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| Cheers metal art sign image by amazon |
Details you need once you get the idea that you'll own and operate the next great restaurant in your town/city and are ready to fulfill that dream into reality - How to Open a Restaurant. You've no doubt already read other sections of this well known blog and if not, take a few minutes now here to follow along so you won't miss any posts and read at your leisure. Follow our checklist and get ready to open your restaurant soon:
Checklist for How to Open a Restaurant:
- Lease or mortgage - get your best deal in place so you'll know just how much business you need to generate daily, weekly and monthly to make the payments.
- Commercial equipment - get ready with our list of best products and prices on the pieces you need to start your new business and never use residential equipment. Once you're build is ready, you'll be inspected by the local agencies that allow you to open and they'll only let you hang that Open for business sign when you have the proper equipment for running a restaurant. To get a better handle on what you'll need and want, heck out more of our page on commercial restaurant and bar equipment reviews.
- POS System - a point of sales system is essential for your business to enter customer orders that lead to the kitchen or bar areas, prints customer receipts, tracks sales for the day and generates the X and Z reports for total sales. Todays POS systems can even run your customer credit cards so it's an update to your business that improves efficiency of your business. You'll need a professional installation working with your electrician if you're in the build out stage of your business to run the cables and lines from the server areas to the work stations. Or, upgrade your POS system if your business is up and running but, you're still using older hand written orders and receipts.
- Tables and chairs or booths - customers need comfortable and clean seating so choose wisely based on the size of your space. Booths around the edges and round or small square tables work well for the center areas. Think of larger groups too and have a couple larger rectangle or round tables to seat groups of customers. Make sure to purchase sturdy tables and chairs or you'll be replacing those old card tables very often and that's not cost effective.Check out one of our favorite tabletops 36x36 reversible in black or mahogany. 8 other sizes available so you can mix and match them for your own restaurant, $60 or less and free shipping! Mount your tabletops to these 30x30" table bases easily and affordable.
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| Clear bubble vase set of 12 image by amazon |
Think simple, classic and timeless or you'll be trending yourself now so that in a few years or ten years you'll be replacing those blue and yellow plates for simple white plates someday. Use white commercial grade dinner plates that are oven safe, dishwasher safe and they'll last for years to come. Try simple bubble ball vases in bulk for less than $20/set of 12 that you can add a pop of color with floating silk flowers or floating candles for instant color to the dining table. Super affordable, reusable and the right size for the tables without creating a distraction.
- Theme and Art -
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| Retro coffee poster print image by amazon |
- Join Restaurant Associations and Magazine Subscriptions for continued learning month after month for true success in your business.
- MENU - think of what will help you stand out from the crowd or you'll always be competing with other businesses around you that are already well known or have the niche covered. Be unique, do what you do best. Create your menu based on how much staff you have or will be able to carry, how many customers you can manage in your restaurant and the cost of items. You'll have the best success if you make your own menus instead of farming it out to a printing company. (trust me, we've sent our menus out and waited way too long for them to be returned and it's way too expensive). Use your own computer and make your own with our tips on making business cards (scroll down to see our link) - same technique or email me for help at healthy1chef at yahoo.com.
- Uniforms - decide what you'd like the restaurant uniform to be. Uniforms help your staff with a cohesive look and helps the customers know who works there. They're an essential part of creating your perfect restaurant and won't cost you an arm and a leg. Pants/skirts/shorts with tee shirts/shirts. Personally, I like the look of a black pant/skirt with a long sleeved button down shirt. Add a tie or not. Server aprons in black or a pop of color. When you have a simple and basic uniform, everyone can duplicate it themselves without you having to provide uniforms - just the aprons and that's a win for you and your restaurant.
- Staff - you'll want a manager or two, chef/cooks/ dishwasher/ servers, bus person, coat check, host/hostess. Read our tips on How to Choose the Right Team for your Start Up Restaurant for more ideas.
- How to Make Business Cards that Boost Sales - be sure to have your own business cards to help you create your brand and make yourself and your restaurant well known.
- Vendors - contact all your local food and beverage sales companies and make arrangements to meet with them in your restaurant. You'll want to share your menu and get prices on the cost of the food and supplies you're going to need. Ask for their ideas and input on ways to save money on the items you'll be buying every week. Vendors want to be your primary source of products and will give you better prices if you can sign and maintain a contract with them. You'll find that the more you buy, the better your costs will be so think carefully of your menu and make arrangements with vendors soon. Be prepared with a list of questions, they'll help you through the process. The beverage companies will typically want you to sell their products exclusively and in return will set up your entire system, installing all the lines and machines and providing even coolers if you need them.
- Set up your Restaurant Office - you'll want to make sure your back office has the proper supplies such as a computer, desk, books, procedures, manuals, phone system and all those little things that make your restaurant function as a place of work and where the staff can find you.
- Money Management System - see our review of Quickbooks to help you manage your restaurant checking account for business.
- Job descriptions -
- Payroll system -
- Policy and Procedure manual -
- Social media platforms -
- Read and study as much as you can, our Recommended Books for Restaurant Owners section will help you get started. Maintain a growing library of information at your fingertips.
- Grand Opening - or soft opening? We really prefer and highly recommend that you start with a soft opening before announcing your big, grand opening to the public. Why? Well, you need time and so does the staff to get used to the space, get timing down pat, practice for what's bound to be errors and get a first run at how it's all going to fall into place. You'll also find areas that need major or minor improvements during a soft opening.
-- Start by inviting your own friends and families, vendors, bankers, landlord and allow the staff to invite a few guests each too. Make sure everyone knows it's a soft opening to prepare for the big grand opening. You can offer special discounts to your guests on this night or do what we did - offer it all complimentary!
-- Ask for honest feedback from your first customers this night. How was the timing, prompt service, taste of the food and drinks, any suggestions or problems? You'll get good honest feedback from your own friends and families that want you to succeed in your own restaurant so take the advice and fix any and all problems before the grand opening.
-- Give yourself and your staff at least a week or maybe two after the soft opening for the Grand Opening to give plenty of time to purchase more supplies and make sure the staff is comfortable and ready for full blown service.
-- Meet with your entire staff after the soft opening to offer advice and get their input on ideas for suggested improvements so you can all be successful.
-- Contact the local television, newspaper and radio stations to notify them of the Grand Opening night. You can type up a press release and fax it to the stations above or call them or drop by for a personal visit. You're sure to get lots of free exposure of the opening of your new restaurant so be ready!
We know it's your dream to own your own restaurant and wish you all the success with achieving it. We've done it and you can too.
Follow along with us each step of the way, we're here for you at Successful Restaurant Tips. Cheers!
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