Tips to Start Your Restaurant

When it comes to learning how to open a restaurant you may encounter a lot of negativity surrounding the idea. Since the restaurant industry is notorious for its low success rate, it can be difficult to get your foot in the door. There are several things that need to be taken into consideration when attempting to open your first restaurant.

It’s a well known fact that restaurant turnover is high. Many establishments change hands and locations several times over the years. You need to plan for the worst case scenario from day one because let’s face it, it’s better to be prepared than to be caught off guard. One of the first things needed to open a restaurant is a really great business plan. This includes determining what type of restaurant you wish to run down to every minute detail. Theme, cuisine and liquor sales are all aspects that need to be clearly thought out and planned for.

Taking a business management course in a post secondary institution would be incredibly beneficial. It’s also a good way to network through student business conferences. Networking is especially important when looking for an investor. The majority of restaurant owners generally don’t have that kind of up front money to cover the property taxes, licenses and overhead start up costs. Continue reading…

Talk about a difficult endeavor. Opening your first restaurant is not an easy achievement. Normally the process takes a year or more after you decide to go for it. And the planning involved is immense! You have to get a business license, sign a lease agreement for your building, equipment to buy, contracts with food providers, employees to hire, advertising, . . The list goes on and on!

But you continue on. Why? Obviously it is not the documented numbers for success. Some of those numbers say you have a 90% failure rate. But no worries, you’ve got something more to offer. This is your dream, and no analyst, or dumb numbers will take it away from you.

And you know what? You’re right! Any number that is published is still just a number, and numbers do not know passion. And hell, even if those numbers do hold out, you still did something to try to achieve your dream. Most people just think about it, but you’re doing it!

Even so, no matter how much you want your dreams of owning a successful restaurant to come true, they will not unless you work hard for it. Yes, sorry, but it is true. You have to work very hard for it. Really, really hard. I don’t think I can emphasize it enough, you have to work hard (times a googol) to fulfill your dream.

The following are three lessons I believe are the most important to make your new restaurant a success: Continue reading…

Research shows that 89% of café and restaurant businesses fail within the first five years of opening, and yet the successful hospitality businesses are amongst some of the most lucrative businesses in the world! You can often find a heaving restaurant neighboring one that is completely empty; the location is the same, so how can this happen?

The successful restaurant is meeting expectations, whereas the unsuccessful one is not. In short, only one has done their homework! Extensive research and preparation is vital when you start a new restaurant business. It is the only way to lay the foundation for success; and a business management toolkit can be a useful way to avoid the early pitfalls to which many new restaurant businesses succumb.

Of course, as with any new business a suitable location needs to be found, investment and budgets prepared and the nature of provision needs to be determined. Beyond this however, the restaurant industry offers a very specific service. When you start a restaurant business, you need to take a wide range of industry related factors into consideration. This is where a restaurant management toolkit can prove invaluable.

The success of any restaurant business relies on its customers and so to start a new restaurant business you need to research the potential market. This will highlight what your client base will be and what they will expect. Once this is determined, you need to draw up an effective business plan that details your vision whilst incorporating all aspects required for you to start a restaurant business destined for success.

The design of the new restaurant needs to be practical, whilst reflecting the needs of the customers and creating an attractive environment. A restaurant management toolkit can assist with the smallest details, which can really make a difference to the success of a new restaurant. Once the design features are determined, the new restaurant business needs to be marketed efficiently and effectively. This will ensure that the client base are alerted and also drawn to your new restaurant, to begin its success. Continue reading…

Researching information for a recent business plan, I came across an interesting number of 54,000. What is the big deal about that? Over 54,000 new restaurant business licenses were applied for in the last twelve months nationally. That is over 4,500 new restaurant licenses every month, or 90 licenses per state per month.

Out of these 4,500 monthly licenses, I wondered about how many of these new applicants are experienced operators who are really qualified to open a restaurant. As a new restaurant startup specialist, I can sadly attest to the fact that very few of these persons are fully qualified, and as a result, my firm, Restaurant Consultants, Inc. stays busy aiding those who are wise enough to ask for aid in the early stages of a startup restaurant.

