The Silent Mistake: Why Music Can't Be Your Last Thought

Picture this: A stunning new restaurant opens in Da Nang. The design is impeccable, the location prime, the menu carefully crafted by a talented chef. The owner has spent months perfecting every detail—the lighting, the furniture, the tableware. Opening night arrives, and the space looks magazine-worthy.

But within weeks, something's wrong. Customers don't linger. Tables turn quickly, yes, but not in a good way. The average spend is lower than projected. Online reviews mention "loud," "uncomfortable," or simply "something felt off." What happened?

The music. Or rather, the complete lack of planning around it.

In the rush to open, someone plugged a Bluetooth speaker into Spotify, cranked the volume to "audible over kitchen noise," and called it done. The owner is now learning an expensive lesson that successful venues figured out long before they signed their lease: music isn't a detail you figure out after construction. It's a fundamental business decision that affects your bottom line from day one.

The Intangible Asset That Moves Money

Let's start with what actually matters to any business owner: revenue. Music feels intangible, so it's easy to dismiss as "atmosphere" or "nice to have." But research tells a different story.

A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that slow-tempo background music significantly increased the time customers spent in restaurants. More time means more drinks ordered, more desserts considered, more conversations that lead to "should we get another bottle?" Another study in Environment and Behavior discovered that classical music in a wine store led customers to purchase more expensive wines—not more bottles, but pricier selections. The music created a perception of sophistication that customers matched with their purchasing decisions.

The numbers get more interesting. Research shows that excessive noise levels in restaurants - the kind that makes conversation difficult - directly affect consumer spending behavior, leading to reduced dining time and lower expenditure. In other words, if your "music" is actually just noise pollution competing with conversation rather than enhancing the atmosphere, you're actively driving revenue out the door. elevated anxiety leads to reduced dining time and lower expenditure. In other words, if your "music" is actually just noise pollution, you're actively driving revenue out the door.

This isn't about playing the "right" playlist. It's about understanding that sound quality, volume, and acoustic design directly impact how long customers stay, how much they spend, and whether they return.

Hearing vs. Sounding Good: The Gap Most Owners Don't Understand

Here's where most F&B owners stumble: they confuse "there is music playing" with "the music sounds good."

Walk into most new venues in Da Nang and you'll hear music. You'll also hear it bouncing off hard tile floors, competing with kitchen clamor, distorting at certain frequencies, and creating a sonic mess that makes conversation difficult. The owner hears noise coming from speakers and assumes the job is done.

This is like serving food and assuming it tastes good because it's hot and on a plate.

The difference between hearing music and experiencing quality sound is the difference between a cheap instant coffee and a properly pulled espresso. Both are technically coffee. One costs you customers.

Consider the Japanese kissaten—listening cafés that emerged in post-war Japan. These establishments built their entire business model around one thing: exceptional sound quality. In the 1950s and 60s, imported jazz records were expensive and quality stereos were unaffordable for most Japanese workers. Kissaten offered both for the price of a cup of coffee.

Today, this concept has exploded globally. Venues like Spiritland in London, In Sheep's Clothing in Los Angeles, and Doka in Amsterdam have built thriving businesses where the sound system isn't an afterthought—it's the main attraction. These aren't live music venues. They're cafés and bars where people pay to hear recorded music on exceptional systems.

This might seem like a niche concept, but it proves a point: when sound quality is treated as a core business asset, it becomes a competitive advantage. You don't need to be a kissaten to benefit from this principle. You just need to understand that quality matters.

The Retrofit Trap: Why "We'll Figure It Out Later" Becomes "We Can't Afford to Fix It"

The most expensive mistake new F&B owners make is designing their entire space without considering sound, then trying to add a music system after construction is complete.

Here's what happens: Your architect designs beautiful high ceilings with exposed concrete. Your designer specifies gorgeous tile floors and minimal soft furnishings for easy cleaning. The space looks stunning. It also has the acoustic properties of a parking garage.

Now you need to install speakers. But where? You can't run cables through finished walls without tearing them open. You can't mount ceiling speakers where the beautiful exposed ductwork runs. The acoustics are terrible, so you need treatment, but acoustic panels will "ruin the aesthetic."

Your options narrow to: expensive retrofitting that compromises your design, or accepting mediocre sound quality. Most owners choose the latter because they've already blown their budget on everything else.

Installing a proper sound system and acoustic treatment during construction costs a fraction of retrofitting the same system after opening—and retrofitting still achieves inferior results because you're working around structural limitations.

We've seen this repeatedly in Da Nang. Beautiful venues that look perfect on Instagram but sound terrible in person. The owners didn't know to involve audio consultants during the design phase. By the time they realized sound was a problem, their options were limited and expensive.

The False Economy of Cheap Sound

"We'll just get an affordable system for now and upgrade later."

This is the audio equivalent of opening a restaurant with cheap knives, planning to buy professional ones "when business picks up." Except it's worse, because customers directly experience your sound system every visit.

Budget sound systems require frequent replacement due to humidity damage and poor quality. Professional systems cost more upfront but less over time, and more importantly, they generate revenue from day one through improved customer experience.

