10 steps you need to know before opening a restaurant business
The restaurant business is a target business for many people. Because the restaurant business is often seen as a business that is not difficult to do. Just having capital, location, and personnel, you can start this business. But in reality, the restaurant business is like any other business in general.If you want to succeed, you need to have a plan and management from the beginning. Otherwise, the chances of getting hurt and the business not being able to continue are more likely than not succeeding.And here are 10 steps to running a restaurant business. If anyone has done all 10 of these homework, there is more than half a chance of success.
A restaurant that has a clear concept from the beginning will make planning other steps much easier, starting from allocating investment budgets, restaurant design style, selecting props to decorate the restaurant, selecting lighting, colors, sounds, atmosphere inside and outside the restaurant, tables, chairs, various equipment sets, staff uniforms, service style, staff selection, menu design, food decoration and plating, naming the food menu, and setting food prices.These are all from the “Concept” of the shop, which is a shop that hasA clear and well-defined “Concept” will lead to creating a brand that is easier to remember and marketing more effectively than general stores. Click to read How to create a restaurant concept that will be successful and make money!
2. Choose a locationWhen you have a clear concept of the shop, it will be a matter of choosing a location. There is no fixed formula for choosing a location that must be this or that location to be the best. Especially in this era, the food delivery market has grown a lot. Some shops are not located in a crowded area but are in a quiet place, focusing on cheap rent, using the area mainly for production and delivery, which is increasingly seen. However, in choosing a location, there are principles to consider to reduce risk and increase the chance of success as well. In choosing a location, it may be based on the customer group as the main principle. The customer group can be divided into 2 groups:
Primary Customer Group and Secondary Customer Group Primary Customer GroupThis is a group of people who live within a radius of no more than 5 kilometers, or if it is in the province, it will take no more than 30 minutes to travel to the shop. This group of customers is a group that has the opportunity to use the service frequently in a month. There is a high chance that they will become regular customers. Analyze the group of people within a radius of 5 kilometers or a travel distance of about 30 minutes. Who are there? What are the important places? What are their behaviors? What is the approximate income base? What is the spending style? Is it suitable for our shop or food style? As for the secondary customer group, they are people who are outside a radius of 5 kilometers or have to travel to the shop for an hour. This group of customers is unlikely to come to use the service often. Therefore, if the product or shop style is more suitable for the secondary customer group, there may be a problem with the frequency of use. Each type of location has advantages, disadvantages, and different customer groups. Therefore, when choosing to open a shop in any location, the most important thing is to study the details of each location, including the rental conditions, rental fees, the amount of traffic at each time, and the average per capita payment to the restaurant, etc. These are things that you need to know. So how do you know? The answer is to go down to see for yourself. Spend at least 1-2 days visiting the location to collect information.
If you want to analyze your money-making location and attract customers directly, you can learn in online courses.Open a shop to get rich with a good location
3. Check the feasibility with a business plan.
If you want to open a successful restaurant, you need to study the feasibility of the restaurant business, analyze the market feasibility, competitiveness, service capability, and analyze our financial feasibility. A good plan is half the battle.You can study more in the free online course. ClickWhen studying the feasibility of our business, what entrepreneurs need to think about from an investment perspective is how much to sell to reach the break-even point.Then there is profit and finally, return on investment.
To find the break-even point, start by calculating the store's costs.Or called making a profit and loss statement (P&L) so that we can plan sales to make a profit and get our investment back. You can read more details here.click
But if anyone reads it and doesn't understand, learning directly from an expert may make it easier for you to understand.You can study for free here. Click.When we know how much sales we need to make each month so that we don't lose money, we need to set up a sales project to spread the target down to a daily sales target as well. This is because sales each day are not the same. Some areas have good sales Monday through Friday, while some areas have good sales on Saturday and Sunday. Therefore, we need to set different daily sales targets.
