On average, people eat out at the very least, once a week. With this type of statistic, the food place industry thrives. However, successfully opening and running a restaurant is certainly no small accomplishment and takes dedication as well as hard work. With the right planning, though, you can make your dream of starting a restaurant into an amazing reality.
Of course, the process of opening a restaurant can require the oversight and management of various moving parts and feel overwhelming. To help simplify it, we’ve broken it down into steps. So if you’re curious about how to open a restaurant in the UK, stick around and we’ll help you get through it!
Step 1: Concept and Brand
The first step to your question on how to open a restaurant is coming up with a clear brand and concept. The concept will include aspects like:
- – The service style you intend for your establishment
- – The food you plan to serve
- – The overall atmosphere you want to achieve
Your brand will be your restaurant’s identity, mission, and overall personality.
Based on your chosen brand and concept, you must design your dining room in a way that communicates these clearly. Are you an upscale Italian restaurant with dim-lighting, subtle greenery and authentic brick along the walls? Or are you a casual spot with a modern feel and digital aspects like mobile point-of-sale systems?
It’s crucial to decide these things before moving forward with any other step on opening a restaurant in the UK.
Step 2: Menu Items
Once you’ve decided the overall intended personality of your place, the next step is establishing a few basic food items you’ll want featured in your menu. This step is important because it’ll help guide you in future decisions like equipment purchasing, staff selection, and the customers you want to attract.
When you’re tackling this step, don’t worry about having your menu completely designed or recipes entirely finalised – unless your establishment will focus on one type of food, like pizza. Just focus on having a solid overall idea of what you will serve and later, you can tweak your menu to increase profits as you gain feedback of what sells and what doesn’t.
Step 3: Restaurant Business Plan
When it comes to thinking through how to start a restaurant, one of the most essential parts will be writing a business plan for your restaurant that is thorough. As you write this plan, it’ll be easier to develop your strategy. Below you’ll find the main parts of a restaurant business plan:
- Executive Summary
- Overview and Description of your Restaurant
- Market Analysis
- Business Products/Services
- Management
- Strategies for Marketing and PR
- Financial Projection
Step 4: Funding
The answer to the question “how much does it cost to open a restaurant in the UK” depends on many points such as your location, space, equipment, utilities, food items and so forth. Put together an estimate of your startup as well as day-to-day costs. Then, create a budget and plan how much you’ll need to keep your business running. If necessary, consider applying for a loan.
Step 5: Location and Space Logistics
When it’s time to choose your space, it’s recommended that you lease as this allows for more wiggle room in the future should you decide to expand or if you encounter other issues in your initial startup.
Opening a restaurant requires the obtaining of many permits and licenses at the federal, state, and local levels. It’s advised that you have legal counsel when filing for these so that you ensure you’re not missing any steps.
Step 6: Equipment and Supplies
To ensure the success of your restaurant opening, you’ll need a reliable source of ingredients and equipment at prices that are reasonable. It’s advised you go with a reputable restaurant supplier so that you can meet many needs in one place.
Step 7: Layout
When you’re starting a restaurant, be sure to dedicate good thought into the organization of the layout. You’ll want to make sure there is a flow from your front-of-house to your back-end where the food magic happens. Then, you can focus on decoration.
Step 8: Hire Staff
When you’re looking for employees that will man your font and back-of-house, search for people that have previous experience, can multitask, and can work quickly. For front-of-house people, in particular, you’ll want to make sure they have good social skills.
Step 9: Advertise and Soft Open
In the process of starting a restaurant, advertising is essential. This will be how your prospective diners will find basic information about your establishment. You’ll want to excite them to visit using methods like social media, an appealing website rewards program, promotions, and so forth.
Conclusion
Finally, you’ll be ready to open. Consider throwing a soft launch for a select amount of people before fully opening up to the public. This will basically serve as a test run that will help you narrow down places where your staff can improve and get other feedback from customers.
And that’s it! We hope this guide has helped you understand how to run a restaurant startup. With that, we wish you the best of luck!
