Start a Restaurant

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, and assist small business. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States.

A wonderful volunteer organization that works as a resource partner with the SBA is SCORE. SCORE considers itself as the “counselors to America’s small business”, offering confidential advice to help owners make a potential successful small business idea into a reality.

WHAT IS SCORE?

It was founded in 1964 and since then as helped more than 7.5 million small businesses. They offer face to face small business counseling at 389 chapter offices nationwide. They ensure that their volunteers (who are usually successful business owners who have retired) have a broad range of skills to help solve all types of business problems they offer small business online solutions at www.score.org.

HOW CAN SCORE HELP YOU?

The following are a couple of examples of businesses that SCORE considers as “small business success” stories.

Little Scoops – Recently listed in Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the “Hot New Franchises for 2005″ Little Scoops started only 5 years ago. One of the founders Michelle claims that “without the help of the volunteer counselors at SCORE, her success never would have happened.

Prior to opening her first store, the counselors insisted she and her partner think long term, and helped them develop a plan to set up finances and how to evaluate potential locations. Just recently, the SCORE counselors have helped them begin the process of franchising their 9 locations into a national concept. (more…)

Decorating your Italian restaurant is nearly as important as what is on your menu. When people dine out they are doing so for a couple of different reasons. Often they don’t want to cook and clean but still desire a delicious meal, and they want a pleasant atmosphere.

Creating an atmosphere is one of the main elements of decorating. The atmosphere that you create will greatly depend on what type of food you will be serving. If your main specialty is pizza, and your target patron is that of the younger generation and families, you would probably decorate your restaurant differently than you would if you were going to be opening a very upscale café.

Restaurants with themes are becoming increasingly popular. For an Italian restaurant you may want to have a street café theme, or an old world theme. Both of these are wonderful for setting the atmosphere in an Italian eatery.

Once you have a general idea of what theme or atmosphere you hope to create, start from the ground up. Your walls and floors will have to be an appropriate color to help you create that atmosphere. Earth tone colors are very popular in Italian restaurants.

Next on the list is your furniture. Decide what types of tables and chairs will help to set off your décor. You can choose anything from medium to dark wood, or even tables that depict classic Italian art. There are specialty tables available from some distributors that include those with a specific Italian theme. (more…)

Are you going to start a restaurant business? If yes then this article is for you. There are many things which should be kept in mind while starting a restaurant. You need to do lots of research and planning before starting anything new. You cannot start a restaurant business without proper equipment and supplies. You have to spend some time and money in finding perfect restaurant supplies.

First of all you have to make the list of all the things you will need in your restaurant. Every restaurant has its own requirements. There are many sources which can help you in selecting the right equipment. You can start your search with food service equipment dealers. Nowadays every food equipment dealer is having a website. It is a good idea to got trough their website before you shop anything. There are many equipment dealers online but your job is to find the one which offers affordable supplies and equipment.

There are many companies out there which are offering latest equipment for restaurant business. But not every one of them offers proper customer service. The customer service offered by the company should be professional, efficient and helpful.

You should know about all the equipments you will need in a restaurant. If you are new to this business then you should spend some time with a professional or a restaurant owner. (more…)