4. Plan your menu and set your selling prices.By nature, new restaurant owners tend to have many ideas in their heads, especially regarding the menu. Many want their restaurant to have a variety of menus covering all categories. In terms of ideas, they can be as creative as they want, but in the end, they must first think about the concept of the restaurant. What is the concept of our restaurant? What type of customer group? For example, our restaurant is a Thai-European restaurant. Therefore, the menu in the restaurant must not deviate from the concept of Thai and European food. The same goes for the drink and dessert menus. Once it is clear what concept our restaurant will have, an easy way to find menu ideas is to find a prototype restaurant with a concept similar to what we have in mind. Go and study, collect information, and choose the menu of those restaurants to be a prototype for developing our menu. This will be the responsibility of the chef or menu designer that we hire to develop the recipe for the restaurant's menu, including taste, appearance, and decoration.
Or if you want to learn how to develop your own menu to increase salesBoth methods of making a BCG Matrix, developing a best-selling menu, analyzing menus that should be eliminated, and creating new menus that are more appealing than before. Learn online for free! ClickWhen we have a menu, the next important thing is to set the selling price. Whether there will be a loss, a lot of profit, or a little profit depends on this step. Many shops often use the method of setting prices by adding the desired profit, which can be done, but when there is a promotion, there may be a problem of losses. There is another formula for setting the selling price that I would like to recommend, which is a formula to prevent losses from the beginning.By specifying the % of the cost
For example: Want to sell Pad Thai with fresh shrimp with a cost of 30%, with a cost per plate of 35 baht, take (35 X 100) / 30 = 116.66 baht (rounded up) to get the desired selling price. And when it's time to have a promotion, even if it's reduced by 10%, there will definitely still be a profit.
I read it but still don't quite understand it. Learn professional food pricing techniques in this free online course.When we have a menu and reasonable selling prices, our shop should have beautiful food photos to promote, which can be taken with our mobile camera. Just learn the techniques for preparing food for photography, principles of photo composition, using natural light in front of the shop with the distance and angle of the camera from your mobile phone.Study for free, apply for free, click!
5. Design the store layout for maximum efficiency.
This has caused problems for many new entrepreneurs. The work is not completed, the budget is exceeded, and it is unusable because of using designers and builders who have no experience in designing or building restaurants before. This is a mistake that many people overlook, but it is a point that will cause a major problem that cannot be solved. Therefore, the first rule in the process of designing a restaurant layout is:“You must use a team with experience in designing and building restaurants.”Because those who have experience in this field will understand the principles of restaurant operations, which are designing a place to support the service of hundreds of people per day. In the kitchen, each area must be designed in a way that is both legal and allows the work of each employee to be smooth, reducing the time spent working at each step so that the food can be prepared quickly.
For any entrepreneurs who would like to learn how to design a standard kitchen for their shop by themselvesIncluding how to manage space in the kitchen, choosing basic kitchen equipment, what kind should be there and what kind should not be bought, including precautions that restaurant operators should be aware of. Learn with the expert, Chef Wilment Leon.Free! ClickThe front of the shop must take into account the area that can accommodate a lot of customers and generate a lot of sales, not just focusing on the beauty with only a few seats. Including the table layout, it must be reserved for 2, 4, or 6 customers or more, so as not to lose the opportunity to accommodate customers. The various stations for employees must be in a convenient location, can be managed quickly, reduce the time spent working to maximize work efficiency. For example, if the shop has a kitchen area and the front of the shop far apart, the spoon, fork, glass, cup, plate, bowl station for placing on the table or when customers ask for more should be located at some point in the front of the shop so that employees do not have to walk far to get it in the kitchen, etc.
6. Apply for permits and study various laws.
Restaurants, like other businesses, also need to apply for permission to operate. Start by applying for a commercial registration in accordance with the law. This is a registration to inform that we have started operating a business legally and openly. We have a proper location and a name in the system of the Ministry of Commerce. There are 2 types of commercial registration: natural persons and juristic persons.Click here to read the details and required documents.
