Running a restaurant is possibly one of the most highly stressful things an entrepreneur can choose to do. It involves so much more than simply offering high quality food to demanding customers, although that is rather a large part of the process. It’s an industry that is highly competitive and thrives on eliminating new competition that pops up, so you need to be able to come in and make a difference in what you do. There are a few things that you need to think about before making such a commitment, other than the type of cuisine you want to serve up. We’ve got four of the things you need to know before opening that dream restaurant.
To Build Or To Buy
One of the things that will come up for you is whether you should build yourself a restaurant from the ground up in a desired location, or buy an existing restaurant that is standing in the area that you want. Buying an existing restaurant can be difficult, unless you decide to strip it back and go another way. You have to get over negative customer opinions and try and rebrand, which is definitely not a guarantee for success. Building a new restaurant will help your brand to evolve, but there are a lot more costs involved.
Equipment
Equipment is usually the biggest business expense to consider. The cuisine that you serve will often dictate what you buy, as you wouldn’t need to buy fish de-scaler en masse if you are only serving beef. You have to determine how many of each item of catering equipment you will need for your business, and you then have to decide whether you want to lease or buy the equipment outright. Check out the pros and cons for each here.
Location
The ‘where’ of your business is often the most important thing to consider. Determining the best location for your restaurant is going to be based on extensive market research and community opinion, so don’t skimp on that side of things. Always check restrictions on liquor licensing, and make sure that you know whether or not there is already plenty of options in the same area. That would mean you avoid it; oversaturation has a habit of seeing restaurants fail.
Staffing
When you consider opening a restaurant, you have to hire carefully. A business that faces the public needs people who want to deal with other people. Customers will go to a restaurant for the service as well as the food and if your restaurant food is impeccable, but the service is less than desirable, you will not survive. People talk, and they will review your restaurant to the locals. If you lose the locals, you lose your business. Hire carefully and you can ensure you don’t fall behind on quality people.
Opening a restaurant should be an exciting time, so make sure you have covered all your bases before you hit GO and start running toward the finish line.
