How to successfully open a restaurant
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
Maybe you have worked in the hospitality industry and dream of starting your own
business. You have gained experience in delivering a brilliant menu. It’s time to
start making your dreams a reality, even if the thought of it may seem daunting.
There’s a lot of work, planning and preparation that goes into opening your own
restaurant, so the sooner you start the better. Here are the key elements on how
to successfully open a restaurant in London and some steps you will need to take
to achieve your goal.
Check list
NEEDS NOT
DONE
WORK DONE
1 What is your Why?
2 What is your style?
3 Your target audience
4 Who are your competitors?
5 Create your menu
6 Name your restaurant
7 Restaurant design
8 Your restaurant Business Plan
9 Work out your restaurant cash flow
10 Costs
11 Location and Premises
12 Restaurant equipment and utilities
13 Recruitment
14 Marketing and Promotion
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
1. WHAT IS YOUR WHY?
Your Why - This is the core belief of your restaurant business. It's why the business
exists. Why should anybody want to eat at your restaurant? Why do you want to
run a restaurant (Hint: It's not to make money.) Think about the core purpose of
your business, and then think about how you market your products or services.
Are they aligned? Having loyal customers is all about attracting the people who
share your fundamental beliefs.
Remember: People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it
How - This is how the business fulfills that core belief.
What - This is what the restaurant does to fulfill that core belief.
Sounds simple, right? Most restaurants do their marketing backwards. They start
with their "what" and then move to the "how." Most of these restaurants neglect
to even mention "why." More alarmingly, many of them don't even know why they
do what they do!
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How to successfully open a restaurant
2. WHAT IS YOUR STYLE?
The first thing you need to decide is what type of restaurant you want to open
and the style it will hold. Having this set-in stone will make the other steps a lot
easier. Of course, there may be variables that cause your initial idea to have to
adapt along the way, but it’s important to have a strong vision for your restaurant.
To make things a little easier, here are three categories you need to consider:
• FOOD: What type of food will you be serving? Will you specialise in a certain
cuisine?
• SERVICE: What type of service will you be providing? Waiter service? Self-
service?
• ATMOSPHERE: What type of atmosphere do you want your establishment
to hold? Do you want to open a casual, self-service cafe? Or a fine-dining,
high-end restaurant?
You need to consider the location of your establishment, the product you will be
serving and the people (both customers and employees) that you’re aiming for
when considering these categories.
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How to successfully open a restaurant
3. YOUR TARGET MARKET / AUDIENCE
To open a restaurant successfully in London, you need to be familiar with exactly
who you are aiming to bring into your venue. Be aware of the age group, the
location, the amount of money they are willing to spend. Once you have come
up with your initial restaurant concept, you will need to carry out some market
research to ensure your concept is a viable reality. Your findings will most likely
result in you having to make some adaptations to ensure your business is giving its
clients exactly what they want. Although it may seem difficult to have to
compromise your vision of the restaurant, you ultimately will not have a business
without customers. Listen to what they have to say.
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How to successfully open a restaurant
4. WHO ARE YOUR COMPETITORS?
As well as familiarising yourself with your audience, you must do so with your
competitors. Look at similar businesses in your area and well-renowned
restaurants of the same category. Consider the ways in which they market
themselves and the service they provide. What works and what doesn’t? You’ll
need to be able to compete with these establishments, so take on board what
they’re already doing and better it.
Be aware of the type of your establishment and the number of similar restaurants
in the area you are looking to open it. If there is already a lot of them, chances
are you’re entering business in an over-saturated area and the potential for you
to succeed quickly may be diminished. Consider opening in an area where there
is a gap in the market and demand for your service. However, you must also
consider the opposing.
If there are no restaurants in the area similar to your concept, why? It could simply
be that nobody has followed that path yet, or because it will not work.
DO YOUR RESEARCH TO ENSURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT LOCATION TO SUIT YOUR
RESTAURANT.
You may want to consider visiting your competitors; tasting their food,
experiencing their service and getting an insight into the feel of their restaurants.
This will allow you to have a deeper knowledge of their brands than simply through
research, which will benefit you when strategising.
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
5. CREATE YOUR MENU
THE MENU IS THE CORE OF ANY RESTAURANT. It’s important you get it right, as it’s
the deciding factor for customers deliberating a visit. Your service could be
impeccable, decor and atmosphere exquisite, but without a menu to match, you
shall have no such luck in success. Your menu should be totally unique to your
brand and showcases your product. But keep in mind extraneous factors that will
have its effect on your product.
For example, the size and advancement in the kitchen. If you have a small kitchen
and inexperienced staff, you’re going to need to keep your menu simple to
ensure that everything you serve can reach the standard it needs to. However, if
you’re hiring a large team of experienced chefs that will be working in a large,
well-equipped kitchen, you’re likely to have the resources you need to produce
out a more advanced, intricate menu at a high standard.
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How to successfully open a restaurant
6. NAME YOUR RESTAURANT
The name of your restaurant will become the face of your brand, so it’s important
you take time to get it right and ensure you’re completely happy with it. It will
become a major part of your business identity.
Here are a few things to consider when finding a name for your restaurant:
• Ensure the name you chose isn’t already being used by another business;
you want yours to be individual and unique. Try to avoid clichès like
“Mamma Mia Italian Restaurant”.
• Avoid anything similar to well-known businesses and your competitors to
prevent future mix-ups and the notion that you are imitating an already
established company.
• It must be a good representation of your restaurant; an unrelated name will
create confusion of what your brand is.
• Keep it simple, easy to spell and punchy so that it is memorable and easily
communicated.
