Here's how to open a restaurant that's rolling in money, and here's what successful people have learned to help you if you're thinking about opening a restaurant.
But entrepreneurs are willing to challenge the impossible claims and have the courage to try their luck in such a cutthroat industry. We're not saying you can't do this. We're just telling you that you should prepare yourself first, and maybe you might find yourself at the bottom of the restaurant chain. Let a group of industry experts and successful entrepreneurs in the restaurant field show you the way and the tricks of the trade.
Recognize Reality and Start Carefully
While you may be in a rush to get your operation off the ground, you still can't skip this step: building a solid foundation. "Above all, avoid the 'Polaroid camera syndrome' of showing it off everywhere - here's a picture I took in my own restaurant, and here's a picture of me with my chef." Clark, founder and president of food restaurant consulting firm clarkwolfco. (clarkwolf) warned. "It's not worth going on to say that you have a lot of work to do to make something different."
Opening a restaurant requires in-depth knowledge not just related to food, but also about marketing, financing and managing people skills. Even if you have all the know-how on your own, working with someone else won't be a bad thing. "Choose a work partner and find people who share your passion and can bring a different flavor to your business." Marilyn, a restaurant owner and consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry. marilynschlossbach advises.
Having the knowledge you should have is only part of laying the foundation for success; there needs to be enough money to drive the business to follow through. "Looking at historical cases, it's common to hear that underinvestment is the number one cause of business failure," says Wolfe. "It's never hard to see the truth. What you really need to know is not just how much money you need to open your restaurant, but also where the money is going to come from to continue operations next." To have enough capital to support the first six months of operation, Wolfe makes the suggestion to also have an additional amount of money set aside to get through the months afterward.
Coming up with a good idea
While the U.S. restaurant industry in general has taken a beating, there are some areas that do fare better than others. Fast casual dining, for one, has been a big hit with consumers because they offer healthier options at more reasonable prices, which is exactly the kind of value consumers look for. According to a report by food service industry consulting firm technomic, in 2007, U.S. fast casual restaurant chains saw a 13% increase in sales and a 9.5% increase in the number of stores, making it one of the few fast-growing segments of the food service industry.
Both Shoalsbridge and Wolfe agree that fast casual has great potential, but Wolfe also believes that success has not been so clearly marked. Regardless of the segment of the restaurant market, restaurants must focus on making their customers feel better, which is the number one reason people go to restaurants in the first place, Wolfe said. Whether it's through great food and good service, it's about making sure customers feel comfortable and safe. It's also important to be mindful of customer expectations. Wolfe noted that people crave comfort food, such as mashed potatoes after the 1987 economic collapse and sushi after 9/11. What about now? Some of these "indicator foods associated with economic development" include: 1) good hamburgers made with very good meat and bacon, because Americans are born with a love of hamburgers; and 2) we're entering an economic era in which macaroni and cheese are prevalent, but cheese is a bit more popular at the moment," he says. He said, "Both of these cuisines can be made with greens from the farmer's market." Wolfe suggests seasonal, regional, family heirloom flavors and organic foods as restaurant specialties.
j. deanloring, 51, and michaelgilligan, 52, look to have found the right path to making money. in 2007, they founded burgerlounge, a fast-casual casual burger restaurant in La Jolla, Calif. They use only organic ingredients and serve grass-fed beef in their specialty round buns. In order to exceed the expectations of their guests, the restaurant focuses on promoting the high quality of service provided. While other restaurants are downsizing or or giving up on expanding, burgerlounge is expanding. Now in its fourth location, it is averaging more than $1,100 in annual sales revenue per square foot and expects to exceed $5 million in sales by the end of the year. "A lot of people are watching from the sidelines and worrying about what's going to happen," says Laurin, "but we see opportunities in both the real estate space and in providing products that meet people's needs right now. I wouldn't argue that our company and our products or model are recession-proof, but are certainly thriving in the current market."
Pour on the passion and save
In the current economy, banks are tightening their lending and credit card companies are cutting back on credit lines. You need access to cash to keep your business from getting out of control. If you're in this situation, think outside the box and look at the longer term.
Street food isn't as low-grade as it used to be. Fancy concoctions, fresh ingredients and unique offerings have taken street vendor service to a whole new level. In fact, they've become such an important part of New York City's food and beverage scene that they've been recognized by the public with the "vendyaward," an award that has been given for four years to the best street food of all the street vendors. They are the next generation of roadside vendors who are entering the restaurant business with tantalizing food and a low-cost approach.
Jeromechang and chrischen pioneered the mobile restaurant concept, starting with about $100,000 in startup capital when they founded desserttruck together in 2007 (chrischen has since quit). Through the side windows of their customized trucks, customers can buy delicious desserts like baked apples and cinnamon, melted chocolate, cake and vanilla cream for $5. Sales revenue is estimated to reach about $500,000 by the end of this year. Jerome and Chris are now able to secure a minimal investment in their business, but you don't want to be too reckless in your rush to cut costs. Jerome admits that they chose the cheapest supplier to build their trucks, and more than a year later, they're still bearing the cost of a decision they made back then because of poverty. "Dealing with mechanical issues is a problem for any mobile catering business, and if you're not well-prepared, it's going to drain you significantly." Jerome said he paid $65,000 for the truck. "In our case, we chose a low-budget vendor, which resulted in many problems, most of which could have been prevented."
