well-planned patio gives your restaurant another place to take care of guests, even when the evening gets cool.

Ready to get more use from your restaurant's outdoor dining area? Contact AEI Corporation to discuss your patio and find the right commercial heating solution for your space.

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