And in case you want to sell alcoholic beverages, you must also apply for a permit to sell liquor.Documents required to apply for a liquor sales license, click here.Another law that restaurant operators must be aware of is public health laws, which are basic matters that every restaurant must clear, hygiene of food establishments, and labor laws. Click here to read.
7. Find a source for purchasing raw materials and equipment.
In this section, adhere to the concept of selecting raw materials and equipment, that is, adhere to actual use, get quality products, and be worthwhile prices. The thing to take into account is the word "save" because this word has hurt many people. Saving may not mean quality and value. Therefore, look at whether the things we are going to buy can be used 100% or almost 100% or not. For example, raw materials that emphasize cheap prices but in actual use, how much of the rotten parts must be trimmed? You have to think about this part as well. Therefore, adhere to the principle.Quality, value and convenience of purchase are given the utmost importance.atMakroWhich is a wholesale distribution center for consumer products to member customers and entrepreneurs nationwide. Providing a full range of food business products for entrepreneurs. We can order products online atMakroClickAnd receive news before anyone else at the Makro Application viaAndroid,IOSandLine MakroAvailable today
8. Manpower planningOne of the problems for new restaurant owners is not knowing how many employees in each position their restaurant should have. The basic idea for manpower placement is to take the estimated monthly income figure and subtract it from the labor cost, which is 18-20%. The result is the monthly salary figure for the restaurant's employees. This salary figure will be the framework for determining how much to hire for each position and how many people to hire.
Formula for thinkingEstimated Income – 20% = Total Employee Salary per Month
For exampleMonthly income 500,000-20% = 100,000 After getting the salary figure, the next thing is to look at the layout of the shop, look at the kitchen plan, look at the opening and closing hours, look at the menu and the style of the restaurant, starting with the layout of the shop. In one day, from opening until closing, how many employees should be in each section of the shop layout to be sufficient for the amount of work? There is no fixed formula for how many employees each position should have. Keep in mind that if we want to provide service to customers sufficiently and appropriately for the type of our shop, how many employees should be used? Focus on the efficiency of customer service.
If any entrepreneurs would like to learn techniques for employee managementThis includes factors in recruiting the right staff for your store, such as how many staff your store should have, where to find the right people for your store, what your staff need beyond salary, and even managing your staff system and promotions.Learn for free here. Click.
9. Marketing planning
Now we are close to opening the shop. For those who have reached this stage, what must be done is to plan the marketing, which must be planned both offline and online at the same time. And most importantly, which most SMEs often miss is the “marketing budget”. This is a part that must be set up as a regular budget and is part of the restaurant’s cost structure. Because most SME restaurants tend to do marketing without a system, lack of planning and budget allocation. When the sales drop and need to push sales, they think about marketing, which is a wrong idea. The advice is to plan the marketing continuously. What will be done with the offline media in the store? What percentage of the marketing budget will be used? What forms of online marketing will be communicated each month? Which bloggers will be hired to review? How will the promotions be organized? What forms of media posts will be made? Which channels? When will the time be? These must be made into a daily, monthly, and annual plan in order to allocate the budget and organize promotions to support it.
Learn the basics of online marketing tools. Easy to understand content, can be followed immediately and can be applied in practice.Free online course! Promote your restaurant online to increase sales 10 times.
10. Testing of all systems before actual salesAfter going through all the steps, the last important thing before opening for service to welcome customers is that it is necessary to have
"Testing various systems in the store before actually opening for sale"Testing readiness before opening for real sales requires doing everything like opening a real shop, except changing from real customers to inviting acquaintances such as friends and relatives to use the service for a certain period of time. The number of invited customers should be around 30-50% of the total number of seats in order to check the various systems in the shop to see if there is anything that is not up to the set standards and if there is anything that needs to be improved, developed or changed so that the service is not interrupted.Click here to read what to check during the test.As you can see, running a restaurant is not as easy as many people think.If the goal of opening a shop is to make it a business, there is a chance of success and sustainable growth.Planning these 10 steps is important and requires careful homework.And there are many other details that entrepreneurs must learn, adjust, and develop during their business. But if you start well, you will have a higher chance of success.