The truth is that few people (just starting up) are fully competent at each task in a restaurant. As a new owner operator, you will need to master these skills beforehand—or get help. Frankly, if you do not, you will personally pay the price of being less profitable, and possibly the ultimate price of going out of business. Let us look at a few broad areas where you may need operational assistance:

1. Concept Development: Can you create a concept, position it in the marketplace, and grow the concept through licensing or franchising? What is your exit plan?

2. Pre-opening: Are you able to produce a Feasibility Study, a Business Plan, a Demographic Survey, and schedule the opening around a timetable and budget?

3. Staffing: Are you familiar with employment law, hiring, training, establishing personnel policies and scheduling all of your staff around a budget? Did we discuss management training and development yet? Continue reading…

One of the biggest decisions you will make in your life, is whether to open a restaurant of your own. If you do decide to open a restaurant, you must have an understanding family, as you will be spending a great deal of time getting it started, and running it efficiently.

The idea of opening a restaurant may seem wonderful and glamorous to those who are on the outside looking in, but once you are involved in the day by day responsibility of running a restaurant you will learn just how wrong this is. You may be involved in chatting up the customers, but you will also need to be involved in the dirtier side of the business. You may need to get down and dirty when it comes to clean-up and bored to tears over the amount of required paperwork.

Most people think that having an MBA from a good college is all you need to open a restaurant. You will need more skills than you can learn in college to run open and run a successful restaurant. This is not to say that an MBA will not be of use to you, it is just that it takes so much more to open and run a restaurant than anyone can teach you in college. In other words– “You have to be there!”.

You will need the skills of a Construction Manager, an Architect, Accountant, Human Resources Manager, Graphic Designer, Interior Decorator, Marketer, and Mentor. Of course if you have a partner, you could split the skills up, unless neither of you have any skills, and then your in a very bad situation. Make sure you know a bit about everything before you sink any money into this endeavor.

If you don’t know much about construction, you may find that your contractor will think it is his duty to spend more money than he needs to. You also need to know what to look for in a competent Manager or Assistant Manager, your work team will suffer.

If you decide to invest in a franchise decisions like the name of the restaurant, design, menu, operating systems, and suppliers. This will help with some of your decision problems, but not all of them. You will still need to deal with employees and other day to day business. It will help if you do a bit of research on what it takes to open a restaurant. Did I say a bit? Learn everything you can about every aspect of running a restaurant. Continue reading…

First of all you will need to think about the type of restaurant you want to open. Primarily, restaurants are grouped into three categories: quick service or fast food, midscale where you will get a good meal for a good price, and upscale with plenty of charm and fancy cuisine. This will also be dependent upon the type of food you want to serve, and the type of customers frequent the area.

One idea is to open an ethnic restaurant such as, Italian, Mexican, French, etc.. You can open an ethnic restaurant in any of the three categories, but before you choose take a look at the demographics of your area. You may want to take a demographic survey so you can get information on:

• The ages of the customers that will eat at your restaurant business.
• What types of ethnic groups live in the surrounding area.
• The occupations and income levels near your restaurant business.
• How many people will be interested in the type of food you will be serving.
• What are the needs, in terms of services or products, of the people in your area? Will you get enough business in the area you are planning to put your restaurant business?

A competitive analysis will show you what other restaurant business are in the area and what type of competition they will give you. You can do this by going to the restaurants as a customer, and checking out the menu to see how much they charge for their food and drink. This will help you decide how much to charge for your fare. To start your competitive survey, you should check the phone book and yellow pages in that area that have a restaurant business in the same category as yours.

The type and size of your restaurant business will determine the amount or size of the following:

• What you will need in the line of equipment.
• How many pieces of dishware, glassware, flatware, linens and napkins, you will need.
• Cooler, freezer, and storage size.
• How large your building will need to be.
• How many employees you should hire.
• How much parking you will need.
• What you will need in the line of advertising. Continue reading…

Like any eager chef or businessperson with a nose for great food, you’re surely excited to get working on your restaurant, and to satisfy palates all over town. Of course, there will be bills to pay, papers to sign, a few accountants needed to keep everything in order – and, oh yes, the business plan.

You can write a killer restaurant business plan as long as you remember your goals, and what will make your restaurant special. To get started, take note of the following business plan recipe.

