Restaurants Spend Big for Upgraded Outdoor Dining With Quicker Service,Elaborate Decor for Winter

At Hearth & Hill, an upscale restaurant in Park City, Utah, staff will now have a uniform to keep warm and spend more time outside on the heated patio to be visible to guests. New electronic tablets send orders back to the kitchen to speed up plates. Another thing that has caught on: selling branded knit hats for diners whose ears get chilly.

“We want them to be comfortable,” says co-owner Brooks Kirchheimer.