How to open a cafe or restaurant

To open a cafe or restaurant, one business plan is not enough. We need a concept, in other words - the business plan of the future institution, its main idea, the "chip". Before you open a cafe or restaurant, be sure to conduct a marketing research. In particular, pay attention to the competitive environment and customer flows.

You will need

computer, telephone, staff

Instruction manual

1

Decide on the format of catering. Decide what it will be - a restaurant with traditional service, a bistro with a distribution line, a cafe-confectionery or something else. The choice of format is more influenced by the proximity of places of concentration of the target audience. For example, at a large university it makes sense to open a coffee shop or cafe-dining room, at an amusement park - a restaurant for family visits. At food courts of shopping and entertainment complexes it is better to open a small cafe offering dishes that are most popular with a potential target group.

2

Develop a business plan. Do not think that this document is needed only to attract borrowed funds. As an entrepreneur, it will be much easier for you to navigate in business if you have clearly defined guidelines. Be sure to calculate future fixed and variable costs. The former include, for example, rents, wages, taxes. The second - the cost of food, alcoholic beverages, marketing costs, etc.

3

Make a concept of the future institution. When opening a cafe or restaurant, you need to clearly understand how it will differ from the host of institutions already working in your city. Also, the concept is a technical task for employees whom you will attract at the stage of the project launch - manager, designer, chef. Therefore, the concept should reflect the features of the external and internal design of the cafe or restaurant, the priority dishes that guests are going to feed, the specifics of the service, recruiting and marketing policies.

4

Hire the main employees described above. You can search for applicants yourself, or you can contact a consulting company that provides relevant services. In any case, the main thing is that job seekers should have a positive and confirmed experience in opening cafes and restaurants of a similar format. Do not be too lazy to call on your previous places of work, as well as visit establishments open by applicants.

5

Proceed to the design of a catering enterprise only when both the business plan and the concept are ready, i.e. do not raise questions. Only then will the cafe or restaurant that you open turn out exactly as you intended it, and will not disappoint.

note

The opening of a catering enterprise outside the concentration zone of the target audience increases the risk of not receiving part of the profit.