How to Start a Restaurant

by Startacus Admin

How to Start a Restaurant continued...

Finance

• Do you have a realistic idea of how much setting up the restaurant will cost ? Do you know how you are going to raise the capital e.g. startup loans or investors?

• What will your monthly overheads be?  How much money will you need to make in order to breakeven/make a profit?

• Do you have a contingency fund in place to fall back on incase you miss your targets?

• If you will be working in the restaurant will you be giving yourself a guaranteed salary?

• Who will manage the finances of the business?  Do you plan on doing it yourself or will you use the services of an accountant?

• Will there be any insurance costs to consider?

Marketing

• Have you put together a marketing strategy for your restaurant yet?  If not is there anyone with experience who could give you a hand?

• What special promotional tactics do you plan to use for the opening of your restaurant? A press release, launch event and special offers are all a good place to start.

• Do you think that your startup journey is particularly inspiring or unique? Are there any local publications which would be interested in doing a feature on you?

• Are there any websites which cater to startup businesses which you could get in contact with (Startacus would love to hear from you)

• Do you have any experience of using social media in a marketing capacity?  How can you best utilize it to spread the word about your restaurant?. What social media sites are your target market likely to use? Do you plan to have active twitter and facebook pages?  If so who will manage these for you? Dont forget to check out our many articles on using social media to boost your business

• Are you going to offer any special promotions such as an early bird special?  Who will you promote these?

• Are there any local publications in which you could advertise?

• Are there any businesses in the areas such as hotels which may be willing to offer mutual recommendations?

Running a restaurant is a complicated business, here are some of the things that you need to be thinking about…

• Make sure that you get all required licenses to sell food and drink in your local area

• Do you have a good understanding of food hygiene and safety regulations?  If not, it may be a good idea to take a quick course to re-familiarize yourself

• Make sure that you are aware of and adhere to all health and safety regulations

• They will no doubt be insurance practicals to sort out so make sure you understand these and have policies in place before you open for business

• If you are going to be employing other people make sure that you have a good understanding of employment laws and regulations

• Its a good idea to have a clear policy with regards to equal opportunities, you may wish to have a nosy at some other companies literature to give you some ideas

As always this is by-no-means an exhaustive guide to starting your own restaurant, there will obviously be much much more to consider and get to grips with, but we hope it has got you thinking about the kind of things which you will need to address.

Check out the Startacus business toolkit for a growing directory of all the business bits-and-bobs, links and articles you may need - no matter what business you are considering starting and get working on your business idea in our virtual workspace...

Decided that starting a restaurant isn't for you?  Maybe one of these other food themed businesses will tickle your fancy?

• How to start a B&B

• How to open a coffee shop

Join Startacus - the Self Start Society!

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