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How to successfully open a restaurant
7. RESTAURANT DESIGN
You will need a cohesive overall design of your restaurant to aid the beautiful
menu and service that you a providing your customer with. It is equally as
important to create an outstanding environment and branding strategy as it is to
perfect your dishes. You will want the interior design of your restaurant to fit with
the food you are serving, and also flow into the design of your branding and
marketing. For example, you would not serve hot dogs and milkshakes in a refined
and elegant environment. Equally, seven-course tasting menus are unlikely to be
served in a casual cafe.
The environment you create inside your restaurant needs to be projected in your
branding. For example, your website, menu, social media, emails, leaflets etc.
Consider creating a specific colour palette to stick to, font and slogans that can
carry across each type of media to create a cohesive brand identity. This may
seem just a fancy but time-consuming activity, but we can guarantee you it is a
real pro tip on how to open a restaurant in London and if done well, it will be a
game changer. People will easily remember your restaurant and clearly
differentiate it from the competitors.
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
8. YOUR RESTAURANT BUSINESS PLAN
Your next step is to create a business plan. This will allow you to identify any flaws
in your potential business and things that are yet to be considered, and also aid
you in your financial journey when you come to consider funding options.
A business plan will allow you to outline which steps need to be taken, CREATE A
CLEAR GOAL and steps in place in order for you to achieve it. Creating a business
plan can be a daunting prospect, but there are many available resources to help
you along. Take a look at …. And… for more in-depth planning assistance.
Here is a brief outline of the things you will need to consider in your restaurant
business plan:
• Summary
• Concept
• Target market
• Sample menu
• Design
• Management
• Marketing
• Location
• Funding
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How to successfully open a restaurant
9. WORK OUT YOUR RESTAURANT CASH FLOW
You’ll need to price your menu in order to begin working out how much you’ll
need to break even. When pricing your menu consider the location of the
restaurant, your target market and the quality of your product. The current
average for a restaurant meal in London is £15-20. However, your prices do not
have to fall within this bracket if you are marketing particularly cost-effective
dining, or high-end.
It may take you awhile to find the right balance between the good value that
comes with a low cost and the feeling of exclusivity that comes with a higher
price. Your market research will help you to make these decisions, as you will need
to ensure your price point matches your target audience.
Once you have priced your menu, you will need to work out the average price
and times it by how many covers you will realistically be serving. Weigh this
number up against your start-up costs to work out how much you will need to
generate in order to break even, and how long it is likely to take you.
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
10. COSTS
Start-up costs will differ from business to business, so you will need to take some
time to work out how much it is going to cost you to launch your business. Here
are some basic costs which will apply to most restaurant start-ups (remember
there may be more/less than included on this list, depending on your business):
• Restaurant lease/ buying the premises
• Legal fees
• Insurance
• Business rates
• Staff recruitment
• Uniforms
• Premises refit (the design/layout of your restaurant)
• Kitchen refit
• Kitchen equipment
• Furniture and decor
• Design, menus and signs
• Ingredients stock
• Drinks stock
• Marketing
• Wages
•
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How to successfully open a restaurant
11. LOCATION AND PREMISES
There are many factors that will contribute to where you decide your premises to
be. It can be challenging to find a venue that will factor in all of your conditions,
so it is likely you will have to compromise on a few things. However, here are the
main factors you should consider when finding premises for your new restaurant:
• LOCATION: How accessible is the location? Are there many competitors
nearby?
• BUILDING TYPE: What type of building would you like your restaurant to be
in?
• TARGET MARKET: Make sure it is in an area where your target market is
also.
• COST: Your ideal location may prove to be a little costly. Make sure that
there is a realistic price point.
Out of these four variables, the location should be at the top of your list as it will
have a massive influence on the success of your restaurant.
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
12. RESTAURANT EQUIPMENT AND UTILITIES
Fitting your restaurant with the facilities a restaurant requires and buying new
equipment is likely to be one of the largest expenses when opening a new
restaurant. You’ll need to ensure you have a kitchen fitted to accommodate prep
for the food on your menu and the amount of staff you will have. Although it will
cost you, INVESTING IN GOOD AND RELIABLE EQUIPMENT will be a good
investment and will allow you to depend on it without doubts in the near future.
However, it may also be worth looking into second-hand equipment to save a bit
of money when necessary. Get in contact with closing restaurants to find good
second-hand equipment, but keep in mind that if the equipment you are
purchasing is not in good condition, it will increase maintenance costs further
down the line.
13. RECRUITMENT
Recruiting the right staff is a crucial step when launching a business. You need to
make sure you hire people with the right skills, personality and passion for the
business to ensure they will work as hard as you will towards making the business
the best it can be.
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
How to successfully open a restaurant
14. MARKETING AND PROMOTION
Now that you’ve got everything in place; staff hired, venue sorted and furnished,
legal requirements covered and branding complete, it’s time to promote your
restaurant! This is one of the most exciting steps in opening your own restaurant in
London. You can finally see your vision coming together and share it with the
public. Take a look at your competitors and their marketing strategies. There’s no
shame in taking what’s good and using similar techniques for your own brand.
Marketing, in the beginning, will involve a lot of trial and error to find what works
for you, but that’s okay! Have fun with it, make a note of what works and what
doesn’t, and stick to the image of your brand.
15. CONCLUSION
This is how to successfully open a restaurant in London. All of this may seem
daunting, but opening your own restaurant is a big task. Organisation is key,
take it step by step. It will be incredibly rewarding to watch your dreams
become a reality. Make sure you consider everything there is to consider, and
you will be on your way.
Restaurant Keys | For more information, get in touch [email protected]