The hidden costs of cheap sound systems run deeper than replacement cycles. Poor sound quality affects your brand positioning. If you're trying to be a premium venue, your sound system is telling a different story. Customers might not consciously think "the speakers sound cheap," but they'll feel that something doesn't match the price point.

Then there's Vietnam-specific considerations. Our climate destroys cheap electronics. Amplifiers not properly housed in climate-controlled environments fail within months. Speakers without adequate moisture protection corrode. That initial "bargain" becomes a cycle of replacements and repairs.

Ignorance Isn't an Excuse—It's a Liability

"But I'm not an audio expert" isn't a defense. It's an admission that you're running a hospitality business without understanding one of your key customer touchpoints.

You wouldn't say "I'm not a chef, so I can't judge food quality" or "I'm not a designer, so I can't evaluate the space." You'd hire experts, learn enough to make informed decisions, and ensure these elements meet your business standards.

Sound deserves the same approach.

Your competitors who understand this have an advantage. While you're playing Spotify through a single Bluetooth speaker, they're using zoned audio systems that adapt to different times of day, properly positioned speakers that create even coverage without dead zones, and acoustic treatment that makes conversation comfortable at any volume level.

Customers notice the difference, even if they can't articulate why one venue feels more comfortable than another. They vote with their feet and their wallets.

The Vietnam F&B market is evolving rapidly. Customer expectations are rising. The venues that succeed in Da Nang and Hoi An aren't necessarily those with the biggest budgets—they're the ones that get the details right. And sound is not a detail. It's fundamental to the experience you're selling.

Planning Sound from Day One: A Timeline

Sound planning should begin the moment you start designing your space. Here's when different considerations matter:

Concept Development Phase

What role will music play in your venue? Background ambiance? Active element? This decision affects everything from speaker type to acoustic treatment requirements.

Architectural Planning

Your architect needs to know about sound requirements. Will you need ceiling speakers? Wall-mounted? Where will equipment be housed? How will cables be concealed? Where are the acoustic problem areas?

Climate considerations matter here too. In Vietnam's humidity, equipment needs air-conditioned housing. Plan this into your mechanical systems design, not as an afterthought.

Interior Design Phase

Your designer should understand how material choices affect acoustics. That concrete floor you love? It needs to be balanced with sound-absorbing elements elsewhere. Those floor-to-ceiling windows? They're reflective surfaces that need acoustic compensation.

Equipment Selection

This is where most owners finally think about sound, but by now, many decisions are locked in. If you're only thinking about speakers when construction is 80% complete, you've already limited your options.

Installation and Calibration

Professional installation isn't optional. Speakers need to be positioned correctly, aimed properly, and calibrated to your space's specific acoustic properties. This isn't "plug and play."

The Competitive Reality

Walk into New Phuong Dong club in Da Nang and you'll immediately understand what excellent sound feels like. The system is tuned to the space. Every frequency is clean. The volume is powerful but not painful. It's a benchmark—albeit one designed for a specific use case that doesn't translate directly to restaurants.

But the principle does translate: sound quality is a competitive differentiator.

Globally, the kissaten trend proves that sound can even be your primary competitive advantage. These aren't clubs or concert venues—they're cafés and bars that built entire businesses around exceptional audio.

You don't need to become a kissaten. But you should ask yourself: in a market with dozens of similar F&B concepts, what makes customers choose you? If your answer includes "atmosphere" or "experience," then your sound system is part of your competitive strategy, whether you've thought about it or not.

The question isn't whether to invest in sound—it's whether to invest strategically or accidentally.

Moving Forward

If you're planning a new venue, involve audio professionals during design, not during construction. Budget for sound as a percentage of your total build-out, not as whatever's left over. Understand that acoustic treatment isn't optional in modern spaces with hard surfaces.

If you're already open and realizing your sound is a problem, the solution isn't cranking up volume or buying slightly better speakers. It's a systematic evaluation of your acoustic environment and sound system design.

The investment matters less than the approach. A modest but properly designed and installed system will outperform an expensive system badly implemented. It's not about buying the most expensive equipment—it's about understanding what your space needs and ensuring those needs are met.

Sound shapes how customers experience your venue, how long they stay, how much they spend, and whether they return. It influences their mood, their conversation, their entire perception of your business.

You can continue treating it as an afterthought and wonder why your beautiful space isn't performing as expected. Or you can recognize that in hospitality, there are no small details—only details you choose to get right or get wrong.

Music isn't intangible. Its effects are measurable, predictable, and significant. The only question is whether you'll measure them in revenue growth or missed opportunities.

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References

• How Does Background Music Affect Dining Duration, Tips and Bill Amounts in Restaurants? A Field Experiment - Journal of Consumer Research

• The Effect of Musical Style on Restaurant Customers' Spending - Environment and Behavior

• Effect of soundscapes and crowd density on economic behavior in commercial streets - ScienceDirect

• Background music tempo effects on food evaluations and purchase intentions - ScienceDirect

• How Music Can Influence Customer Purchasing - Startle

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At Insense, we work with F&B venues throughout the planning process to integrate sound systems that match your concept, budget, and space. If you're in the early stages of planning a venue in Da Nang or Hoi An, starting the conversation about sound now will save you money and create better results than waiting until construction is underway. We're not the best writers really, far from it, but we believe communication is key—especially when it comes to helping venue owners avoid expensive mistakes.