So you’ve decided to open your own restaurant? Congratulations, here are some topics you won’t want to miss learning about, they will be the key to your success. Take your time to plan it all out and be ready for some curve balls along the way, but don’t skip anything.

Research & Planning

Before everything else, you’ll want to make sure you have done your research. From scouting your competition to making sure you know who your target market will be before making any decisions as to the design, menu or hiring decisions to researching the latest restaurant trends, don’t skimp on the research needed to properly open and run a restaurant in the 21st century.

Management – Business & Finances

This includes payroll, order taking, order processing, bookkeeping, taxes, tips and basically all the finances. Don’t forget to get yourself a great POS, point of sale system, to streamline everything and integrate it with a good food costing program to effectively price and organize your inventory. There are many good books on restaurant management, you may also want to pick up one or a few of these. Don’t forget about proper time management, scheduling and expenses.

Menu

The menu! This is the heart of it all. If you have already decided to take the plunge and open your own restaurant, it’s likely that you’ve already envisioned your menu. Well, you don’t have to commit to a set menu for your restaurant’s lifespan, but it’s a good idea to know what the theme of your menu will be. Will it be French style, modern and trendy cuisine with local fresh ingredients or American style with big portions and a salad bar? Write it all down so you have the menu in mind when you make your other decisions.

Design & Decor

This covers everything from choosing your location to selecting the total design and decor for your restaurant, all the way down to the color of the carpet and color of your napkins. There are alot of decisions you will need to make. You may consider hiring a consultant or a decorator/designer to help you with these aspects. Don’t forget to create the ambience you want with the right lighting.

Employees

You’ll need to consider who you need to hire, when you need to hire them, how you will train them, what you will pay them and how you will manage them. Don’t forget training and certification in food safety, alcohol service and the overall way your employees will interact with the customers. Will it be old fashioned, home style serving or modern service with a smile?

Marketing & Promotion

Aaah, marketing and promotion, this is the grease that will keep your restaurant business running for years to come, if done right. From yellow pages and newspaper ads to your grand opening to getting reviewers to come to your restaurant to creating excellent word of mouth, marketing and promotion of your restaurant will be an ongoing task for the life of your restaurant.

There are many other aspects and things to consider when opening your own restaurant, consider drawing up a full scale business and marketing plan so you know exactly what you need to do and there is no confusion.

Lydia Quinn writes for R & I Solutions, makers of Cost Genie restaurant costing software. Get a free demo at: http://www.costgenie.com

So here’s a head start on crafting your restaurant business sample-

In general there are five things that all restaurant business plans should have. They are Executive Summary, Market Research, History and Position to Date, Operations and Business Strategy.

Speaking about executive summary it should address some vital issues like mission and objective of the company, description of the company, products and services offered, finance requirements as well as financial forecasts. An executive summary is often regarded as the foundation of any business. All the information that you will provide in the plan will be like a guiding path as to what your restaurant will do and how they will do it.

History and position to date is the second vital thing in a business plan sample. This part of the business plan will take you a step further in running your restaurant business. Here you require to include some vital things- such as, the key personnel and the management team of your business, history of your restaurant and also the structure of your restaurant business.

Market research is the most important part of the business plan sample. Efficient market research will only depict how much successful your restaurant business is going to be in the long run. A market research should be inclusive of the following factors – social and economic factors, long-term opportunities, competitive environment, customer description, geographic area, market definition, competitive analysis, market opportunities, competitive advantages and also potential future competition.

The answers that you would get to these things should be analyzed carefully. The information received through market research is invaluable for the success of any business.

Business strategy is another important component of a restaurant business plan sample. Here you should exactly explain how you plan to attract customers to your restaurant. You not only require to attract but also to retain that attraction so as the customers can keep coming back to your restaurant. Thus the topics that should be addressed in this part of the plan are advertising and promotion, incentives or special offers to customers, marketing and sales and commission.

After this comes the fifth most important part of a restaurant business plan sample is Operations. Here you need to explain clearly as to how you will run your business on a daily basis. This part should include things like number of employees you have, type of employees, the daily menu, particular food on a particular day and more. Basically this part of the restaurant business plan should address the daily operations of your restaurant business.

Garen Garson is a restaurateur with a passion for Restaurant Business done right. -check out his HUB pages on restaurant business along with an article on restaurant business plan software and much, much more, including a new one on Restaurant Business Plans

When you’re looking for a restaurant franchise it’s easy to see the track record of success that other people have had in different areas. By opening a restaurant business in a nearby area, you can capitalize on the success that the restaurant has seen elsewhere. This is especially true if you are opening your restaurant business in an area where there is a lot of passing traffic. Out-of-town visitors are more likely to eat some place with a recognizable name than to try a local restaurant.

There are nearly a million restaurants nationwide and national sales records for 2008 should reach $558 billion. Even in times of economic hardship, people still continue to eat at restaurants. 70% of adults surveyed say their favorite restaurant has dishes and flavors that are not reproducible in their home kitchens. Although there’s a large initial investment when opening a restaurant franchise, it’s not comparable to going into the restaurant business alone. When you’re independent of the franchise system you won’t have the added benefits of brand recognition and support from the home office.

As you probably know, there are many different types of restaurant franchises to choose from. You can choose based on cuisine, type of service offered or even focus on food specialties, like at Zoup. Zoup is a fast service soup restaurant franchise. It offers a healthy alternative to burgers, fries and normal fast service dining options. If you want a restaurant business like no other, this may be just the right one for you.

You may want to go with a more familiar restaurant franchise, like McDonald’s, Burger King or Carl’s Jr. These restaurant franchises offer a familiarity that come with an expensive price. If you’re married to the idea of owning a burger joint, Checkers may be right for you. Checkers is a drive-through restaurant franchise that focuses on burgers, fries and shakes. In a small but efficient space, your staff will work a double drive-through to provide quick service at a great price.

Restaurant franchises like La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill offer ethnic food in a casual dining environment. In the industry since 1979, La Salsa is committed to providing fresh Mexican food with the added feature of a fresh salsa bar in each restaurant. Casual dining restaurants like La Salsa are growing in popularity and this type of restaurant franchise is sure to be a winner in your area.

There is no possible way to cover all the different types of restaurant franchises in such a short space. If you’re ready to see what kind of flavors and dining experiences you can bring to your local area, please visit http://www.franchisegenuis.com.

Franchise Genius LLC provides innovative and interactive solutions to connect franchisors and potential franchisees. For prospective franchisees, FranchiseGenius.com provides the industry’s most comprehensive franchise information source, with 1,500+ franchise and business opportunities for sale, plus free & objective franchise selection tools. For Franchisors, Franchise Genius provides a lead generation and management system which integrates with their existing in-house franchise sales efforts.

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