Coffee shop era new normal How to adjust your strategy to continue, especially for small shops with limited seating and having to comply with government regulations? How to control costs? How to increase sales to make a profit? We have some guidelines to recommend.
No matter how good the concept is, there will always be customers.
For coffee shops or cafes, if they have a clear concept from the beginning, they have an advantage because what customers want in addition to the taste of the drink for coffee shops is the atmosphere. For example, a shop with a perfect concept is a natural theme, a forest garden, a rice field, a beautiful photo corner, a retro shop, or a shop with a barista as a selling point. A shop with a clear concept and a unique selling point will be easier to market and have a high chance of being shared by customers. So, try to explore what your shop has as a selling point. If you don't have one yet, create one. You can start with your own preferences or explore other shops and develop it further.
Although the current COVID situation in the country is under control, many places are starting to relax a lot. It's like they're letting their guard down and starting to loosen the rules and regulations set by the government. We have to be careful because if there's a second wave of the outbreak, the symptoms will definitely be severe. So, no matter what, the basic COVID prevention measures set by the government should be completed by the shop, starting from registering customers, checking their temperature, keeping seats 1 meter apart, providing alcohol gel, employees must wear masks, wear gloves, check their temperature before entering the shop, and check the cleanliness of the shop and kitchen. This is to create confidence for customers.
The guard doesn't drop, but the balance may drop because of following the measures. How should we adjust the strategy?
Complying with government regulations has an impact on the number of seats in the shop, which may have to be reduced due to social distancing, which also reduces the opportunity to sell in the dine-in section. Customers tend to sit in the coffee shop for a long time. When there are few seats, the turnover is low, which will definitely affect sales. The recommended solution is to find a way to increase sales from the average per head. Consider creating a set menu instead of customers ordering only drinks and sitting for a long time. Make it complete with drinks, desserts, or savory dishes at a price that, when calculated, gives the shop more profit and the selling price is not too high.
Or add a menu for single people, take-away, frozen menus, or meal kits that customers can take home and cook themselves. This is another idea worth trying. Delivery is also a necessary income channel, both through the food delivery platform and by delivering within a short distance. Try organizing a promotion specifically for delivery to increase the order quantity to the point of breaking even on the platform's delivery cost. This will give the shop a chance to be promoted by the platform to make customers more familiar with it. The point card that had to be collected before the right was reached has been forgotten or lost. Try changing the concept to only if you buy enough. This way, you will have the right to immediately redeem at a special price for customers to spend as much as possible.
If employees are well-managed, their wages can be reduced several times over.
For small shops, during this situation, you may have to rely primarily on your own abilities to reduce labor costs. For example, some shops are baristas and have a system where customers come to get their menus themselves instead of serving them, which will help save labor costs. However, if you still need to use employees, another recommended technique is to adjust the working hours. For example, some shops have employees work in 2 shifts, from 6:00 AM to 2:30 PM and from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. You have to assess how many customers come in the morning. You may adjust the number of employees to only one shift, which will help save a lot of labor costs. If you look at the current situation positively, it is a good thing that allows entrepreneurs to learn about their weaknesses and find ways to adjust and fix them. It is a good experience that builds strength because there is no fixed formula for running a restaurant or beverage shop. Learning, developing, and improving continuously is the way for successful people. I would like to encourage all entrepreneurs.
And to be a part of promoting entrepreneurs to succeed, we are ready to help entrepreneurs learn how to choose a coffee shop location, who each menu should be sold to, which menu should be the highlight, what kind of equipment is appropriate, including the selection of coffee beans and other important ingredients, along with demonstrating basic menus. Just watch and fight, and you can be the real deal. Click to study a free online course !
