My fiance and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to open a restaurant after we get married, we both love food, and have the work ability to run a small business. We are thinking a "diner" style something...Does anyone have any tips on how to get this started, what we NEED to know?? We are doing our research, but still have a long way to go!
Thanks in advance!
2007-08-26 13:08:20 · 6 answers · asked by brooklyn7582 5 in Business & Finance ➔ Small Business
Firstly, if neither of you have experience in the restaurant business, I'd advise that you work in restaurants for the next six months or so doing everything from busing tables and washing dishes to waiting tables and cooking if they'll allow you back there and if you have the skills. This will give you some of the work experience that you'll need to understand and run a restaurant profitably.
If this is your first business venture, I would strongly recommend that you talk to a business counselor before you do anything especially spend money. I'd call the local office of SCORE (go to http://www.score.org and input your zip code to find the chapter nearest you), the advice is FREE.
Ask for someone who has a background in restaurants and they'll try their best to match you with the right counselor.
The counselor at SCORE will most likely advise you to write a business plan which is very good advice because it will force you to dig out all of the start up details and the costs of starting a restaurant and force you to also understand all of the aspects of this business including the customers you'll concentrate on (your market ) and how you'll get them to find out and want to come to your fabulous restaurant.
The location of the restaurant is important but doesn't make it successful. To prove that all you have to do is walk down a street in your town where there are several nice restaurants all in a row and you'll find one or two that are empty while the others are very busy. It has to do with menu, ambiance, and your reputation at the beginning and over time.
You also have to have food handling licenses, the right zoning, the right city and county licenses and permits and you have to be skilled at negotiating with your landlord about who'll stand the cost of the build-out or the changes to the premises to make it ready for your look and feel. You also have to worry about the normal business planning and management issues related to starting up any business.
Take a look and read some of the articles at:
http://www.ychange.com/small-business-consulting-articles.html
especially the ones about a business plan and starting a business. Also try their Blog and their Bulletin Board.
Hope this helped.
2007-08-26 15:22:22 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
How much back up $$$$ will you have ?
75% of restaurants fail in the first 2 years because they don't have enough back up $$$ to carry them until they get enough traffic .
Where ? Bad location , bad customer count . . .
And figure on working about 80 hrs a week each for the first 5 years .
And both of you should have real time food service / food prep experience .
Waitresses and chefs can no-show in the blink of an eye .
Do the FULL budget > rent , equipment , supplies , labor etc then , set aside 6 months worth of expenses to carry you through .
Good Luck !
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2007-08-26 13:22:24 · answer #2 · answered by kate 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Get lots of free advice from vendors like Sysco but remember there are cheeper sources for most the food and supplies. You local resturaunt vendors are going to make money off you, make them earn it
#1 -- The first and most important thing to consider when opening a place to eat is location.
#2 - The second and equally impotent item to consider when you are starting a restaurant is the location.
#3 - The third thing to consider that is just as important as the first two, is the location of the establishment.
The location will drive you pricing.
The location must determine your menu.
The location will define your clientele.
A diner will be fine, of you have a realy good location for a diner, if not, you will be screwed.
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Please do not base any decisions no what you see in cooking shows they are payed actors performing from a script and nothing they do has to make financial sense.
They will have you buying a 32,000 coffee roaster or 7,000 pasta machine.
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2007-08-26 13:11:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
unless if you are ready to commit to a hard working 12-16 hour a day job, I would reconsider starting a restaurant.
The overhead to get started is very high and you will not be seeing a profit for a very long time.The restaurants in your neighborhood that do well,do well because they have a good reputation. One rotten egg employee can sink you fast and the restaurant business is filled with employees who take advantage of cash in their hand before it hits the till. I hope you have really thought it through because 75% of everyone assumes they have what it takes to please the publics hunger and the reallity of this is that they don't.
2007-08-26 13:16:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Watch Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC, you'll learn a lot about running a restaurant.
2007-08-26 13:12:05 · answer #5 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it's definitely a risky business....make sure u have enough money to carry you through atleast 3 months
2007-08-26 14:22:53 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