Start 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 as well as highly stressful. The first step when deciding to open any business is to sit down with a business consultant who can give ideas and information input.

Let us assume the decision has been made to open a full service home-style restaurant in your hometown. The very first step is to find a good location. Location is going to be a key factor in the success of your restaurant. You want to choose a location that is accessible to a wide range of customers with a good amount of traffic. You also want to decide whether to buy or build or to lease space for the restaurant. If you choose to lease the space, I suggest you possibly locate near big box stores such as Kohl’s, TJ Maxx etc. Also locating close to a movie theater can be a plus. If building your own restaurant is more your style, check property management companies. They might have properties available where you can lease the land and they will build to suit. The third option is to purchase the property outright and build. (more…)

For many entrepreneurs, starting a restaurant business represents a great way to make a good living while doing something that they love. The restaurant business has a high failure rate though with many people quickly realizing that there is more work involved than they originally anticipated and they find that they are not really suited to the restaurant business. Here are some things to consider before you jump in to this industry and invest your time and capital into opening a restaurant.

1) Qualifications and experience. While these are not absolutely necessary you will be drastically increasing your chances of success if you have or can acquire a qualification from a culinary school or if you have some other kind of food, beverage or hospitality industry experience or training

2) Business management skills. If you don’t have reasonably good skills and knowledge in areas like bookkeeping, marketing and management there are numerous courses in small business administration that you could consider taking before you take the plunge with your own business. (more…)

A restaurant business plan has a simple outline which any restaurant can take advantage of. Being in the restaurant line, you’ll know that you can write and read a bunch of things, but what works best for you is the service you offer to the customer. The basic business model could be anything, it could be a spa or a coffee shop, but the core motto remains the same, which is that of excellent service, nothing more and nothing less. Do engrave that in the first slide of your business presentation plan.

What do people expect in a restaurant? Good food and drinks, excellent service, comfortable ambiance, friendly staff and a place where they can unwind and have a good time. (more…)