Start a Restaurant

Keep Focused on the Restaurant Business

The food service industry caters to a universal need of humans – to be nourished. However, the way food appeals to humans isn’t at all universal. Mankind is a diverse group and there isn’t one particular operation of food service that could satisfy this diversity. This is one reality that aspirants in the restaurant business find difficulty to accept. Many hopefuls think they can catch everyone, but such efforts end up in failure. Trying to cater to everyone results into not being able to cater to anyone at all. It is best to just concentrate on a small part of the market, say ten percent or so, this way, you can offer the best service for that part of [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Restaurant Business Management

Limited Options Strangle Restaurant Loans

From a conventional stand point restaurant loans are taking the worst of it as the credit crisis has seemed to have worsen. Special use properties such as restaurants are always the first to feel the tightening as the process to sell the facility in case of borrower default is more difficult that your typical general use property that will have a wider pool of buyers.Conventional financing for restaurants, meaning loan issued directly by the funding banks, without any guarantee by the SBA or other such institutions, are getting very conservative. Loan to values are hover at 55% on refinances and 60% on purchases. Debt coverage ratios have tightened as well from a 1.25 to a 1.3 and with [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: 30 year fixed rate, 30 year fixed rate mortgage, borrower, capitalization rate, coverage ratios, credit crisis, debt, debt coverage, example, financing, fixed rate mortgage, Jeff RauthArticle, Loan, mortgage, Rate, restaurant loans, SBA, sba 7a loan, use, year, year fixed rate mortgage

Business Etiquette – Dinner With Investors

If you have potential investors flying in from another part of the country, you are likely to have them for dinner. Meals can be a pitfall in any relationship, either business or personal. Many people judge your ability to select a restaurant, pick wine, and sit through a meal as a proxy for how you conduct your life. If you are unable to do these things with appropriate acumen, you will likely be judged unfit to receive funding, especially if the investor is on the fence about your company.Manners are about making other people feel comfortable and behavior that is seen as disrespectful, discourteous or abrasive is usually unintentional.Here are some basics to get through a dinner with an [...] Continue Reading…

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Restaurant Business Planning Software

Do you worry about your new restaurant? Are you afraid of the risks involved in putting up a restaurant businesses? Many restaurants still fall short in spite of having all the requirements in starting a restaurant. Or so they thought.

The problem is that most people who wish to put up a restaurant business thought that their main problem would be the capital. What they don’t know is that there are many people out there with the right amount of capital who want to put up a restaurant business as well and still, they can’t simply do everything right.

Why? It is because they lack the most important thing in running a business, a restaurant business for that matter. What most [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Restaurasnt Equipment

Proper Furniture Placement In Your New Restaurant

Setting up a restaurant and planning its layout is a totally different ballgame than that of setting up your home dining room. While the latter has just one table and a limited number of diners, the former has numerous dining tables to cater for as well as it has to cater to the tastes and sensibilities of a much larger group of people. It is a challenge you can well take on, however, if you have done your homework well.

This is the place where all your clients are going to spend their time. The immediate impact on entering has to be fabulous, as the saying goes “The first impression is the last impression”. So start working on it right [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Restaurant Designand Concept

Restaurant Loan Options

Owners looking for a restaurant loan have limited options and the credit crisis is giving a “beating” on all special purpose properties; such as restaurants. Although borrowers still have three main sources for financing, including conventional bank loans, CMBS lenders and SBA programs, borrowers are encourage to take a hard look at the SBA programs first due to their reliability of closing and strong benefits.SBA 7a loan has many benefits on both purchase AND refinances, despite the notorious reputation it has with some borrowers. Most of these earlier issues have been ironed out in the last 5 years though borrowers should be careful who they work with, as bank that are inexperienced with the [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: 7a loans, Bank, Business, cash, cash flow analysis, conventional bank loans, coverage ratios, credit, credit crisis, Fee, flow, Jeff RauthArticle, Loan, notorious reputation, purpose properties, renovation loans, Restaurant, SBA, sba 7a loan, sba programs, year

So You Want to Open a Restaurant!

The first thing many people think of when they want to open a business is; Let’s open a restaurant! How hard can it be to cook food for other people? This is one of the questions that will be addressed in this series of articles. My goal in writing this series of articles is to help any future entrepreneur to make well-informed choices. By the finish of this series you (the reader) will be able to decide whether to open a restaurant or some other business. It is also my goal to show you how important a good business consultant is to you and the success of your business.

Opening any business is a daunting task. It is highly rewarding [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Administration, Big-box store, Business, Fazoli, Kohl, Small business, Sole proprietorship, TJ Maxx

Shopping Online for Restaurant Furniture

Shopping for restaurant furniture doesn’t have to be difficult, annoying or tedious, unless of course you want it to be! If you want excuses for not upgrading, remodeling, or opening your own business, you won’t want to shop online to find everything you could ever need.

Whether people are willing to admit it or not, the World Wide Web has made the world a much smaller place, especially when it comes to shopping. The once dreaded tasks of flipping through catalogs, making countless phone calls and driving across town (and even across the state) in search of a specific item has been conveniently replaced with a click of the mouse, a computer screen and an Internet connection. Not only does [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Restaurant Equipment

An Insider’s Word to the Restaurant Biz

I figured I’d put up a some thoughts on what it is like to work in the restaurant biz in Manhattan since I did it for eight months. In one word: crazy. But seriously, restaurant work is really only for those people who are completely psycho. I was pulling 70-80 hours a week and most people would call that pretty weak for the restaurant biz. A lot of chefs start their careers working at 100 plus hours per week. Still, there is a culture about the restauranteurs that I met. It’s not work for them and to be honest, it never really felt like work for me either. The best part of the restaurant biz is the food and [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Restaurant Industry Trends

Attention Restaurant Owners – How to Create a Menu for Success

This is addressed to the one million plus restaurant owners in the US. You are in business to make a profit. Sure, you also want to pass on your great recipes, watch happy people eating and create a legacy for your children. But, when all is said and done, you are in business to make money. Doing so is another issue.

It begins with a plan, including the type of food, location, and marketplace. Who will eat there and how much will they pay? How will you attract them? What are your long-term goals? How about a short-term goal of creating the restaurant and surviving the first year?

There are so many elements in the process, yet it’s fairly easy to [...] Continue Reading…

TAGS: Start a Restaurant