Opening a Restuarant

Opening a Restaurant (Phase I): Project Planning

1) Establish a food service business plan. Envision your future business with bold ideas and rethink each one carefully. Listed below are some sample questions you may want to ask yourself:

1. What kind of food do I want to serve?

2. What major cooking equipments do I need? Do I need a char broiler? A convection oven?

3. How many people do I want to serve? Do I want to seat 50 or more? Do I just want to serve to-gos? Do I want to deliver?

4. How do I want the place to function? Do I want a full service bar? A decorative bar? Open kitchen? Eating counter? Any VIP room?

5. Do I want to serve breakfast, lunch and or dinner? Do I want to close the place up in the afternoon?

6. How many employees do I need?

7. What kind of clientele am I after?

8. What’s an average priced meal per customer?

9. How fast do I want to serve the food? How long do I want each customer to stay?

10. Do I want to incorporate any other means of entertainment? Live music band? Plasma T.Vs?

11. Do I need speakers? Do I need an office?

12. Do I want to put any emphasis on history, culture, type of food, special service or any new concepts?

2) Conduct research on your location and analyze whether it’s adequate for your proposed use. Below is a checklist you may find handy for selecting the right site.

If it’s an existing restaurant:

1. Is the exhaust hood still in good condition? Is the size good enough to serve your future business? Note: changing the exhaust hood is costly and can eat up a good portion of your budget.

2. Are the restrooms up to ADA code? (Building new ADA restrooms is costly; finding existing spaces with ADA restrooms could save you a lot of money.)

3. Is there already a grease trap?

4. Ask a Health department inspector to write up a report for a list of issues to be addressed before a health operational permit can be issued. If the changes are minor, you may...