• The Icing on the Cake – Most business people don’t have time to read a complete business plan, so they settle for the cover letter and executive summary. Make a polite, terse, but exciting cover letter; and make the summary stand out by writing it as concisely, and in as excited – but not childish – a tone as possible.

• The Base – Otherwise known as the description of your company, describe your restaurant by outlining its mission and vision.

• Combine All Ingredients – It’s time to describe your restaurant! What will you serve? Who are you catering to? How are you going to market your restaurant and sustain it? What is your price range? Will you be having sales? Specials? Combos?

• Mix Well – Describe your operational procedure, how your restaurant will be managed, and how its team is organized. Your restaurant will most likely have a hierarchy of authority, so outline this completely. Remember, a business plan isn’t only for analysts or investors – it’s for you to keep your restaurant up and running, to remind everyone who is in charge of what, and to remind everyone who’s boss at any one time. Your business plan is your reference material if anything goes wrong. Continue reading…

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 list them, not necessarily in order:

• The basic business plan
• Arranging the financing
• Securing the property
• Seeking out a contractor
• Creating the cuisine
• Looking for employees
• Obtaining insurance, accounting and legal resources
• Planning the marketing approach
• Setting a timetable
• Designing a menu

The last one is not the least, in order of importance. It might even be the first. Without a menu, you have no restaurant. Why? Because it sets the tone for the whole operation.

It lists all the items you have for sale. It shows the public your pricing structure. It gives other information such as payment types, catering, banquet facilities, delivery or takeout, and other details about your business. If it doesn’t, it should. It’s a mini-advertisement or billboard, that eventually ends up in the hands of every single customer, therefore it’s terribly important. So, how much time did you spend on it’s content and design? Probably not nearly enough, but now you have some food for thought (pardoning the pun).

Now, a few words about my background. I worked as a sales consultant for the Yellow Pages for 25 years and encouraged all my restaurant accounts to place their menus in the directory. The problem was the need for a full page to accommodate the menu. That proved to be rather expensive and therefore, not an option, for many family-run restaurants. Continue reading…

Those looking to start a restaurant business need to be properly equipped with the right information. Everywhere you look; there is another magazine or a book that promises to help you along the way. But who can you trust? The good news is that there are some simple steps that anyone can take to make sure that you get started on the right foot. Here are four steps that you can start on today to help start a restaurant business.

The First Step: Plan

You can’t successfully start a restaurant business if you don’t have a plan in place. Planning is the key to making sure that you have all of the information and resources for your restaurant in place ahead of time. This will allow you to make the best decisions for your business. Here are some things you can ask yourself today:

• What kind of customer do I want to serve?
• Do I have a concept in mind?
• Where will I be setting up my restaurant?
• What will make my business unique?

You need to write out the ideas that you have so that you can begin to assemble them into a professional and clear business plan. Here’s what you need to do for the plan itself.

The Second Step: Make a Physical Business Plan

Many business owners find it beneficial to have a physical piece of paper with their plans to start a restaurant business. With things like restaurant business software, you can build a business plan that’s easy to read and for presenting to a bank or a business partner. This plan should include: Continue reading…

How important is a business proposal? For one, it gives you a head start in starting up your desired restaurant business. You see, before the bank or the lending company will give their nod of approval for your proposed loan, you have to actually convince them first that you deserve the money. Without it, you wouldn’t have enough startup capital to buy the much needed equipment and supplies and pay your expenses, such as salary to your employees and advertising costs. Yet how do we exactly go about the business proposal? Consider the following suggestions:

1. If you are a novice in writing business proposals, then don’t be afraid to get some extra help from the experts. You can ask for different strategies on how to write them, such as what clicks and what doesn’t to the intended readers. Luckily, for those who are just too shy to approach anyone, there are numerous computer programs available on the market. Included in the package are some business templates that you need to slightly modify to suit your desired output. Also, these can be saved for future references, and changes are easy to implement.

2. One technique in writing a business proposal is to divide it into two parts. The first portion will focus on describing the different opportunities of your business as well as your plans on how to take advantage of them. The second part will show the current financial data, like the financial statements and tax returns. Continue reading…