Cafés, small restaurants, homestays
Lighting for cafés, small restaurants and homestays
Lamps for cafés and restaurants under 80 m² and homestays under 15 rooms: a pool of light on every table, the whole room mocked up at night before we make anything, and installation in one night while you are closed. From VND 18,000,000 before VAT.
Updated 4 Oct 2026
You are opening a café, or the one you run is lit as evenly as an office and nobody lingers in the evening. This page covers what we do for a small venue, how it is priced, and how we install it without you closing for a day.
A pool of light per table
Cafés lit with recessed downlights tend to be equally bright from the door to the counter. Bright enough, but no part of the room is darker than any other. We do the opposite: one low pendant over each table, 70 to 80 cm above the top, with the light gathered on the table. Aisles and walls stay darker. The counter is brightest, because whoever is making drinks needs to see their hands.
Every bulb is 2700K, the yellow-white of an old incandescent, at 6 W. Over aisles we keep at least 2.1 m from floor to lamp. Our note on lighting a small café goes deeper into layout.
Cafés, restaurants, homestays
- Cafés under 80 m²: one lamp per table, usually a 35 cm Hạ Chí or a Lập Thu, with a Tiểu Mãn set over the counter.
- Small restaurants: Xuân Phân over long tables, Hạ Chí over tables for two or four.
- Homestays under 15 rooms: Đông Chí at the bedside, enough to read a few pages without glare from the pillow, and a Xuân Phân set in the shared lobby. In damp towns, sealed rattan and no dó paper.
The configuration for each lamp is on the café set page.
How the price works
You pay for the lamps you choose, at the listed price of each, plus VND 2,800,000 for three things: the light mock-up on your floor plan, the circuit layout, and one overnight installation. The minimum is eight lamps. Eight Lập Thu pendants are 8 × 1,900,000 = VND 15,200,000, plus 2,800,000: VND 18,000,000 before 8% VAT.
The full worked example is Thềm Chiều café in Nhiêu Lộc ward (old District 3): 40 seats, 12 tables, a 3.6 m ceiling.
| Item | Price (before VAT) |
|---|---|
| 12 Hạ Chí Ø35 with 2 m cable: 12 × VND 2,660,000 | VND 31,920,000 |
| 1 Tiểu Mãn set over the counter | VND 3,600,000 |
| Floor plan, circuit layout, overnight installation | VND 2,800,000 |
| Total | VND 38,320,000 |
Power use
Thềm Chiều runs fifteen bulbs at 6 W each: 15 × 6 W = 90 W for the whole room. Twelve hours a day for 30 days is 90 × 12 × 30 = 32,400 Wh, or 32.4 kWh a month. Multiply by the business rate on your own electricity bill and you have the cost of the lamps. Our note on café lighting electricity cost shows how to compare it with your old lights.
Installed in one night
Tô Minh Khang arrives after you close and is done before you open the next morning. Every lamp has already run for 24 hours at the workshop and comes numbered and packed in table order, so the night is spent hanging, wiring and setting heights. When the last one is up, Đặng Thu Hà measures the light on every table with a handheld lux meter.
Homestays in other provinces work differently: lamps travel in wooden crates, and travel and installation days are quoted separately. Nhà Chín Phòng in Đà Lạt took nine Đông Chí pendants and a Xuân Phân set, and Khang spent two days installing them.
How to start
- Send a floor plan (a hand sketch with measurements is fine), evening photos of the room, the ceiling height and the number of tables.
- Hà sends a mock-up of the whole room and revises it until you approve.
- You pay a 50% deposit, we make the lamps in three weeks, install them in one night, and you pay the other 50% once they are switched on.
A fifteen-lamp café is about half of what we make in a month, so book early if you have an opening date. To see the lamps lit first, book a workshop visit, or send your photos now through the light mock-up page.
