Starting a Restaurant Business

So you want to start a restaurant? Well this is the place to begin. You'll want to begin with the step by step guide. It's generic to any business but the steps are critical to getting you off on the right foot.
Go to the step by step starting a business guide.

What's the most important aspect of your new restaurant?
Did you say location? Location alone won't make your restaurant succeed.. Although your location is important it's just one of many factors that will determine your success. When starting a restaurant there are several important things to consider, competition, type of food and knowing your intended market are just a few.

1. The Food! We've all driven out of our way, in some cases way out of our way, for that perfect slice of pizza, or phenomenal steak dinner. Starting a restaurant begins with a great menu. And different isn't great. Too many people make the mistake of thinking because there isn't a thai restaurant in a city, it will be a raging success. Good food comes in all varieties, and good food always sells.

2. Location, Yes it's important, but how many of us have driven to an out of the way spot, or further than we would have liked to visit a great restaurant? Don't make the mistake of thinking location just means a crowded area. You could lease space in the middle of Manhattan, if the food's no good and the services is lousy you'll go broke. You must consider the demographics of the people travelling by, and the cost of your lease.

3. Customer Service. And you thought we were going to say quality of food didn't you? Think about it for a second. If you're meeting someone for an important lunch meeting, or if you're meeting a friend and you're just pressed for time and you have two choices which would you take. Restaurant one has great food, the place is usually crowded and the service is slow, restaurant two has good food, the service is always fast, and the price is average. Which one are you going to pick?

3. Cleanliness. It's more important in the food industry than any other business that deals directly with the customer. In the average restaurant this can be very trying. The employees are generally low paid and low skilled. This may not be true of the chef, or your waiters and waitresses, but for the bus people, cleaning crew and other staff it is. It takes a constant effort on your part to make sure they keep the place clean.

5. Friendly staff. You can have great service, great food, a terrific location and still have problems. Lunch and dinner are times when we want to relax. A surly waiter can kill the mood quicker than a serving of chicken tartar. (By the way, if you didn't get that last joke you might want to reconsider opening a high end restaurant!) I've eaten at very nice restaurants before and vowed never to go back. I think we all have. The waiter was either prententious, or downright mean. I don't care how good the food is, or how trendy the restaurant, if I"ve brought a client with me it's even more frustrating. The first time a staff member is less than friendly give them a stern warning, the second time, show him the door.

6. Reliable employees. If your staff doesn't show up, everything else falls apart. Those that do show up are not going to be as friendly, it's harder to keep the restaurant clean, and service suffers because it takes longer to get the food to the table. Before starting your restaurant you're going to have to hire people to run it. Make sure during the interview process you set the expectations. This is a restaurant, you have to be on time, and you have to show up for every shift. Let them know that even two absences or tardys are reason for dismissal. I'd go one step further and offer an incentive every quarter for those that don't miss a shift. Your restaurant is two things, the food and the people. Keep that in mind every single day, and the business will prosper

7. You have to market your restaurant. The greatest advantage you can give yourself is to market like crazy. The more people who know about you the more will want to try you. It's a numbers game. Never forget this. If they won't come in and try it, you've got no chance of getting repeat business. Read our restaurant marketing article for help on marketing your new restaurant.

I'm a great Chef, Won't my restaurant be an automatic success? Absolutely not. In fact, you may be more prone to failure. Why? There are several reasons, the success of the restaurant depends on your business skills just as much as your cooking skills. A good chef can bring customers to a restaurant but it takes quality service to keep them coming back. You also have to excel at the business side. You've got to market your restaurant, keep the books in good shape and manage employees.

I want to buy a franchise restaurant and be an absentee owner. Guess what, you and every other person with money to invest would love that as well. It's a great idea and a super way to make money. But it will not work. Starting a restaurant is the same as starting any other business, it takes time, money and sweat. The goal should be to limit the amount of hours you have to spend in the business and maximize the time spent on the business.

I've got all of my bases covered. So how do I get people to my restaurant? One of the more appealing aspect of starting a restaurant is that it doesn't take much in the way of sales. But it takes ten times the marketing effort. In this article you'll find advice not only for marketing your restaurant but also for getting the most return on your business dollars.
Starting a restaurant marketing tips

If your restaurant is your first business you'll need to learn how to be a CEO. It's easy to fall in to the trap of running your restaurant as a manager. But you can hire a manager. Maybe not right a way but you'll get there. You're job is to run the business. The requires balance, planning and delegation. You wanted to be a restaurant mogul, not a reastaurant manager, right? Read our article on how to become a CEO here.

Should you buy an existing restaurant?
Most new businesses fail within the first five years. This is both a warning, and an opportunity. The underlying reasons businesses fail are wide and varied, but the single common factor is quite simple. Lack of sales and marketing coupled with poor service. Because of this many businesses become available for sale every day. Buying an existing restaurant is usually the quickest way to get started. There are a few obvious benefits. The kitchen is already equipped and you'll be buying all of the fixtures together and at a much reduced cost. The danger comes in to play dealing with the issue of why the restaurant failed. You'll probably have a small built in client based but you'll quickly want to expand. Don't rely on the previous owners explanation for the failure. Visit the restaurant before you even consider purchasing and try to determine the problem on your own. Then you can make the necessary changes, and keep the things that are working. This may dictate thay you incorporate some of the existing menu items, if it fits in with your them. You'll also want to make sure you change the name of the restaurant, if practical, and freshen the decor. A good place to start your hunt is the bizbuysell.com website, but even local classified ads in the newspaper will usually have listings of businesses for sale.

What you really need to know, your business education.