In addition to the maintenance issues, the truck was not designed to work very well: the rear door, which was intended for him and his eight crew members to pass through, no longer opens. He also had to make sure he could get the limited number of street vendor licenses issued by New York City. However, creating a mobile restaurant brought him fame and created a healthy operating environment. The truth is, in order to survive tough times, it will force you to work hard to get almost anything you might be able to get. "When you're in the restaurant business, you have to build up slowly on pennies, nickels, and dimes." Says Wolfe, "If you start a business now, start learning how to do it successfully, and you're always going to be prepared."
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. .fjx Date:2009-10-21 10:02:43
2nd floor. Already open a restaurant, so how to come to open a profitable restaurant .
. Watermelon Date:2009-10-22 10:09:55
3rd Floor. Yes, as the 2nd floor said, how to come to open a profitable restaurant?
Now the threshold of investment in restaurants is relatively low compared to other industries, but really do make money in the restaurant is very little.
... Watermelon Date:2009-11-5 10:42:21
4F. Now the need for the most is still the real-world experience.
. .jiandan Date:2009-12-5 10:12:36
5F. The first step: choose the store
Two kinds of places are the best choice
One is the company office building more places, and the other is the place where the residents live densely. Choose in the company office building more places, can ensure that the noon business. Some restaurants in Hangzhou often have too many empty seats at noon, but not enough seats at night. The old restaurant is very concerned about whether the noon business can do well. This can ensure the benign operation of the day. In Hangzhou, west of the city commercial and residential areas, large hotels are often not open, do well are some of the characteristics of small restaurants.
There are many channels to choose a store. You can do it through media ads, resale ads in front of stores, or you can just look for a new development and talk to the landlord. There is another way is to choose a good general location, and then directly find the door and store owners to contact, regardless of what the other party is doing now. This way is more tiring but more effective.
You can take advantage of the effect of the store more Long City
Don't think that the store more places should not enter. A street if the characteristics of more small restaurants, will cause store more Rongshi effect, business rather than single-handedly easier to do. The key is to make a difference between so many stores and other stores.
Hangzhou City District, a rough search for the gathering of small restaurants with special characteristics: (the opening of the careful examination, for the success of a restaurant will be of great help. Entrepreneurs had better visit each of these stores according to their entrepreneurial orientation.)
Qingzhiwu spicy street: the first was famous in the Yugu Road near the Yuquan Campus of Zhejiang University, after the demolition, the spicy restaurant moved to the nearby Qingzhiwu, there have been seventeen or eighteen spicy restaurant.
Small group of specialty restaurants on Uncle Paul's Road: there were only one or two small restaurants, and the business was relatively quiet. Since the entry of Piece Chuan Noodle House in 2001, Liu's Spicy House, Chef Zhang, Daniang Dumpling, Nine Hundred Bowls, Fisherman's Home and other specialty stores have also entered, and due to the distinctive features of each, this place has instead become a bustling dining street.
Gudun Road, Wenxin Road and Wenyuan Road between the characteristics of the small restaurant group: at least thirteen characteristics of the small restaurant, both the area of five or six hundred square meters of size of the store, but also less than 100 square meters of the store. The restaurants include Tonglu Hometown Cuisine, Mandaile Chicken Flavor Nest, One Seat Chicken Flavor Nest, Xiangyuan Restaurant, Huaxi Wangji, Lao Shaan Noodle House, Country House, Rongji Noodle House, Green Valley People, Chuanzhongchuan, Vimiao Xuan, and so on.
Hua Road area: Zhenyu Bento, Tongshan Farmers Cuisine, Linji Old Kitchen, Shaoxing Farmers Cuisine and other seven or eight specialty restaurants, to do the local cuisine, business is not bad.
Behind the Overseas Chinese Restaurant: Because of small restaurants that do well, such as Philharmonic Restaurant and Dafuhao Restaurant, this is a regular place for Hangzhou chefs to arrange their appetites.
The cluster of small restaurants between Stadium Road and Fengqi Road on Zhongshan North Road: there are Yipin Casserole, Hongshun Dumplings, Nine Hundred Bowls of Bone Casserole, Wenzhou Noodle House, Lanzhou Ramen and others.
Subletting a storefront should be done carefully
It's almost an open secret in the restaurant industry to earn a portion of the sublease fee when you borrow a sublease. Therefore, people who are new to the industry must be careful when subletting someone else's store.
Subletting a store to pay attention to some of the pitfalls: First, because the subletting party encountered a road demolition project, which has been opened, just want to sublet to recover some of the initial investment. So when looking for a store must first to the neighborhood store carefully inquired, it is best to planning, housing management or industry and commerce departments to ask about it. If a place is about to be demolished, the local industrial and commercial office will usually be notified. Second, the original restaurant in the sewage, fire and other issues such as restrictions, has been required by the relevant departments can no longer be opened, but the lessee does not know the inside story, and wait until the sublease fees are paid, but found that this place can not open a store. This situation is most common in residential buildings. Third, after the lease, the other party but can not provide the real estate license, this situation will not give the business license. The fourth situation is that the other side of the store business speculation after the sublease, the purpose is only to earn sublease fees. There are individual restaurant owners in Hangzhou who like to operate in this way. After taking over, but found that the store has gone into decline, and then want to do prosperous, the difficulty has been very big.
If a store is sublet one after another in a not-so-long period of time, one must also be very careful. Hangzhou catering industry has a saying: "do paralyzed restaurant, feng shui is not good", mainly refers to the kind of store has changed hands many times, and then want to do it well is very difficult. Sometimes this store looks like it meets many of the characteristics of a good location, but some hidden weaknesses are hard to see. For example, although it is located in the center of the city, has a lot of traffic, and is bordered by a number of commercial buildings. However, it may have problems such as inconvenient parking and access, and as a result, the business may not do well anyhow.