During the COVID-19 pandemic, many industries crumbled with its devastating after-effects, especially the restaurant industry which suffered a heavy blow. Numbers of restrictions on social activities became the main factor in the decline of the restaurant industry. Many restaurants which have passed down through generations were forced to cease their operation.
Now, after the number of COVID-19 cases have started to decline and the government has implemented more relaxed restrictions on community activities, the restaurant industry is slowly re-emerging and gaining more positive prospects. Now more than ever, the industry could adapt and refine its restaurant model to be suitable for the “new normal”. Despite the challenges during the pandemic, the restaurant industry remains an important part of our economy.
While starting a restaurant is always an exciting venture, it’s also time-consuming. To help you create a recipe for success, we’ve compiled this ultimate guide to make sure you have all the information you need to start your restaurant post-COVID-19.
Table of Contents
1. Formulate a Solid Business Plan
If opening a restaurant is your lifetime dream, you’ve probably already thought about the basic concept. But keep in mind that a concept is not enough. Getting a business plan template will help you create the best business plan that will cover all areas, from overview to appendices. The business plans are divided into sections that describe all aspects of your business. Your business plan will act as a living document, which will help to plan your growth and measure how far you have gone.
2. Find the Perfect Location
Once you formulate the concept, you can start looking for the perfect location. Make sure that the location you choose has good visibility that will receive plenty of traffic. The more accessible your restaurant is to more people, you will have better chances of selling. Also find out whether this location is near the school, college, or offices. The location demographic should be in line with your target market. It is also important to think about the parking lot, water, and other factors before choosing your location.
3. Create Your Menu
Now it is one of the most exciting and important steps, you need to formulate your menu! Please keep in mind that it has to be in line with your restaurant concept. You would not sell Chinese food in a Mexican restaurant, right? It will also be great if you can have a signature dish in your restaurant. A signature dish or special menu could generate more attention. It could also help your restaurant to stand out from others.
4. Prepare a Financial and Funding Overview
When preparing the financial and funding overview, you have to start by estimating the startup cost along with its daily operation cost. This information will help you to create a budget, and also forecast the total cost of running your restaurant for say a year to come. On this document, you also need to create a profit projection section –to help you envision your next plan. You will also need to make sure of how you obtain the funding. If you don’t have the capital to cover the cost of the opening, you might want to find a way to secure funding from outside.
5. Find the Right Supplier
Aside from the food supplier, you will also need a supplier for disposables, and collateral items that you’ll reorder on a regular basis. For example, for marketing purposes, you can create your own bottle for the restaurant with your logo and design. This could help you to market and generate more awareness for your restaurant. There are many selections for a private label bottling company that could help you to get your own bottle design.
6. Restaurant Permit and Licenses
Find out what kind of permits and licenses you need to start a restaurant business. This is a very important step, if you have the capital you might want to enlist a legal counsel to make sure you do not miss any important step.
7. Hire the Right Staff
Start by making a list of the positions that the restaurant will need to operate. You also need to consider how many days the restaurant will be open, and how many shifts it will run each day. This information will help you to find how many people you need to hire. You may not only need kitchen-related staff but also other employees such as marketing experts and accountants to make your business run more smoothly.
8. Advertising is the Key
After all the steps are executed, it’s time to do one of the most important things to make sure your restaurant can thrive. You have to get the word out to attract customers. You can use the mouth-to-mouth method or distribute brochures. But nowadays, online promotion and social media presence is an absolute must-to-do list. Through social media, you can share about the promotion that your restaurant has, tidbits of information, photos, news, and other things. This will help to create buzz around your restaurant, especially if your target market is people who heavily use social media.
Though the restaurant business might seem a more easy business to do, the hard reality is that many restaurants fail during their first year and it happens frequently due to a lack of planning. This guide will certainly help you, to make sure that you nail it perfectly!