sidmsn:
I recently sold a fine dining restaurant that I owned and operated for a number of years. However, my restaurant was here in the States - so some of the laws and licenses may not apply to your situation. Plus, different types of restaurants will have different variables for their success, so it would be helpful if you could give some general information as to the type of restaurant that you plan on starting up.
If you need help with developing a business plan, I have a free page on my site that will help:
http://thesologuide.com/planning/
A couple of things that I would recommend that will be key to your success:
1. Research the local market.
Know your competitors (what they do well, what they don't do well, what they charge, what the local market's perception is of them) and know what the locals want. What market isn't being serviced well by the local restaurants that customers want?
2. Define what is unique about your restaurant and stick with it.
You need to have patience for proving out your concept. Some ideas boom from the beginning, while others go through a honeymoon period of good business for the first couple of months, then business drops off, while others have a longer ramp up period.
If you change your concept, ambiance and menu too many times as you start up, you will confuse your customers and drive them away. Unless you find that you made horribly wrong decisions, you want to keep most things the way they are for at least the first 6 months.
This doesn't mean that you can't tweak things as you go along. Chances are high that you will make changes as you get customer feedback (which we will get to in just a minute). We updated our menu every 3 to 4 months to keep it seasonal while giving the regulars something new to try. They loved the fact that there were changes. We had nightly specials wine dinners and special parties to keep things fresh and exciting, too. These changes created an opportunity for us to communicate with the local market. However, all these tweaks and events were in line with our concept.
3. Location, location, location.
Make sure that you are in an area that is close to your target audience, is easy for them to get to, has easy access, plenty of parking, etc. Having the right location is a key element in making or breaking your business. A mediocre restaurant with a great location will do better than an excellent restaurant with a bad location.
4. Don't try to mimic the success of other restaurants.
There are a number of restaurants that appear to be doing well on the outside, but in all reality they are upside down on profitability. Plus, customers want a unique experience. This goes back to the second point. Unless you didn't do your research upfront as to what the locals want and you completely missed the mark, you have to allow your business time to connect with your intended customer base.
5. Don't try to be all things to all people.
A large menu doesn't mean a better opportunity to bring in more customers. A large menu will kill you. It will overwhelm customers, it will confuse the public as to the type of restaurant that you are and you will have massive food waste.
6. Collect customer feedback from the start.
There are different ways that you can get this done. We included a comment card with each bill that incentivized guest with a monthly raffle of a gift certificate to leave their contact information (you want to build a target list that you can direct market to on a regular basis), specific comments about their experience and suggestions of what else they would have liked to see from our restaurant. Getting customer feedback and contact info is key.
7. Define rules upfront on how you will handle customer issues and make sure that your staff knows these rules.
The restaurant business is definitely not an easy business. Many cite the long hours, but what I think is most difficult about it is that it is predominately a subjective business.
When customers buy products from other businesses, it is very objective as to whether the product does what it said it would do. Whereas in the restaurant industry, you may serve the same dish to two different people - one person loves it and the other says it's horrible and they want their money back simply because they have different tastes. Define ahead of time how you will handle these types of customer issues.
8. Have an ongoing training program.
Make sure that your staff is knowledgeable about your business, your menu, specials and how to handle customer issues (as mentioned above). Make sure that your team has tried your various food items. Knowledge will give your team the ability to up-sell customers. Customers appreciate a knowledgeable staff - and it will make you more money
9. Put together a test audience.
Allow a group of people that represent your target market and will give you honest feedback to try out your food and walk through your restaurant prior to opening. This will allow you to correct mistakes prior to possibly angering customers.
10. Commit to a firm launch date.
You will have a number of details that you will need to tie together from logistics to PR. Once you have the details ironed out about concept, location, and licenses - commit to a firm launch date. Do everything within your power to hit the launch date because it will have a huge impact on the following point.
11. Rev up your marketing campaign prior to your opening.
You need to start getting the word out to the market about your grand opening ahead of time. You don't want to wait until you open your doors to get the word out about your restaurant. You want people salivating ahead of time waiting for the day that you open.
12. Speak with other restaurant owners.
Seeks out owners that you won't be competing directly with in your area that can give your further ideas. Just as you are doing with your post here, you are seeking the advice of restaurateurs to get the inside scoop of hidden opportunities and traps. I have read the business plans of other people trying to launch a restaurant / bar and have identified a number of missing elements or inappropriate assumptions. Getting the inside scoop from other similar owners will help tremendously.
I could go on with a number of other elements, but hopefully I have given you a number of things to think about.
Please let me know if any of this doesn't make sense.
All the Best,
Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur's Guide
http://thesologuide.com/
