Agree or not, we all once in our lives have thought of owning a restaurant business. As correctly said, stop thinking, and start doing. Gone are the days when opening a restaurant meant loads of money and the requirement of huge manpower. Time has changed, and so have the steps.
With the growing urban population and changing eating habits, the restaurant business is one of the most flourishing industries in the whole world right now.
The current period is the best time ever for you to open up a restaurant. As more people are going out to eat and experiment with new food, it’s the perfect time to shoot up your food business. The restaurant business needs patience and perseverance, so you need to hold it tight till things start to fall in place.
Here is a 10-Step Restaurant Business Plan
Here’s a quick guide on everything you need to know to start your own restaurant business with very little money. The list has been curated with ideas and inputs from some of the most successful restaurant chains and food joints.
1. Naming Your Business & Concept
You have to be very clear about your restaurant concept. You have an idea in your mind, but the execution has to be done very precisely. Everybody is serving some good food and service out there, but you have to think out of the box and have a functional idea. Do some market research and try to understand the local demand, competition, trends, and tastes of the local customers as much as possible.
Coming to the name, do check if your restaurant has a domain name available. As the whole world is on the internet now, having a website is indispensable.
Related Read: How to Name Your Business
2. Choosing What To Serve
The most important part of the list, choosing the menu. While preparing the menu, you need to keep in mind how and what you are going to deliver. The time you need to make them, the availability of ingredients, the equipment you will need, and the staff you will have to hire. So be very particular about what you pick.
3. Arranging Finance
While you are ready with your basics, now you need to work on how you will spend. If you have saved enough, you are all set to go, but in case you have to need a loan, reach out to venture capital investors and submit your business plan. A basic restaurant can start at as low as $3,000.
4. Choosing The Location
With your money ready, you now can choose a location according to your financial plan. It’s never a bad idea to start small. What matters the most is what you are offering, how is your service, and how good you are at it. Though always looking for a place that has at least some visibility.
Related Read: How to Start a Retail Store Business
5. Making Your Restaurant Legally Compliant
Choose the business structure under which you are going to operate and proceed further. You need to complete your legal process to launch your restaurant commercially. It varies from country to country, but generally, it’s a food license, a local permit, and a couple of NOCs.
6. Choosing The Right Supplier
As a restaurant will need a continuous supply of important items, choosing the right supplier will change your game. Having a reliable source is quite important to make sure that your restaurant can run with ease. It’s recommended to choose a wholesale supplier, and also keep a few alternatives handy in case of an emergency.
Read: What is Restaurant Franchise
7. Shaping Up The Restaurant
Ambiance plays a major factor in why someone goes back to a particular restaurant. Organizing the restaurant properly is really important. Choose a theme, keep the furniture simple as much as possible, choose good lighting, and train your staff to be courteous.
Here’s a handy list:
- Choose the layout
- Keep the design simple
- Decorate wisely
- Choose good lights
- Use cozy furniture
- Good music
8. Hiring & Training Staff
As you will into a service business, make sure that you pick up the right staff. Your staff will define half of your restaurant, so make sure that you train them properly on how to act and react in different situations like purchasing, serving, receiving, preparation, storing, cleaning, and much more.
**Pro Tip – Give away incentives to the top performer of the week/month encouraging all the staff to work hard.
9. Restaurant Promotion
After you go public, it’s time to give your food business a shoutout. There are a lot of options available at little cost to promoting your food business. Also, you can social media to advertise your restaurant and give it a push. Engage people on your social media platforms, put up offers, reply as early as possible, give away special discounts, run happy hours, and more.
Read: Unique Ways of Promoting a Restaurant
10. Bringing Back The Customer
That’s the most difficult part. When you see customers coming back, know that you are on the right path. The restaurant business is all about offering good food added with some top ambiance and courteous service. Making the customer come back to your place shows how well you have done your job.
To end with, the most crucial part of your food business is a website, as it will add to your visibility and presence helping you to pull in more customers.
Editorial Team at 99BusinessIdeas is a team of experts led by Rupak Chakrabarty with over 25 years of experience in starting and running small businesses. Started in 2010, 99BusinessIdeas is now one of the largest free small business resources in the industry.