Haven’t you ever wanted to own your own restaurant? Want to share your own great food with world? Own a successful business? Improve your local restaurant offerings? If you have, then this is the article for you! I will show you exactly what to do for opening your very own restaurant. I was raised in a family of restaurateurs, and have many experiences with the ups and downs of restaurant life. This article is the perfect guide to restaurant life.
What you'll need
- You! And your inspiration for this restaurant.
- A location
- An internet connection
- A kitchen
- A dining room
- Employees
1. Find to at least one person crazy enough to want to start up a restaurant.
If you are reading this, this person is most likely yourself. Any normal, sane person, before considering opening a restaurant would consider, the thousands of dollars that this endeavor would cost, the unfathomable amount of time it would take away from your life, and the likelihood that your restaurant would not even make enough profit to break nearly a decade. If you have considered this and still want to start a restaurant, then you are perfect for the job!
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2. Find a place to put your restaurant.
It could be fancy new office building, a food truck, or a dilapidated old city building. Try and find a setting that suits your restaurant. This includes both the actual building and the town or city you are in. For example, a greasy spoon diner would not go well in a fancy mall, while an exotic seafood restaurant wouldn’t quite go well in a small town in South Dakota.
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3. Find your signature menu item.
This is one of the most important things to starting a restaurant. You need something people want, but can’t find anywhere else. You need something that will fit the vibe of your restaurant, but is also fresh and original. This step will take some time. It’s important to experiment and test your menu items, and don’t be afraid to make changes.
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4. Start Hiring!
You can’t do it all by yourself! You’ll need chefs, dishwashers, managers, hosts, and servers. Start by putting up a help wanted sign, and ads online and in local papers. Soon, there should be many people looking for a job. Once you have several applicants, you should conduct interviews. Look for friendly hosts, cleanly servers, and chefs that make your menu well. And above all, look for responsible applicants. The responsibility and dependability of your staff can make or break your restaurant.
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5. advertise.
Next you have to make your logo and start advertising. Try to come up with a logo that fits your theme. If you can, incorporate a special menu item, or maybe make some sort of pun. And if course, make sure the advertisements and logo with the atmosphere of your restaurant. An upscale mediterranean bistro, for example, wouldn’t be called “Joe’s Hummus Place”, while a local burger joint wouldn’t really fit the name “Chef Francois”.
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6. prepare for disaster
It is inevitable. The freezer will die, the restaurant will catch on fire, the head chef will have a baby. Maybe all at once. But it’s not the end of the world. The best thing to do is to be prepared. Have everything you could possibly need on hand, and most importantly, keep calm. These sorts of things come with being in the business and they’ll never go away. So you might as well get used to it.
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Now that you have this handy guide in hand, you are ready to start your restaurant! Of course, these are only preliminary steps for your restaurant. Actually running your restaurant is a whole different thing. But with this article to guide you, you can get your restaurant of to a running start!